Dangers of Riches.

PROF. A. S. WRIGHT, A. M., School of Applied Science, Cleveland, Ohio.

T would be interesting to know just what our over-sea visitors of last summer now think of us. Are we still parvenus? Is Dives, proud of his bank account and his showily furnished house, still the typical American citizen? Possibly our friends have gleaned some new facts during their summer outing. They may have learned that there are more than five thousand public libraries in the United States, that the best English works are more widely read here in proportion to the population than in the mother country, that our average citizen is more intelligent than the average Englishman, Frenchman, or German. As they gazed upon that dream of the ages by the lake-side, they may have realized that æsthetic taste, nobility of conception, poetry of soul, were qualities not alien to the American spirit; at the meetings of the Congress of Religions, they may have perceived that other divinities than Mammon claim some measure of our homage.

And yet, in the seclusion of our homes, we will admit to our foreign friend that our rapid acquisition of wealth has not exercised an altogether salutary influence upon individual or national character.

That simplicity which was the proud distinction of New England life is no more. Walthen Fürst, the type of the true Swiss nobleman, naïvely remarks: "Why, soon we shall need to put lock and bolt upon our doors." Few of us would care to return to the time when there was nothing in the house worth stealing; many of us regret that so many burglar alarms are necessary. We with modest incomes are quite willing to change the style of our hats, -the hats we now buy wear out,—but

furniture, no! Wealth has created false standards, false tastes. Many a youth of the avenue wastes enough annually on his shoes to add a fine section to his library, a fine collection to his natural history museum :-alack! this youth has neither library nor museum. The Harvard student spends five times as much. as the Leipsic student; the latter is fivefold more enthusiastic in his search of knowledge. Books rather than rugs is his principle; ours, rugs first, books if the money lasts. Moneyworship destroys the scientific spirit. Science like religion will have none but pure devotees. The American boy's first question is: "What will it cost?" his second: "What will it sell for ?" The study for which his natural gifts best fit him, which will broaden his mind, stimulate his emotional nature, quicken his spiritual faculties, is spurned for one which is practical, which has a market value. Scientific research demanding self-sacrifice, the study of the humanities which liberalize and strengthen, are abandoned for cash and trash studies. The business college supplants the college of liberal arts. Such students, called possibly, later, men of science, are in fact bookkeepers. The skill they possess, they sell as their butcher sells meat.

The criticism of Buckle in his "History of Civilization," that while "the average intelligence of the American people is above that of any other people, America has fewer first-rate scholars than any other nation," is a just one, and the reason therefor is the utilitarian spirit of our land and time. Inventors, it is said, seldom reap the financial fruit of their labors. Let us hope that the time may come when they will not care to do so, when great humanitarian purpose may be the motive spring of intellectual effort, when the joy of noble thought and noble. accomplishment may seem reward that richly rewards.

It is to be feared, too, that the greed for riches is gradually destroying those finer emotional and spiritual qualities which are our best gifts. Mr. Sydney G. Fisher in a recent number of the Forum has pointed to the fact that nearly all of our great writers-Longfellow, Whittier, Bryant, Hawthorne, Poe, Emerson, Irving, Prescott, Motley, Lowell, Holmes, Channing, Tay

lor-were born before 1825. He has sought an explanation in the decline of a national spirit caused by immigration. Doubtless immigration has been hostile to the growth of literature. But literature-certainly that of poetry, romance, oratory, philosophy-is a child of nature. It must breathe pure air; that of the mart stifles it. Wall street furnishes no inspiration to the poet. Poetry and spirituality are freeborn. They bear their own reward. Goethe has beautifully expressed the thought in his poem, "The Bard." The bard, who has just sung his most soulful melody in presence of king and courtier, refuses the chain of gold offered by the king. Handing back the precious gift he exclaims:

"I sing as sings the bird

That in the branches dwelleth,
The song itself, its own reward,
From deepest soul it welleth.”

No nation can afford to lose its ideals. Our republic was born of a noble thought, was cradled in an atmosphere of liberty and religion, gained the strength of youth through deeds of self-sacrifice. The best heritage of our people is its love of truth. Truth sits enthroned in man and nature; back of both is the Divine. Science, literature, music, sculpture, painting, are the outward expression of an inner soul. In touch with the Divine man grows divine. Our best gifts are intellect and soul-both divine. If we cultivate them, we receive the best rewards. The æsthetic grows only in contact with nature, the intellectual in contact with men of thought and books of thought, the spiritual in contact with God.

To barter the music and poetry of the soul for a chain of gold is ignoble. The chain will fetter to earth. Mammon is a mundane spirit. Listen to the poet:-

"Mammon, the least erected spirit that fell

From heaven; for even in heaven his look and thoughts

Were always downward bent, admiring more

The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold,

Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed

In vision beatific."

Neither intellectual, emotional, nor spiritual enjoyment has any cash value. The great danger of wealth is that it tends to dry up the springs of pure enjoyment. The stagnation or deterioration is gradual and insidious as is the loss of physical power. The intellect starves, the emotions wither, the spiritual nature dies. The possible giant becomes a pigmy. Awakening -there is none; the dead emotions are never resurrected. The immortal has put on mortality.

Giving Enriches the Giver.

Τ

A. M. HAGGARD, A.M., Ex-President Oskaloosa College, Iowa.

WENTY years ago, in a Wisconsin town, two boys were schoolmates. One was from a poor family; the other from a family more fortunate. The principal of the academy had suggested the organization. of a cricket club. Both boys were very active in the various committees of preparation. In due time the first game was called, the captains were "choosing up." Frank chose Fred, who had not signed the constitution because he was unable to pay the prescribed fee. Frank had paid his dues, and entered his name as a member, but Fred would not believe it until the book was shown him. The boys are now men. Fred declares that nothing in all his life ever made a deeper impression on his heart. What will he not do for Frank? He would cross the continent at his call. He would risk health and life itself for his friend. He would do for Frank's children what David did for the son of Jonathan, his deceased friend. What has Frank gained? In Fred he has an account upon which he can draw unlimited drafts; a bank where no draft will be dishonored; a balance which can never be overdrawn.

This is but one incident from one life. How poor and barren most lives would be without such deeds! Strike out the gain of giving, and you destroy the core of history, the soul of oratory, the beauties of literature, the glories of poetry and song, the heroism of patriotism, the divinity of religion, and the hope of eternity.

He who wins the choicest gains of life must give. This is THE LAW. It is written upon the face of a world of dead mat