. That miser, as you call him, with a face like
parchment, and in whose nature all the springs of emotion seem to have
grown rusty with long disuse, is animated by a secret flame that keeps
him all a-glow. It is the consciousness of power--the mightiest power of
the present age--the power of money. Those figures which he scrawls at
his writing-desk involve a more potent magic than the cabalistic cyphers
of Doctor Dee, or Cornelius Agrippa. His hand presses the spring of an
influence that casts midnight or sunshine over the World of Traffic, and
shakes entire blocks of real estate with a speculative earthquake. It is
not the Czar or the Sultan, but the Capitalist, that makes war or
preserves peace. The destinies of the time are enacted not in Congress
or Parliament, but in the Bank of England and in Wall street. It is a
mighty power that sits on 'Change, and inspires the great movements of
the world; sending its messengers panting through the deep and feeling
around the globe with telegraphic nerves. And one may well be more
ambitious to wield a portion of this power than to speak in senates, or
to sit upon a throne. Here is something that will raise him above the
common level; will pay him for long years of sacrifice and contumely;
will hide meanness of birth, and scantiness of education, and paint over
the stains of damaged character. Here is the most feasible way of
distinction in a democracy. The doors of respectability and honor turn
on silver hinges. Gravity relaxes, fashion gives way, beauty smiles, and
talent defers, before the man of money. He may be an ignoramus, but he
possesses the golden alphabet. He may be a boor, but Plutus lends a
charm which eclipses the grace of Apollo. He may have accumulated his
wealth in a way which would make an intelligent hyena ashamed of
himself, but he _has_ accumulated it, and the past is forgotten. I do
not mean to say that, as the general rule, wealth is thus associated,
but I believe that one great motive for money-getting, is the
consciousness of the power and the distinction that accompany its
possession; and so, many a man in the thick dust of the mart--though it
may not always be clear to himself--is really engaged in a strife for
Precedence.

Again, consider the illustrations of this strife in the _Style_ of
_Living_. It is really a battle of chairs and mirrors, of plate and
equipage, and is the spring of the monstrous extravagance that
characterizes our city life. For