A FOOL and his MONEY

Cue (NZERS), Issue 28, 31 July 1945, Page 22

A FOOL and his MONEY

Love Not Gold for its Own Sake

Sp manifold are the bearings of money upon the lives and characters of mankind, that an insight which should search out the life of a man in his pecuniary relations would penetrate into almost; every , cranny of his nature. He who knows both how to spare and how to abound has a great knowledge:' for if we take account ©f all the virtues with which money is mixed up—honesty, justice, generosity; charity, frugality, forethought, selfsacrifice—and of their correlative vices; it is a knowledge which goes near to cover the length and breadth of* humanity .. . / ' . •As <to-the. getting of money. This involves dangers which do not belong to the mere possession of it. Yet industry must take an-interest- in its own fruits; and God has appointed that the mass of mankind shall be moved by this interest, and have their daily labour sweetened by if ; , and there.; may be a blessing even upon the going after gold— the gold be.not loved; for its own sake, and*.if the manner of it be without -blemish.-

The saving, like the getting, should; be intelligent .of a purpose beyond: it should not be saving for saving’s sake, hut for the sake of some worthy object to be accomplished by the money saved . . . The art of .living easily is to pitch your scale of living one degree below your means. Guard against false associations of pleasure with expenditure — the notion that because pleasure can be purchased with* money, therefore money cannot be spent without enjoyment. What a thing costs a man is I no true measure of what it is worth to him. Let yourself feel a want before you provide against it. 'You are- more assured that it is a real want; and;it is worth-while to feel it . a little, in order to feel the relief from it. . / • * —Sir Henry Taylor: Notes'from Life (1847». Neither a borrower nor a lender be; s . For loan oft loseth both itself and friend, ? > . ' ' / And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. ' - s ' —-Shakespeare: Hamlet, Act 1, &

So Pleasant It Is To Have Money

I drive through the streets, and I care not a damn; The people they stare, and they ask who f am; x And if I should chance to run over a cad, I can pay for the damage, if ever so bad. \ , So pleasant it is to have; money/ heigh ho! So pleasant it is to have money. A ‘

We stroll to our, box and look down on the pit, i • ’ , And if it weren't low should be tempted to spit; I We 101 l and we talk until people look up, And when it’s half over, we go out to sup. So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!

So pleasant it is to have money. /

Arthur Hugh Clough.

The Baggage Of Virtue

1 I canilot call riches better than the baggage of virtue. ' The Roman word is better, impedimenta. For as the baggage is to an army so: is riches to virtue. It cannot be spared nor left behind, but it hindreth the march; yea, and the care .of it sometimes loseth or disturbeth the victory. Of great ? riches there is no real use, except it be in the distribution; the rest is but conceit. ‘ . z '• ' . . ■* ■ \ The ways to enrich are many, and most of them foul. Parsimony is one of the best, and yet it is not innocent ; 'for it withholdeth mem from works of liberality and charity. The improvement of the ground is the ; most . natural obtaining of ' riches; but it f is slow. And yet, where men of great wealth do stoop to husbandry, it multiplied! riches exceedingly . . The gains of ordinary trades and vocations are honest, and furthered by two things chiefly: by'diligence, and by a good name for good and fair dealing.

—Francis Bacon: Essay XXXIV.

Eat, Drink, And Be Merry

Let us drink and be merry, dance, joke, and rejoice, With claret and sherry, theorbo and voice, The changeable world to our joy is unjust, ■/' All treasure’s uncertain,' then down with your dust; In frolics dispose your pounds, shillings, and pence, \ For we shall be nothing a hundred years hence. Then why should we turmoil in cares and in fears, And/ turn our tranquillity to sighs and tears? Let's eat, drink and play, ere the worms do corrupt us, For I say that, Post mortem nulla voluptas; ,

Let's deal with our Damsels, that we may from thence, Have broods to succeed us a hundred years hence.

—Thomas Jordan: The Careless Gallant.