University of Virginia Library

ON SOCIETIES
FOR
AMELIORATING THE CONDITION OF THE RICH.

IT hath long been a matter of surprise to me, that amidst
a multitude of benevolent institutions we have none
for ameliorating the condition of the rich. A large class is
certainly left out of the sphere of popular charity, which,
from a careful examination of the smallest camels in various
menageries, and a personal inspection of John Hemming
and Son's best drilled-eyed cambrics, seems to stand
more in need of our sympathies than any people under the
sun. We may also observe, when one of these highly-respected
citizens is on his way to the other world, he is generally
followed by an unusual concourse of clergymen; and

this, like a consultation of physicians, would appear to indicate
that the person was in more than ordinary peril, and
therefore needed greater care and skill than one within the
reach of customary medicines.

I am impelled to make this suggestion more particularly
now, from the fact that this class is growing upon us:
the evil is spreading, and to a greater extent than many
good people imagine. I have been surprised lately to find
persons whom I did not imagine worth a copper, freely acknowledging
themselves to be wealthy; and others, of
whose poverty I had not a doubt, confessing, with some
little tribulation and blushing, there was no truth in that
report; that money was with them, yea, abundantly.
Such being the case, a common sense of humanity should
induce us to relieve our opulent brethren from a portion of
their distress, in order to prevent extension of the mischief.
“Homo sum; nihil humani à me alienum puto.” We, who
belong to the ancient and honorable order of poverty, must
not be neglectful of such claims upon us. Yet we should
do it tenderly and affectionately; not haughtily, and with
an air of superiority, but with a grace.

“Poverty,” saith Austin, “is the way to heaven, the
mistress of philosophy, the mother of religion, virtue, sobriety,
sister of innocency and an upright mind.” True—

I dispute not the words of the Father: but need we therefore
exult and vaingloriously contemn those who have
the misfortune to be rich? Should we not rather take
them by the hand, and show them the way to be better,
wiser, happier? Should we not teach them that riches
are only relative blessings; poverty a positive one? Should
we let them struggle on for years and years in a wrong
path, without endeavoring to pluck them “as brands from
the burning?”

Riches are only relative: Apax is rich, but Syphax is
richer: by-and-by, some rude, illiterate fellow, who went
to California with a spade on his shoulder, returns with
money enough to eclipse both. Our little domestic flashes
of wealth pale their ineffectual fires before the dazzling opulence
of the India House; nay, show like poverty itself,
compared with that treasury of empires, which seems to
realize

And yet Tempus edax rerum: its ingots and tissues, its
barbaric pearl and gold, will be scattered; oblivion will set
its seal upon it; obscurity, with dust and ashes— Stay—

The India House has a name connected with it—an
humble and unpretending name—whose influence will

draw pilgrims thither while one crumbling stone rests
upon another; and when the very ground where it now
stands shall be forgotten, when its illustrious line of nameless
nabobs lie neglected with the common multitude,
upon that ancient edifice will rest, like a sunset glory,
the fame of Charles Lamb.

I know many are jealous of position, and derive no little
self-respect from what they call their “circumstances.”
But how mutable is pecuniary fame! Must not the mere
wealthy occupy a position comparatively degraded in the
presence of the wealthier? And how do our wealthiest
show beside those nabobs of the India House—those eastern
magnificats? Very like paupers, I fancy. Should it
not then awaken the sympathies of the benevolent—the
unfortunate situation of those “creatures of circum
stance?”

There are those, rich as well as poor, superior to this,
and with such, this humane proposition has nothing to do.
Refinement and courtesy adorn opulence; benevolence
moves in a wider sphere, rare accomplishments and exquisite
taste are more attainable, when liberal means unite
with liberal uses. But ignorance and vulgarity, meanness
and pretence, are hideous in gilded trappings. For
the benefit of this class I make the suggestion.

It is not in my nature to cast reflections. I could
scarcely forgive the spiteful allusion of H— the other
day to a certain Gothic building, which he called “the
ecclesiastical rattle for grown-up children;” an epithet
unworthy of a poor man glorying in the power of his literary
affluence. No, far be it from me to countenance
uncharitable reflections: let us remember we are all human,
it is man's nature to err, many cannot help being
rich; and souls vibrating between the opera-house and
such places as the one above alluded to, drifting as it were
upon tides of harmony any whither, are objects—not of
our derision—but of our pity.

My intention had been to refer to the miseries of the
rich in this paper, but a mere allusion to so fruitful a subject
will doubtless suggest enough to awaken the sympathies
of the benevolent. Avarice—mere avarice, in itself—
is bad enough; a powerful astringent, it produces constipation
of the mind, from whence comes ignorance, the
mother of mischief. But Avarus dies and endows benevolent
institutions, and thereby the world is bettered. It
is the tinsel show of real or affected wealth; its currents
of folly, its ebbs and flows, tides, eddies and whirlpools;
its generations, rising up in young misses who have not
left off the rocking motion acquired in the cradle; its

squab-dandies, stilting along on legs you might thrust in
your double-barrel gun; its elders, with a reversion in
Greenwood for the benefit of their heirs; it is this show,
this pageant, which appears to the philanthropist pitiable
beyond the mimic efforts of the stage, the fictions of imagination,
or the supplications of the professional pauper
who begs, with God knows how much, content in his heart.

I fear I also may be amenable to the charge of

as Prior hath it, and therefore will turn to the main part
and body, or rather head, of my subject.

I propose to the benevolent, to establish societies for
ameliorating the condition of the rich. I would suggest
that a board of directors be appointed, with visiting committees,
to inquire into the condition of the more opulent
families, to call upon them personally, and give such advice
and assistance as their several cases seem to require.

To the board of visitors, I would refer the motto above
quoted:

Therefore take what you can, and be merciful.

I would recommend an asylum to be provided for those
whose opulence is excessive, and at the same time whose
mental incapacity prevents them taking proper care of
themselves.

I would suggest the purchase of substantial woollen
garments for those who need them; gymnasiums for
youth; and that a proper care be had for the moral
culture of both sexes.

But, above all, I suggest the immediate organization
of the society. The miseries of the rich afford so copious
a field for the exercise of true benevolence, that I leave
the matter to those more experienced and better able to
advise than the writer.