ページの画像
PDF
ePub

who are esteemed happy by the world at large. The proud are envied and the humble are despised. You would reverse this, and regard the humble as the happy, and the high and haughty as the miserable.

R. Yes, and this is nearly the truth. Health is given us for good; but, strange to say, men seem to turn it to bad account. A person who has always good health, is usually unfeeling: he sneers at those who are feeble, and laughs those to scorn who cannot eat and drink and work as well as he does. He is therefore deficient in one of the greatest of blessings, a kind and tender heart, a heart that feels for the misfortunes and sorrows of others, and that always is seeking to soften them.

Riches are given for good, but these too are abused. The rich man is likely to have very little regard for the poor; he is apt almost to feel that the poor are not human at all events, he knows and cares little about them. He estimates men by their wealth: if a man is rich, he respects him; if poor, he despises him. Thus wealth begets in its possessor a gross stupidity of mind; it blinds a man to the most useful pleasures and important truths. It makes a man ignorant of his real duty and his true happi

ness.

M. You think then that health and wealth are misfortunes.

R. Certainly not, if rightly used: they are blessings in the hands of the virtuous, and some such there are. But in too many cases, mankind abuse them. The fortunate are very apt to be vicious; those who go on in an unchanging tide of success, at last fancy that they may indulge their pride and their passions with impunity. Such persons have hard hearts; and though the world, judging of the outside only, call them fortunate, and envy them-still, if we look within and see their real character,

we shall pity them, as in fact poor, and destitute, and miserable in all that constitutes real goodness, real wealth—a good heart.

It is for this reason that the Bible-a book more full of virtue than mankind generally think-tells us that "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth." In other words, God sends sorrow and misfortune upon men in real kindness. He takes away health, but he gives gentleness and humility of soul, as a compensation; he takes away worldly wealthhouses, lands, and merchandises-but he gives charity, good will, kindness, and sympathy, in their stead. He takes away external and earthly riches, and gives in exchange spiritual riches, of infinitely greater price. He takes away dollars and cents, which only pass in this world, and are wholly uncurrent in another, and gives coin that bears upon it an image and superscription, which not only makes it available in time, but in eternity.

M. Most people think very differently from you, on these matters they seem to imagine that the rich are not only the happiest, but the wisest and best part of mankind.

R. Shallow people may think So, but wise men do not. Our Savior appealed to the poor, not to the rich. Poverty, not wealth, was the soil in which he sowed the seeds of truth; and he knew all things. History justifies Christ's judgment of human life, for all, or nearly all great improvements in society have been begun and carried on by the poor. For almost all useful inventions; for almost all that is beautiful in poetry, and music, and painting, and sculpture, and architecture; for almost all that has contributed to diffuse truth and knowledge and liberty among mankind-we are indebted to those who have been born and nursed in poverty. If you were to strike out of existence

all that the poor have created, and leave only what the rich have created, you would make this world one vast scene of desolation, vice, and tyranny.

Look around, and remark, who are the people that are tilling the soil and producing the comforts and luxuries of life? The poor, and not the rich. Who are paying the taxes and supporting the government? The poor, for they pay, in proportion to their property, much more than the rich. Who are the supporters of religion? The poor, for it is by their prayers, and sacrifices, and efforts, that it is propagated, not only at home, but in foreign lands. No Christian Mission, no Bible Society, no Society for the distribution of Tracts, was ever begun and carried on and supported by the rich.

The simple truth is, that, as the poor are the producers of all the substantial comforts of life, of food, raiment, houses, furniture, roads, vehicles, ships, and merchandises, so are they the cultivators of those spiritual staples which make up the social wealth of the world-religion, knowledge, charity, sympathy, virtue, patriotism, liberty, and truth. Destroy the poor, and you destroy not only the source of worldly wealth, but of that mental, spiritual, and social wealth, which are far higher and better.

M. You think, then, that the poor are not only the wisest, but the best part of mankind.

R. Certainly; but do not misunderstand me. I do not say all rich men are bad, or that all poor ones are good. There are rich men who are good, wise, kind, and virtuous-and those who are so, deserve great praise, for, as a class, the rich are otherwise; and the reasons are plain. In the first place, most men who become rich, do so by being supremely selfish. They keep what they get, and get what they can. A man who has no generosity, who seldom or

never gives away anything, who is greedily seeking all the time to increase his possessions, is almost sure, in a few years, to accumulate large stores. Such a man may be very stupid in intellect, and yet successful in getting rich. Riches are no proof of wisdom, but they are generally evidence of selfishness.

