ar; money is present in every
joint of circumstance; it might be named the social atmosphere, since,
in society, it is by that alone men continue to live, and only through
that or chance that they can reach or affect one another. Money gives us
food, shelter, and privacy; it permits us to be clean in person, opens
for us the doors of the theatre, gains us books for study or pleasure,
enables us to help the distresses of others, and puts us above necessity
so that we can choose the best in life. If we love, it enables us to
meet and live with the loved one, or even to prolong her health and
life; if we have scruples, it gives us an opportunity to be honest; if
we have any bright designs, here is what will smooth the way to their
accomplishment. Penury is the worst slavery, and will soon lead to
death.

But money is only a means; it presupposes a man to use it. The rich can
go where he pleases, but perhaps please himself nowhere. He can buy a
library or visit the whole world, but perhaps has neither patience to
read nor intelligence to see. The table may be loaded and the appetite
wanting; the purse may be full and the heart empty. He may have gained
the world and lost himself; and with all his wealth around him, in a
great house and spacious and beautiful demesne, he may live as blank a
life as any tattered ditcher. Without an appetite, without an
aspiration, void of appreciation, bankrupt of desire and hope, there, in
his great house, let him sit and look upon his fingers. It is perhaps a
more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than to be
born a millionaire. Although neither is to be despised, it is always
better policy to learn an interest than to make a thousand pounds; for
the money will soon be spent, or perhaps you may feel no joy in spending
it; but the interest remains imperishable and ever new. To become a
botanist, a geologist, a social philosopher, an antiquary, or an artist,
is to enlarge one's possessions in the universe by an incalculably
higher degree, and by a far surer sort of property, than to purchase a
farm of many acres. You had perhaps two thousand a year before the
transaction; perhaps you have two thousand five hundred after it. That
represents your gain in the one case. But in the other, you have thrown
down a barrier which concealed significance and beauty. The blind man
has learned to see. The prisoner has opened up a window in his cell and
beholds enchanting prospects; he