Our main pleasures are free to rich as well as
poor. What sight is so grand as the sun? What pleasure is greater than
to breathe? What fluid is more grateful for all purposes than water?
What music is sweeter than the singing of birds, the ringing of free
school bells and the hum of machinery? The extra pleasures which the
rich man, if he be foolish, tries to buy, almost invariably
END IN HIS EARLY DEATH,
and in his hatred of the whole world. Those noble men of wealth who gain
the plaudits of their fellows, have earned those plaudits just as poor
men would earn them--by service to their fellow-creatures. Man is not
constituted so that he can "take his ease" and be happy. The prisoner in
solitary confinement is forced to take his ease, and we are told that he
suffers terribly under the ordeal. Of course you have heard of
THE PRISONER IN THE DARK DUNGEON
who had three pins, and who gave himself employment by throwing them
into the air and then beginning the long search which should finally
secure them. Sometimes a pin would be hidden for years in a crevice. In
this way the prisoner preserved his mind from utter decay, and was
almost happy--nay, was really happy when his arduous labor would result
in the discovery of all three of the objects of his pitiful quest.
Pages:
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332