A man, by cultivating any passion, increases it. An avaricious man, indulging his avarice, grows more and more so. He not only becomes more greedy, but less regardful of the rights, feelings, and interests of his fellow-men. Thus, as a man increases in riches, he usually becomes vicious and depraved. His vices may not be open-he may not break the laws of the land, but he breaks the laws of conscience, and of God. There is hardly a spectacle more revolting to the eye of virtue, then the bosom of the rich and avaricious man. It is a machine, which grinds in its relentless wheels the limbs, the bowels, the nerves,* the hearts of such among his fellow-men as fall within his grasp. He is a kind of moral cannibal, who feasts and grows fat, not on the bodies of his species, but on their on their peace and happiness. M. You are severe.

R. But I hope not unjust: remember that Christ forgave the thief on the cross, but declared that it was easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. He knew by what means men generally grow rich; he knew the effect of riches on the heart; and, as a class, he denounces the rich, as in the view of Heaven among the least favored of mankind. They have their good things in this world, but a fearful penalty is attached to the abuse of these good things-an abuse which is but too tempting and too common.

But the only evil of wealth lies not in the danger which it threatens to the future

welfare of the soul; it is very apt to destroy or prevent some of the sweetest pleasures of this life. Humility is the source of more true happiness than wealth. A rich man may possess humility, though he is more likely to be proud; poverty, disappointment, sorrow, and misfortune, are the great producers of humility and it often happens that God, in taking away wealth and worldly prosperity, and giving humility in return, greatly increases a person's true wealth and genuine peace. It is thus that he often deals with those he loves. He thinks that a man may well afford to part with his wealth, if he parts with pride at the same time, and obtains humility as a reward; and surely he knows what is best for us.

Nor is peace of mind the only effect of humility. It not only wakes up the heart of man to many kindly exercises of charity to his fellow-men, but it clears his mind and his intellect, so that it is brighter and stronger. Pride dims, dulls, and cheats the mind; the judgment of a proud man is seldom good. Not only does pride beget meanness of soul, but meanness of intellect. Greatness of mind, as well as of soul, is usually associated with humility. For this reason it is, that you find among the poor, who are usually humble, more true greatness of both mind and heart, than among the rich; and it is thus that we see the fact explained, which I have before stated, that for almost all the great religious, benevolent, and social progress of the world, we are indebted to the wisdom, charity, disinterestedness, and patriotism of the poor.

M. Is it then a sin to be rich, or a virtue to be poor?

R. Certainly not: there is no virtue or vice in either poverty or wealth. All I say is this, the usual means taken to get riches are supreme selfishness or craft, or uncommon want of principle;

and riches, when once obtained, tend to corrupt and degrade the heart, and stultify the mind. While, therefore, we admit that a rich man may be wise and virtuous, still, as a class, the rich are the least to be respected and trusted. We are borne out in this view by the remarkable words of Jesus Christ, and by the testimony of history. The rich, therefore, are to be shunned and feared, till we know, by positive proof, that they are worthy of our confidence and esteem, by the possession of virtue and wisdom.

On the contrary, if a man is poor, we have reason to believe that he is humble, and if humble, that he is virtuous. I know that this is not the way that the world usually judge, but I know that it is true. If you wish to find sympathy for sorrow or misfortune; or if you wish to find those who will make sacrifices to alleviate your distress, you must go to those who know sorrow and are acquainted with grief. You must go to those who are in the humble walks of life, and have learnt humilityan estimate of ourselves which makes us regard others as our equals, and which renders us willing to do to them as we would have them do to us. No man can feel the sorrow of others, unless he has suffered himself.

"'Tis the poor man alone,

When he hears the poor's moan,
Of his morsel a morsel will give."

M. You seem to think, then, that men are to be judged according to their character, and not by their circumstances.

R. Just so: you have stated the case exactly. When the Bible says that God looketh on the heart, it means to affirm, that the wisest and best of beings pays no respect to riches or poverty. In choosing his friends, he does not consider what sort of a house a man lives in, or how he is dressed; he looks to his heart, to his real character: and, be

he rich or poor, if he finds that selfishness, greediness, and avarice, occupy the soul, he condemns him; but if he finds that he has a humble heart, one that is kind, and full of love and charity, he approves of him.

M. The great thing for a man to aim at, is to have a good heart, a good character: you think a man should be more careful to be humble, than to be rich.

