arn me, I bless you; steal me, I curse you;
Grip me and hold me, a fiend shall possess you.
Lie for me, die for me, covet me, take me,
Angel or devil, I am what you make me."

Nor was this man a fool because he had accumulated his money
dishonestly. The man who does accumulate money dishonestly is a fool.
So says the prophet Jeremiah and every clear thinking man must agree
with him. There is a way of getting money that makes money a curse
rather than a blessing. There is a way of getting money that makes the
very eagle upon it to turn vulture to tear at your heart.

But this man had not made his money after that fashion. He had never
run a saloon nor a gambling house nor a sweatshop. There is no hint
that he had failed to pay an adequate wage to his laborers. James
calls upon the rich men of his day to weep and howl because they were
guilty in this respect. But no such charge as this is laid against
this man. Nor had he robbed the widow or the fatherless. "An orphan's
curse will drag to hell a spirit from on high," but no such curse was
on this man.

How had he made his money? He had made it in a way that is considered
the most honest and upright that is possible. He had made his money
farming. Listen: "The ground of a certain rich man brought forth
plentifully." The ground. It smacks of cleanliness, honesty,
uprightness.

"The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully." And when
I read that I am back on the old farm again. As I read it there comes
before me a vision of my boyhood's home. I see the old white house
under the hill. I see the sturdy apple trees in front of it and the
forest of beech, oak and chestnut stretching away in the distance back
of it. I can hear the lowing of the cattle and the neighing of the
horses and the crowing of the cock in the barnyard. I can hear the
call of the bob white to his mate, and the song of the catbird in the
thicket at the end of the row. I can feel the caress of the fresh
upturned sod upon my bare feet. I can catch the fragrance of the new
mown hay. I can see myself coming home in the gloaming "as the day
fades into golden and then into gray and then into deep blue of the
night sky with its myriad of stars that blossom at twilight's early
hour like lilies on the tomb of day." And when I come home I come to a
night of restful sleep because I have come from a clean day's work.
No, this man was not a fool because he had gotten