MONET AND HAPPINESS

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 11323, 29 September 1930, Page 2

MONET AND HAPPINESS

SAVINDS'THE ROOT, Ol’ CONTENT."

‘Tut money ,in -thy purse, ..and again, put money 'in thy purse, for to lack money is to lack tho common privileges of a, man.’’ - ■ I found this exhortation in a bookof George Gis,sing’s—a irian ..who knew 1 something' of both the miter, and inner ' meaning of poverty—and I. wondered how far lie ing a general feeling, writes Thomas' Rurlco in tlie “Sunday, New.s.” • - Is it. possible ' to be fully happy without money? Does not tho lack of it expose vis to all manner of humiliations, handicaps,‘ ail'd unnecessary distress? Are wo hot out off from participation in many delightful things? ' ' Those who want the tilings that have to he fought for cannot, I think, lead 01. Tull life, without money,, and as wo are in. this life so short.'a time, it is .tho-natural desire of every normal man to lead at full life. Poverty, of course, is relative. The poverty of tlie nun,. or of tlie gypsy, is not' as the poverty of those who livo in the economic stress of the world. Even tho poverty of the poor is rolative.. If you. have enough, money to maintain the standards of lii'o .of those among , whom you live, you are not poor'. You are only poor when your money does not reach to the standards to which your tastes and education accustom you. • Money can bring happiness; I have seen it do it again and again. I 'have seen poor people, overwhelmed by trouble, thrown into ecstasies by. a gift of; five pounds.. I have seen the moral tone of a whole family changed for tho better by a small inheritance. Yeai-.q ago I had a friend who . had spent his early youth in poverty. Flo was bitter, querulous, and gloomy. He believed in nothing and nobody. Suddenly ho became successful in his ivork, and his whole nature changed. He blossomed into kind acts and where lie had been mean he was generous. Where he had been bitter he was kind. A-ll'done by money and the view of life'that money opened to him. As for money being tho root of all evil, you have ‘ only to read police .court and criminal court records to realise the vast amount of evil is nowhere concerned with money. 'No; even if we grant that money cannot, in every case, create happiness, we must admit that in all eases it is-a great intensifier of happiness and a great lessener of sorrow and suffering A .few pounds make all the difference between receiving the attention of a- doctor at.your own time, and waiting for hours in the cheerless lobby of a hospital until the over-worked-staff can attend you A few .pounds sa-ved 'make all the difference-in .the . face a man can present‘to the world when seeking employment; lie. does ■ not, like the thriftless man, have, to take the first wretched thing that offers and permit himself to be trodden upon because he dare not risk his job by- asserting himself. ‘Tut . money in thy .purse,” for while money is the medium of the world’s exchange, you wilt-know: little of the world without it; "There are many people like' that friend who says lie is happy 'without money; but-if you examine - their cases, you will find that they are living very meagre lives. ' They have the simple pleasures common to alt of us—the pleasures of fields and woods, sun and wind, children and food and sleep—hut there are many beautiful things and experiences which they miss, and which, with a little -money, tlie.v could have., Content is one thing; happiness is another.* ■■■ Happiness, given the essential peace, of mind, comes with leisure knowledge, and Constant- ex-. J perioneo of all sorts of worlds. “ You cannot get those things without, money.