THE MENTAL EFFECT OF PECUNIARY PRESSURE.
People realiso poverty, realise it thoroughly and painfully, and dread it, therefore, us they nover dread" very mucli worse evila. They know what it; is to have no money, and tlm prospect of having'none aflecta them ;is keenly as if they were already destitute. The man, therefore, who Sees destitution coining on, say, for twelve months, is therefore as far osf the strain on him is conoemod, a man who for twelve months has been destitute,. and has suffered all, and moro than all, that destitution imjilies. , . , There can scarcely be a doubt that pecuniary trouble is' of ull troubles the ons thafe most absorbs its victim, that most complctoly destroys hid fetrength, that most certainly evolves ihe despairing sense of loneliness which is tho precursor and cause of suicido. , . ■ . The man who ia gliding into poverty f.-om no fault of his own, or from a fault he does not perceive, is apt, unless a man of singularly well-balanced judgment, to feel himself oppressed by power which is resistless, without being 111 any tense divine ; he is compelled to fight, aa it were, without weapons, and as it is not open to him hi this world to decline the struaglc, he leave 3 the world behind. Pharaoh's order that bricks should be made without strawexcites a sort of horror in the minds of millions who do not know why straw was needed 3 and a little tradesman withouc capital, who toils like a slave, yet nil hi vain, constantly feds as the Jews did, as it he were fighting; against a power which could not he mollinen either by labour ot obedience, but returns for submission only a demand for tho impossible, and for labour only the sarcasm, " You are idle." No other form of misery, except, perhaps, religious persecution, produces quite this impression, or, when it is continuous, so destroys tli« spring jn niost men's minds. " Hopa springs eternal in the human breast,"— except the bankrupt's. — Special or.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW18750828.2.10
Bibliographic details
Otago Witness, Issue 1239, 28 August 1875, Page 3
Word Count
335THE MENTAL EFFECT OF PECUNIARY PRESSURE. Otago Witness, Issue 1239, 28 August 1875, Page 3
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.