Show WORTH I 1 y I 1 ao y I 1 E C CLA I 1 I 1 IN A good old anglo saxon word strangely abused tied mis misapplied applied is the word worth meaning value for if anyone nowadays now a days should ask concerning another what is lie he worth orth lo or what is his worth the answer would invariably be giver by naming a certain amount of money or that equivalent i in n material wealth which lie mi might lit chance to possess thus i con estimate is expressed by saying 0 of of otie oae that hs he ii not worth a groat while the worldly worldly Y everywhere every where are a re ready to fall town down and worship a nian man who is reputed to be rich with them the more he be has the tha greater is ii his worth in himself he be may be ba mean ignorant i inious and of despicable criar character acter but gild gilds gilda all things thing no matter how bow base the ten tendency deLicy to give a fictitious value to the in vidual on account of his hie possessions posse wons is ia nt not one of the highest traits of human nature although itis it is well nig nigh gh universal we are bound to reco recognize anize in it the sordid current of thought which affects all peoples and has left its impression in every national history whether ancient or modern buethe but the immense development of commerce aud and the common race for wealth has intensified it in our own time few consider as of old that thai to sit beneath the shadow of ones own porch devoid of fear is the tha surest mode of enjoying happiness all hasten to become rich fraudulent adventurers spring up like mushrooms with fach each successive day honest trading ing 0 which is a blessing to mankind is pushed aside for reckless speculation and gambling gamblin of all description whereby the savings of industry are swallowed up A new and monstrous vampire has been developed in these latter days the tha bogus company promoter who swells sw ells and fattens by devouring devouring dev 9 the careless ard the credulous there is a feverish impatience of mere sufficiency or even of a modest competency nothing less than s will anniti ann iti the furious scramble for these the victims of this mania act as though they had been bitten by a golden tarantula can call we believe that all this would take place unless the moral vision were first distorted so that wealth and worth have been confounded the truth is men seldom perceive wherein true worth lies As juvenal nearly eighteen centuries ago said in his tenth among all tho the inhabitants of the earth from cadiz C adiz to the indies I 1 how bow few are to be found capable oi of forming a sane Ju judgment dament of what is truly good or truly evil how few c can n penetrate that mist of error which circumscribes all our views the t greater geater number tie the noose for themselves tb e s by the treasures which their anxious cares and labors have amai ged they blindly toil to exceed other men in wealth as much as a whale exceeds the dolphins and their sue cess insures their destructor destruct on what is the object of the first and most earnest prayer in every temple Ri riches clies great gods they cry multiply our gains of all the coffers deposited in Tro trojan jand palace let mine be the largest ant and best filled infatuated Is poison mixed in the simple earthen cup no ko the drugged bowl is tint that which is adorned with wih gold and gems and sparkles with the delicious wine of thi the secular wise of all times have bave inveigh ed against the folly of thinking too highly of riches or of deeming that worth in adv any wa way Y depends upon wealth the fame sentiment abounds in are told in of proverbs labor not to be rich bettar is the poor that walseth walk etli in his uprightness ness than he be that is id perverse per veree in his big ways though he be rich javid said eaid if riches increase set not your heart upon them christ spoke of the deceitfulness deceitful nesa of riches and bow hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of god ile he distinguished distin tin 9 clearly between the unrighteous mammon and the true riches and said woo unto you that are rich for ye have re your consolation we gather from ill all these tint that material riches alone cannot confer any worth through their possession that they are a hindrance or a snare that they lead many to perdition and in most cases exorcise exercise an ail injurious and withering influence on character yet it cannot be denied that they are powerful for good its as well as evil and that in the hands handa of the comparatively com ively few who know how to use them aright they mo may y be made the means of unbounded usefulness of mitigating misery and promoting knowledge and happiness of rescuing the weak and honoring the worthy lord dacon called riches the baggage or impedimenta of virtue all and d it is certain that the stress of extreme I 1 overly is calculated to to destroy worth some one else said it is easy to be virtuous on ten thousand a year and most people think so be but we question whether it ii is not easier to be vir with a more moderate income the wise man prayed give me neither poverty nor riches and it is certain that in every condition of lifo life the middle state ii the safest there is however a in wealth which dazzles and deceives the beholders they see its pleasures but know nothing 6 of its p pains ains to be able to purchase whatever the eye de desire sirell 3 or to command any luxury that money will buy appears the height of human bliss but could they look behind tho the scenes see eee in many a wealthy home grim inis misery ery and carking care vacuous and sated lives hearts seething se ethin g with discontent or deadened by protracted gratification the author of the wealth of nations says with the greater part of rich people the chief enjoy ment of riches con consist sit in the parade lf if riche which in thir th ir eye is never so complete com te as ai when ha appear to possess those del decisive fo lye I 1 i marks of opulence which nc nobody m ad 0 can possess ant themselves I 1 this be ba true then the richest in is no happier thin than the lord M 0 in the tha ahoi who notwithstanding the plaudits pl audits of a aping may be more truly wrete wretched bed c U the moat miserable or of them alla all A what then is worth but tha chati clllence cel lence or goodness good nesB which be belong to one apart from all the acal of fortune that personal nobre e or ability which is in depend extraneous circumstances and which can neither tie be given nor taken away or old robert of gloucester may answer for us vor the more that a man con the more worth lie he ys ye ability is the test of worth as utility is the tet tea of virtue ile he who can do nothing it is worth nothing he who can do shall be our hero and whether lie he slay monsters or dig sewers whether he be invent or construct whether he think or act if he do aught to purify human nature or to improve mankind materially intellectually or mor ally we will deeni deem him worthy the proper perception and recognition oga tion itin ot of real worth is not lot I a thing of nf small moment tf if we enthrone the false and dishonor thelrue the th etrue true we promote mi misery miery ery and impede progress it behooves u therefore to know what worth is i and xv wherein herein it lies and havi having ID found it to do it reverence any other policy means retrogression and disaster dimster if the ecman r oman senate had on either occasion despised cincinnatus because their envoys found him at one ona time holding the plough and at another dining on roast turnips rome home would probably have been destroyed it i is not what a man has but what 11 1 he e is and what he can do tb that at must it be the measure of his worth and he who cultis cultivates ates any kind of worth in himself if or promotes it in not only ennobles bims lf but adds to the comman stock an and becomes a public benefactor the majority of people are careless of worth and prefer the pursuit of pleasure or wealth hence their character resembles that of the indall indifferent arent husband poised by his wife when she said too bad for a blessing too good for a curee I 1 inteli belk from my luy eon thou ert betler beter or oree there aro are others other however few though they be by who have chosen the letter bette r pirt part and through goodard good and evil hivo followed their high Cal calling lIDgA ol 01 whom oft times the world da not worthy ln in science aad phil hitoi ophy in poetry and art and in iu every divine walk their footsteps foots apps may be traced sometime s scaling th the loftiest loft iest heights height and at others journey journeying ing through the humblet humble Rt valleys of arnth these men lived not for themselves alone but gave their energies for inking m and left the world tho the bet better te for their work and whatever the ma cabure Bure of their worth or the degree of their ss or the station they occupied however high or however low whether as sages or simple citizens their lives alike tau taught clit who 1 is ia ise or madly brave Is but the moro more abool a fool the more morea a knave who noble ends by noble me means ans ol taina or failing smiles in exile or in chains like aurelius girelius Mi relius let him reign or bleed ec L like ke soc socrates ates that man is 13 great indeed |