Transcribed from the 1837 Whipple and Damrell edition by David Price,
email ccx074@pglaf.org
RICH ENOUGH;
A TALE OF THE TIMES
BY THE AUTHOR OF
"THREE EXPERIMENTS OF LIVING."
And while they were eating and drinking, there came a great wind from
the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell
upon them.
Third Edition.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY WHIPPLE & DAMRELL,
No. 9 Cornhill.
NEW YORK:--SAMUEL COLMAN,
No. 114 Fulton Street.
1837.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1837, by
WHIPPLE AND DAMRELL,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Massachusetts.
CHAPTER I.
"Welcome," said Mr. Draper, the rich merchant, to his brother, who
entered his counting-room one fine spring morning. "I am truly glad to
see you--but what has brought you to the city, at this _busy country_
season, when ploughing and planting are its life and sinews?"
"A motive," said Howard, smiling, "that I am sure will need no apology
with you--_business_! I have acquired a few hundreds, which I wish to
invest safely, and I want your advice."
"When you say safely, I presume you mean to include profitably."
"Ay, profitably and safely."
"I am just fitting out a ship for Canton; what do you think of investing
the sum in articles of foreign merchandise?"
"I confess," said Howard, "I have great distrust of winds and waves."
"Suppose you invest it in Eastern lands? many have made fortunes in this
way."
"I am not seeking to make a fortune," said Howard, quietly;--"my object
is to secure something for my family in case of accident, and I only want
to invest what I do not require for present use in a manner that will
bring compound interest. I hope not to be obliged to take up the
interest for many years, but to be adding it to the principal, with such
sums as I may be able to spare from our daily exertions."
"I perceive, brother," replied Mr. Draper, a little scornfully, "you have
not increased in worldly wisdom."
"I have not been much in the way of it," said Howard.--"Mine is a still,
peaceful life--I study the changes of the atmosphere more than the
science of worldly wisdom."
"We can get along, however, but poorly without it," replied Mr. Draper;
"the harmlessness of the dove is no match for the cunning of the
serpent."
"True," said Howard; "but if you mean me by the dove, there is no
necessity for my venturing into the nest of serpents. I am well aware
that my habits of thinking and modes of life are tame and dull, compared
to your projects and success;--but we are differently constituted, and
while I honor your spirit and enterprise, and do justice to the honest
and intelligent business men of your city, I am contented with my own
lot, which is that of a farmer, whose object is to earn a competency from
his native soil, or, in other words, from ploughing and planting. I have
no desire for speculation, no courage for it; neither do I think, with a
family like mine, I have a right to _risk_ my property."
"There you are wrong; every body has a right to do as he pleases with his
own property."
"To be honest, then," replied Howard, "I have none that I call
exclusively my own. Property is given to us for the benefit of others;
every man is accountable for his stewardship."
"But can you do better than to double and treble it every year, or, by
some fortunate speculation, convert ten thousand dollars into ten times
ten thousand?"
"I should say," replied Howard, "if this were a certainty, it would cease
to be _speculation_, and I should feel bound to do it, within honest
means. But as the guardian of my family, I feel that I have no right to
venture my little capital in a lottery."
"It is lucky all men are not of your mind," said Mr. Draper, rather
impatiently, and taking up his pen, which he had laid down;--"but really,
brother, I am full of engagements, and though I am rejoiced to see you, I
must defer further conversation till we meet at dinner; then we shall
have time to talk over your affairs; just now, I am wholly engaged."
Near the dinner hour Howard went to his brother's house. It was large,
and elegantly furnished, and, what in the city is rather uncommon,
surrounded by trees and pleasure-grounds, a fine yard in front, and a
large garden in the rear. Mr. Draper purchased the place when real
estate was low, and it had since risen to more than double its original
value. Howard was conducted to the dining-room, where he found his
sister-in-law, Mrs. Draper. They met with much cordiality--but he
perceived that she was thinner and paler than when they last met.
"You are not well, I fear," said Howard, anxiously.
"I have a cold," replied she; and with that nervous affection which often
follows inquiries after the health, she gave a half-suppressed cough.
"Have you seen my husband?" she asked.