R. Assuredly and he is more likely to be humble if he is poor, than if he is rich.

M. Should a man avoid riches, then? R. No: I have said that riches are intended for good, and that in the hands of the virtuous they are beneficial. But wealth is not necessary to happiness; it is indeed a snare to thousands. Instead, therefore, of seeking for it greedily as the first thing, we should only regard it as secondary, and of infinitely less consequence than virtue. And though we should seek to avoid poverty, if it come, we may enjoy the reflection that it is safer to walk in the humble valley, than to climb along the dizzy pinnacles of prosperity and power. At all events, in wealth or poverty, in prosperity or adversity, let us cultivate humility, and judge ourselves and others by looking on the heart; let us consider that we are good or bad, respectable or despicable, not according to our circumstances, but according to our wisdom and our virtue.

desire it; you have heard enough for to-day.

Here the conversation ended for the time. Raymond's story, which he entitled the School of Misfortune, I shall give to my readers in the next chapter.

Origin of Words and Phrases.

"He's cut a Dido." It is told in history, that Dido, a queen of Tyre, about eight hundred and seventy years before Christ, fled from that place upon the murder of her husband, and with a colony settled upon the northern coast of Africa, where she built Carthage. Being in want of land, she bargained with the natives for as much as she could surround with a bull's hide. Having made the agreement, she cut a bull's hide into fine strings, and tying them together, claimed as much land as she could surround with the long line she had thus made. The natives allowed the cunning queen to have her way, but when anybody played off a sharp trick, they said he has "cut a Dido;”and the phrase has come down to our day.

"He's caught a Tartar." In some battle between the Russians and the Tartars, who are a wild sort of people in the north of Asia, a private soldier called out, "Captain, halloa there! I've caught a Tartar!" "Fetch him along, then!" said the captain. me 'Ay, but he won't let me!" said the man; and the fact was, the Tartar had caught him. So when a man thinks to take another in, and gets bit himself, they say "He's caught a Tartar!"

M. I believe what you tell me, Paul, for you are wise, and all tell you sounds true; but it would be hard to make the world believe that poverty and misfortune are desirable.

R. Perhaps not; but I could tell you a story of real life, in which it would appear that misfortune, or what the world calls such, actually promoted happiness.

M. Pray tell it to me.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Carrying the war into Africa." In one of the famous wars between Carthage and Rome, about two thousand five hundred years ago, Hannibal, a

R. I will do so to-morrow, if you Carthaginian leader, and one of the most

wonderful men of antiquity, led his army into Italy, and for several years continued to threaten the city and lay waste the surrounding country. Scipio, a Roman general, saw the necessity of getting rid of Hannibal and his forces; so he determined to lead an army into Africa, and threaten Carthage, and thus make it necessary for Hannibal to return home for its defence. This scheme had its intended effect; and in all after time, this retaliating upon an enemy, by adopting his own tactics, is called carrying the war into Africa.

"He drives like Jehu." "And the watchman told, saying, he came even unto them, and cometh not again and the driving is like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously." 2 Kings ix. 20.

The term "Yankee," is supposed to

have originated with the Indians, who

called the English, Yongees, which came at length to be Yankees.

"Hoosiers." The people of Indiana are called Hoosiers, and it is said to be an abbreviation of "Who's here?"-a question which used to be shouted aloud by the traveller in that quarter, when, amid the tall grass of the prairies, he heard voices, or saw the smoke of a log cabin, but could see nobody.

"Suckers," is the designation of the people of Illinois; because, as is said, the Galena miners used to appear in spring about the time the suckers, a large fish of the West, ascended the rivers.

"Wolverene," is the title of a citizen of Michigan, because an animal of that name, often called the Glutton, and somewhat resembling the raccoon, is common in that state.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[blocks in formation]

Catania.-Description of the city.-Danger of its situation.-Beauty of the country.-Journey up Mount Etna.- Great abundance of lava.Nicolosi.-Visit to the crater of Monti Rossi.Grand prospect of the mountain.—Continuation of the journey-A hut in the woods.—A night on the mountain.

CATANIA is a highly interesting city. I was struck with the beauty of its situation, on the sea-shore at the foot of Mount Etna, and with the regularity of its handsome streets, which are all straight, like those of Philadelphia. It is about the size of Boston, and is remarkably thriving and busy, for an Italian city. Almost everybody appeared to be engaged in the silk trade. Large manufactories abound in every quarter of the city, and in every street I could see the women at the door spinning and weav ing silk. There was some rain while I staid in the city, the first I had experienced in Sicily. The people of Syra

« 前へ次へ »