―459―For the Literary Magazine.
the honest man.
A Portrait.
An honest man's the noblest work of
God.
AVARICE, carried to an unusu-
al excess, is sometimes ranked
among diseases; but it is certainly
a kind of insanity the most consist-
ent, uniform, and harmless, of any
that appears on the list. It pro-
duces less visible and direct injury
to others, and is, with regard to the
subject of it, more nearly allied to
true wisdom than any other frailty
or disease of the mind.
This passion seems divisible into
two branches. It is a propensity
to accumulate, either by active ex-
ertions, by efforts of ingenuity and
labour, or merely by the sparing
use and the safe keeping of that re-
venue which is regular and fixed.
In order to increase our store, it is
not always necessary to augment
our profits, by striking out new
paths of gain, or exercising new ar-
tifices of extortion; for if our early
industry, or that of our ancestors,
has given us an annual revenue, ei-
ther as interest or rent, our hoards
may be increased merely by receiv-
ing and retaining what is legally
and periodically due to us. It is
not requisite that we should add to
our stock; that we should violate
the letter or spirit of the law, or be
guilty of any indisputable infraction
of equity. It is merely requisite, in
order to boundless accumulation,
that I should keep what the law and
what equity bestows on me.
These remarks are suggested by
the character of one of my friends,
with regard to whom I have often
been uncertain whether he may
justly claim the appellation of a mi-
ser. I shall conceal, for obvious
reasons, his real name, and present
him to my readers under that Caru-
thers.
Caruthers was the only son of a
merchant who died in the midst of
successful business, and in the pos-
session of considerable real property.
The father had diligently trained
his son to his own profession, and
entertained no ambition but that of
leaving, at his death, his station oc-
cupied by a being exactly of the
same habits and pursuits with him-
self. The young man was docile
and obsequious; he performed, qui-
etly and faithfully, whatever duty
was assigned to him, and showed a
species of capacity which, if it did
not exceed, by no means fell short
of the rank and profession in which
he was placed.
His modes were regular and fru-
gal, and did not differ essentially
from those of his father. His ex-
pences, like his tasks, appeared to
be the fruits of habit and obedience;
and his frugality seemed to flow not
from a lust of gain, but from the
absence of desire.
At the age of twenty-four, he lost
his father. It was an event which
caused a few tears and sighs; but
he quickly retrieved his customary
tranquillity. His first business was
to wind up his mercantile transac-
tions, to receive his dues, and dis-
charge his debts, and this was done
without quarrelling or noise. Some
of his debtors were unable to ans-
wer his claims; but he molested
them not with menaces and impor-
tunities. He called on them often
enough to show them that they were
not forgotten; but he made no com-
―460―
plaints, dropped no intimations of
poverty, and never talked of resort-
ing to the law. Their excuses
were received without anger or im-
patience, and the fiftieth application
was made, and the fiftieth refusal
endured, with as much equanimity
and good-humour as the first. Per-
servance, however, finally suc-
ceeded.
He turned his stock and his dues,
as fast as he received them, into
houses and lands. He dismissed his
father's servants, let the house, and
placed himself in a private family
as a boarder, at a moderate expence.
His expences, with regard to cloth-
ing, were regulated by the plainest
standard. He never was mean or
ragged; he consulted neatness in
the choice of his apparel, and clean-
liness and decency in the change
and renewal of it. He avoided all
kinds of expensive amusements,
shunned all society but that of the
family in which he lived, and of
those whom he casually met with in
his diurnal walks.
Being very accurate and regular
in the preservation and arrangement
of his clothes, and being a stranger
to violent movements of any kind,
his apparel preserved its texture
and gloss longer than is customary,
and he dressed with less cost than
those who were less neat and ele-
gant in their garb than himself.