"Yes, I left the stage at the corner of State Street, and went directly
to his counting-room; but I found him engrossed by business, and verily
believe I should not have obtained a moment's conversation after the
brotherly welcome that his heart gave me in spite of teas, silks, hides,
stocks, and per centage, if I had not had a little business of my own,--a
little money to invest."
"Are you, too, growing rich?" said Mrs. Draper, with a languid smile.
"O no," replied Howard; "we farmers have not much prospect of growing
_rich_. If we earn a comfortable living, and lay by a little at the end
of the year, we call ourselves thriving, and that is the most we can
expect."
"You have advantages," said Mrs. Draper, "that do not belong to those who
are striving to grow rich; you have wealth that money seldom can
buy,--_time_."
"We have our seasons of leisure," returned Howard, "and yet, I assure
you, we have employment enough to prize those periods. You would be
surprised to find how much constant occupation every season demands.
Spring is the great storehouse of our wealth, but we must toil to open
its treasures; they are hid in the bowels of the earth."
"You remind me," said Mrs. Draper, "of the story of the farmer who had
two sons. To one he left a large sum of gold; to the other his farm,
informing him he would find an equivalent portion hid in the earth. The
one invested his money in merchandise, and made 'haste to grow rich;' the
other dug every year with renewed hope of finding the gold, and continued
planting and sowing as his father had done before him. At the end of
fifteen years, they met on the same spot, the one a bankrupt, the other a
thriving farmer. I suppose," added she, "I need not put the moral to the
end of my tale, in imitation of AEsop's fables; you will find it out."
"It is so applicable," said Howard, "to our present conversation, that I
almost think it is an impromptu for my benefit."
"Not for yours," said she; "you do not want it. But now tell me a little
about your fanning seasons. Spring, I understand, must be a very busy
one; but when you have ploughed and planted, what have you to do but sit
down and wait?"
"My dear sister," said Howard, "you, who know so much better than I do
how to carry out your comparisons, can well understand that there is no
time given us for idleness; while we wait the result of one part of our
labors, we have other works to accomplish. Spring-time and harvest
follow each other rapidly; we have to prepare our barns and granaries.
Our mowing season is always one of our busiest. We have our anxieties,
too;--we watch the clouds as they pass over us, and our spirits depend
much on sunshine and rain; for an unexpected shower may destroy all our
labors. When the grass is cut, we must make it into hay; and, when it is
properly prepared, store it in the barns. After haying-time, there are
usually roads, fences, and stone walls to repair, apples to gather in,
and butter to pack down. Though autumn has come, and the harvest is
gathered in, you must not suppose our ploughing is over. We turn up the
ground, and leave it rough, as a preparation for the spring. A good
farmer never allows the winter to take him by surprise. The cellars are
to be banked up, the barns to be tightened, the cattle looked to,--the
apples carefully barrelled, and the produce sent to market. We have long
evenings for assorting our seeds, and for fireside enjoyment. Winter is
the season for adjusting the accounts of the past year, and finding out
whether we are thriving farmers. Depend upon it, we have no idle time."
"How curiously we may follow out the cultivation of the earth with the
striking analogy it bears to the human mind," said Mrs. Draper, "in
sowing the seeds, in carefully plucking up the weeds without disturbing
what ought to be preserved, in doing all we can by our own labors, and
trusting to Heaven for a blessing on our endeavors! A reflecting farmer
must be a wise man."
"I am afraid," said Howard, "there are not many wise men amongst us,
according to your estimation. In all employments we find hurry and
engrossment; we do not stop to reason and meditate; many good
agricultural men are as destitute of moral reflection as the soil they
cultivate."
"At least," said Mrs. Draper, "they have not the same temptation to
become absorbed by business as merchants."
"I believe we shall find human nature much the same in all situations,"
said Howard. "There is one great advantage, however, in farming--that
is, its comparative security:--we are satisfied with moderate gains; we
have none of those tremendous anxieties that come with sudden failures,
the fall of stocks, and obstructed currency."
"And this is every thing," said Mrs. Draper, with enthusiasm. "Nobody
knows better than I do, how a noble and cultivated mind may be subjugated
by the feverish pursuit of wealth--how little time can be spared to the
tranquil pleasures of domestic life, to the home of early affection--"
She stopped, and seemed embarrassed.--Howard's color rose high; there was
a pause. At length he said,
"Every situation has its trials; those who best support them are the
happiest. But we are growing serious. I want to see your children--how
they compare with mine in health and size, and whether we can build any
theory in favor of a country life in this respect."
