The Progress Of The
Americans Has Been Caused By Their Aptitude For Money-Making; And
That Continual Kneeling At The Shrine Of The Coined Goddess Has
Carried Them Across From New York To San Francisco.
Men who kneel
at that shrine are called on to have ready wits and quick hands,
and not a little aptitude for self-denial.
The New Yorker has been
true to his dollar because his dollar has been true to him.
But not on this account can I, nor on this account will any
Englishman, reconcile himself to the savor of dollars which
pervades the atmosphere of New York. The ars celare artem is
wanting. The making of money is the work of man; but he need not
take his work to bed with him, and have it ever by his side at
table, amid his family, in church, while he disports himself, as he
declares his passion to the girl of his heart, in the moments of
his softest bliss, and at the periods of his most solemn
ceremonies. That many do so elsewhere than in New York - in London,
for instance, in Paris, among the mountains of Switzerland, and the
steppes of Russia - I do not doubt. But there is generally a vail
thrown over the object of the worshiper's idolatry. In New York
one's ear is constantly filled with the fanatic's voice as he
prays, one's eyes are always on the familiar altar. The
frankincense from the temple is ever in one's nostrils. I have
never walked down Fifth Avenue alone without thinking of money. I
have never walked there with a companion without talking of it. I
fancy that every man there, in order to maintain the spirit of the
place, should bear on his forehead a label stating how many dollars
he is worth, and that every label should be expected to assert a
falsehood.
I do not think that New York has been less generous in the use of
its money than other cities, or that the men of New York generally
are so. Perhaps I might go farther and say that in no city has
more been achieved for humanity by the munificence of its richest
citizens than in New York. Its hospitals, asylums, and
institutions for the relief of all ailments to which flesh is heir,
are very numerous, and beyond praise in the excellence of their
arrangements. And this has been achieved in a great degree by
private liberality. Men in America are not as a rule anxious to
leave large fortunes to their children. The millionaire when
making his will very generally gives back a considerable portion of
the wealth which he has made to the city in which he made it. The
rich citizen is always anxious that the poor citizen shall be
relieved. It is a point of honor with him to raise the character
of his municipality, and to provide that the deaf and dumb, the
blind, the mad, the idiots, the old, and the incurable shall have
such alleviation in their misfortune as skill and kindness can
afford.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 171 of 277
Words from 88137 to 88653
of 143277