By these arrangements, he conti-
nues to live upon one-tenth of his ori-
ginal revenue. In what manner, it
may be asked, does he consume the
remainder? He has no family and no
near kindred whose poverty requires
his assistance. Spontaneous charity
is utterly unknown to him. He ne-
ver carries money in his pockets,
and, consequently, finds it easy to
resist the importunity of casual beg-
gars. When applied to, in a direct
manner, in favour of public institu-
tions, he urges, without seeming em-
barrassment, the want of money; or,
if that plea cannot be truly urged, he
states some common-place objection
to the scheme. To this objection, in
spite of argument and opposition, he
calmly and stedfastly adheres.
He sedulously avoids loans. He
never borrows from others, and ne-
ver lends. His money is disposed
of with so much expedition, that a
borrower seldom finds him in pos-
session of the sum that is wanted.
When this excuse is wanting, he
makes no scruple to refuse the loan,
mildly but explicitly. Being in no
habits of intimate and cordial inter-
course with any human being, he is
less exposed to importunities of this
kind, and suffers less embarrassment
in refusing compliance.
The surplus of his annual expen-
ces is speedily and invariably invest-
ed in houses and lots. Building is a
province that requires personal at-
tention and much intercourse with
others, and these are inconveniences
which he chuses to avoid. He con-
tents himself, therefore, with pur-
chasing what others have erected.
His purchases are generally judi-
cious, for he has no employment
which calls away his attention from
this object. Long application has
made him perfectly skilled in the
changes of value incident to this
species of property, and it is vain,
therefore, for any one to hope to
take advantage of his precipitation
or his ignorance. All his contracts
are made with caution and delibera-
tion, and his mode of life makes
him perfectly master of all the con-
siderations requisite to a prudent
bargain.
In consequence of this knowledge,
he shuns every occasion for bicker-
ing or dissention. He takes care
to proceed, in the choice of objects
of purchase, with circumspection;
to have the terms of every contract
legal and explicit; avoids litigation,
by shunning the mazes of mortages
and instalments, contingent condi-
tions and future limitations, and
scrupulously adheres to every pro-
mise and engagement, even where
the law would countenance delay or
non-compliance.
In this way have passed the last
forty-five years of his life. By an
adherence to this system, he has
made himself one of the most opu-
lent proprietors in the city where
―461―
he dwells. Last year, his income
did not fall short of thirty thousand
dollars.
Is the passion which actuates Ca-
ruthers avarice? All his actions
have but one tendency, all his
thoughts are employed on one ob-
ject: the increase of his property.
Not a farthing is bestowed through
the impulse of benevolence; no ex-
pensive amusement is ever pursued;
no toy or luxury is ever purchased;
all intellectual gratifications are un-
known to him. These seem to ma-
nifest the influence of avarice.
Some of the most noted ingredi-
ents of avarice are not, however, to
be found in his character. The lust
of gain does not prompt him to un-
common or intense exertions of
mind or body. Neither does it im-
pose upon him any remarkable or
sordid expedients of abstinence or
self-denial. It does not impel him
to the use of artifice and cunning,
nor to the rigorous exercise of all
his legal rights. He disburses mo-
ney when necessary, and performs
his contracts without apparent re-
luctance, and without delay, and
without cavilling. He betrays no
solicitude about the safety of his
property, the solvency of his debt-
ors, and the punctuality of his te-
nants It is not from his words so
much as from his actions, that you
perceive in what degree the pursuit
of riches occupies his thoughts. He
inquires and converses about nothing
but sales and purchases; but this
appears to flow merely from the in-
aptitude of his mind, in consequence
of native or acquired incapacity to
all other subjects of speculation.
Is he an honest man? He does
what he wills with his own, but in-
jures nobody. No one is the worse
by his means. He never resorted
to the law to effectuate his claims
on others, and was never himself
even menaced with a prosecution.
He does not always exact what is
due to him, and renders to others,
with unexceptionable good faith,
whatever is legally their due.
Let us then consider: yes, Caru-
thers is not munificent or liberal;
he is not a public or a private bene-
factor; he does not employ the
means which he possesses for the
benefit of those around him; he ne-
ver, by direct means, soothed the
pangs or augmented the comforts of
a human being; and yet, surely,
Caruthers is an honest man, though,
in spite of the poet's assertion, he is
certainly not the noblest work of
God.