The children were brought; they were both girls. The eldest was the
picture of health, but the youngest seemed to have inherited something of
the delicacy of her mother's constitution.
"I can scarcely show one amongst my boys," said Howard, "that gives
evidence of more ruddy health than your eldest girl, Frances; but my
wife's little namesake, Charlotte, looks more like a city-bred lady.--O,
here comes my brother James."
Mr. Draper entered. A close observer would have been struck with the
difference of expression in the countenances of the two brothers,
although they were marked by a strong resemblance. That of the eldest
was eager and flushed; the brightness of his eye was not dimmed, but it
was unsettled and flashing; there were many lines of care and anxiety,
and his whole air marked him as a business man. Howard's exterior was
calm, and thoughtful;--the very hue of his sun-burnt complexion seemed to
speak of the healthy influence of an out-of-door atmosphere. They were
both men of education and talent; but circumstances early in life
rendered them for a time less united. Both had fixed their affections on
the gentle being before them. James was the successful suitor. There
are often wonderful proofs of St. Pierre's proposition that 'harmony
proceeds from contrast.' Frances and Howard had much the same tastes and
pursuits. Howard's attachment was deep and silent; James's, ardent and
zealously expressed;--he won the prize. Howard's taste led him to a
country life. He was not rich enough to become a gentleman farmer; he
therefore became a working one. For years, he did not visit his brother;
but at length the wound was entirely healed by another of the fair
creatures whom Heaven has destined to become the happiness or misery of
man. Still the theory of contrast was carried through; his second love
was unlike his first; she was full of gayety and life, and gave to his
mind an active impulse, which it often wanted. Frances, in the midst of
society, drew her most congenial pleasures from books. Charlotte, the
wife of Howard, though in comparative solitude, drew her enjoyment from
society. There was not a family in the village near, that did not, in
some way or other, promote her happiness. Her information was gathered
from intercourse with living beings--her knowledge from real life. If
the two sisters had changed situations, the one might have become a mere
bookworm; the other, from the liveliness of her disposition, and the warm
interest she took in characters, a little of a gossip. As it was, they
both admirably filled their sphere in life, and influenced and were
influenced by the characters of their partners.
"Why did you not persuade Charlotte to come with you?" said Mrs. Draper.
"Sisters ought to be better acquainted than we are."
"I invited her," said Howard, "but she laughed at my proposing that a
farmer and his wife should leave the country at the same time. I have
brought, however, a proposal from her, that you should transport yourself
and children back with me; we have room enough in our barn-like house for
any of your attendants that you wish to bring."
For a moment Mrs. Draper seemed disposed to accept the invitation; but
she immediately added,--"I do not like to take my children from their
schools."
"That is just the answer Charlotte anticipated, and she desired me to
combat it with all my book-learning opposed to yours, and now and then
fill up the interstices with such plain matter-of-fact argument as she
could offer; for instance, that they would improve more in one month
passed in the country, at this fine season, than in a whole summer at
school. 'Tell her,' said she, 'to let them
'Leave their books and come away,
That boys and girls may join in play.'"
"I really think, Frances," said Mr. Draper, "this would be an excellent
plan; you are not quite well, and the country air will be of service to
you and Charlotte."
"We have so much more of country round us," said she, with an air of
satisfaction, "than most of my city friends, that I scarcely feel it
right to make trees or grass an excuse for emigration. I have as much
pleasure in seeing spring return to unlock my treasures, as you can have,
Howard. I must show you some of my rare plants. I have, too, my grape
and strawberry vines; and finer peach trees I do not think you can
exhibit."
"I sincerely hope," said Howard, "you will enjoy this pleasure long, and
eat fruit that you have cultivated yourself: I dare say, it is sweeter
than any you can buy."
"It ought to be," said Mr. Draper, a little seriously, "for it certainly
costs about six times as much as the highest market price that we should
pay. We live here at a most enormous rent; my conscience often twinges
me on the subject."
"And yet I have heard you say, that you bought this place lower," said
Howard, "than any which you would now occupy."
