If we may rely upon the testimony of history, men are
brave, truthful, and magnanimous, not in proportion to their wealth, but
in proportion to their smallness of means. And the best are often the
poorest,--always supposing that they have sufficient to meet their
temporal wants. A divine has said that God has created poverty, but He
has not created misery. And there is certainly a great difference
between the two. While honest poverty is honourable, misery is
humiliating; inasmuch as the latter is for the most part the result of
misconduct, and often of idleness and drunkenness. Poverty is no
disgrace to him who can put up with it; but he who finds the beggar's
staff once get warm in his hand, never does any good, but a great amount
of evil.
The poor are often the happiest of people--far more so than the rich;
but though they may be envied, no one will be found willing to take
their place. Moore has told the story of the over-fed, over-satisfied
eastern despot, who sent a messenger to travel through the world, in
order to find out the happiest man. When discovered, the messenger was
immediately to seize him, take his shirt off his back, and bring it to
the Caliph. The messenger found the happiest man in an Irishman,--happy,
dancing, and flourishing his shillelagh. But when the ambassador
proceeded to seize him, and undress him, he found that the Irishman had
got no shirt to his back!
The portion of Agur is unquestionably the best: "Remove far from me
vanity and lies; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food
convenient for me.
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