81. Vanity of Riches

Vanity of Riches

HAPPY, ME HAPPY!—”You must be a happy man, Mr. Rothschild,” said a gentleman who was sharing the hospitality of his home, and who was marking its superb appointments. “Happy! me happy!” was the reply. “What, happy, when, just as you are going to dine, you have a letter placed in your hands saying, ‘If you do not send me £500, I will blow your brains out!’ Happy, me happy!”

EARTH ON TABLE, HEAVEN ON SHELF. —Elliot was once on a visit to a merchant, and finding him in his counting-house, where he saw boobs of business on the table and all his books of devotion on the shelf, he said to him, “Sir, here is earth on the table, and Heaven on the shelf. Pray, don’t think so much of the table as altogether to forget the shelf.”

GOLD IN THE HEART.—Mr. Fuller was one day taken into the Bank of England, where one of the clerks, to whom he had occasion to speak, showed him some ingots of gold. He took one of them into his hand, examined it with some care, and then, laying it down, remarked to his friend, “How much better to have this in the hand than in the heart.”

PAULINUS’ TREASURE.—Paulinus, when he was told that the Goths had sacked Nola, and plundered him of all that he had, lifted up his eyes to Heaven, and said, “Lord, Thou knowest where I have laid up my treasure!”

USE OF THE HOG.—It is a common saying, that a hog is good for nothing while he is alive; not good for use, as the horse; nor to draw, as the ox; nor to clothe, as the sheep; nor to give milk, as the cow; nor to keep the house, as the dog; but only for the slaughter. So a covetous rich man, just like the hog, doth no good with his riches whilst he liveth; but when he is dead, his riches come to be disposed of.

VANITY OF RICHES.—A distinguished man lay on his deathbed, when a great mark of distinction and honor was brought to him. Turning a cold glance on the treasure he would once have clutched with an eager grasp, he said with a sigh, “Alas! this is a very fine thing in this country; tout I am going to a country where it will be of no use to me.” THE MISER’S CAVE.—A French millionaire, in order to make sure of his treasures, dug a cave in his wine-cellar, so large and deep that he could go down with a ladder. At which, on shutting, would fasten itself. After the entrance was a door with a spring lock, a time, he was missing. Search was made for him, and the door to the cave in the cellar was discovered. At last he was found lying dead on the ground, with a candlestick near him; and, on searching farther, was discovered the vast wealth which he had amassed. He had gone into the cave, and the door, by some accident, shutting after him, he perished for want of food. He had eaten the candle, and gnawed the flesh off both his arms.

ARAB’S DISAPPOINTMENT.—An Arab once lost his way in the desert, and was in danger of dying from hunger. At last, he found one of the cisterns out of which the camels drink, and a little leather bag near it. “God be thanked!” exclaimed he, “Ah! here are some dates or nuts; let me refresh myself.” He opened the bag, but only to turn away in disappointment. They were pearls. What value were they to one who was, like Esau, “at the point to die”!