"That is true; but by taking down this building, and cutting the land
into lots, I might get a house clear." A slight flush passed over Mrs.
Draper's cheek.
"I have had applications," continued Mr. Draper, "for the whole estate as
it stands; but really, it is such a source of pleasure to my wife to have
her garden and her shrubbery, that I have not listened to them."
"Thank you," said Mrs. Draper.
"I am doubtful, however, whether I am doing right to let so much property
remain idle and useless."
"Not useless, brother," said Howard, "if it gives so much enjoyment to
your family. What can you do with money but purchase happiness in some
form or other? The benevolent purchase it by relieving the wants of
others, and are blessed in blessing; nor can I see why money may not as
wisely be expended in the purchase of a fine house and garden, as by
investing it in stocks, or ships and cargoes."
"Simply because the one is dead property, and brings no interest; the
other is constantly accumulating."
"Is there no such thing as being RICH ENOUGH?" said Howard. "Are we to
be always striving to acquire, and never sitting quietly down to enjoy?"
"No one can look forward to that time more earnestly than I do," said Mr.
Draper. "Every wise man will fix upon a certain sum, that his reason and
experience tell him will be sufficient for his expenditures; and then he
ought to retire from business, and hazard no more.--Now, Howard, as I
must hurry through dinner, we may as well improve our time. I promised
to aid you in the disposition of your surplus money. As you have a dread
of adventure, and do not like to run any risk, I will take it myself, and
give you compound interest."
Howard expressed his thanks. "You owe me none; it will be a matter of
convenience to me to have the use of this additional money. I only feel
some compunction in deriving that profit from it which you might yourself
reap. However, as I take the risk, and you take none, it is according to
your own plan;--and now I must be off; I have already overrun my time,"
said he, looking at his watch. "If possible, I shall be at home early,
but it is a busy season; two East India cargoes have just arrived, and
several consignments of cotton from the south; all are pressing upon us."
"My brother," said Howard, as he disappeared, "is the same active,
enterprising man he always was. I rejoice to hear, however, that he has
set some limits to his desire for wealth."
"Our desires grow proportionably to our increase of wealth, I believe,"
said Mrs. Draper. "When we began life, your brother said, if he was ever
worth a hundred thousand dollars, he would retire from business; he now
allows himself to be worth much more than that amount, and yet you
perceive our homestead becomes too valuable for our own use, because it
can be converted to money. All this, however, would be nothing, if I did
not see this eager pursuit of gain robbing him of the pleasures of
domestic life, of the recreation every father ought to allow himself to
receive from the innocent conversation and sports of his children. He
cannot spare time for travel--to become acquainted with the beautiful
views of our own country. To you, who knew him, as I did, full of high
and noble perceptions, this is a melancholy change."
Howard was silent; he remembered his brother's early restless desire of
wealth, strikingly contrasted with his own indifference to it. Frances
judged of his character by that period of life when all that is
imaginative or sentimental is called into action;--she judged him by the
season of _first love_. She little supposed that the man who was
contented to ramble with her over hill and dale, who could bathe in
moonbeams, and talk of the dewy breath of evening and morning, as if it
came from "Araby the blest," would one day refuse to quit the bustle of
State Street, or the dark, noisy lumber of India Wharf, to gaze on the
Falls of Niagara, because it could not thunder money in his ear! that his
excursions were to be confined to manufactories, coal-mines, rail-road
meetings, and Eastern lands. This development of character had been
gradual, and she scarcely realized his entire devotion to business, till
she saw his health affected by that scourge of our "pleasant vices,"
dyspepsy. She expressed her apprehensions to Howard, and begged him to
use all his influence to break the spell.
"I can think of nothing that will have more effect," said Howard, "than
for you to accept my wife's invitation, to pass a few weeks with us in
the country. This will occasionally withdraw my brother from the city,
and it appears to me that your own health may be benefited by the
change." He was struck with his sister's altered appearance, with the
occasional flush, the short, low cough; yet she said she was well--"only
a slight cold."
At length she promised to be with them the ensuing week, provided her
husband could make arrangements to go with her. "If he knows that I
depend on him," said she, "it will be the strongest inducement for him to
quit the city for a few days."
Mr. Draper returned late in the evening, and had only time to complete
his business affairs with his brother, who departed early the next
morning.