A Jolly by Josh | Page 2

principal object for which we strive as "LIFE, LIBERTY, AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS."
This may seem wandering far from the question of a pony; but, if you have patience and follow me closely, you will find the old man is not too far from the point.
Now let us bear fully in mind that Life, Liberty, and Happiness are the objects which we have in view. In the tangled complications of modern existence one gets lost and bewildered, unless having very definitely in mind the objects for which we are striving. We would be like a ship drifting or sailing in a fog without a compass. We do not know whether we are attaining and accomplishing, or losing ground, unless we have definitely in mind an objective point or points with which to make comparisons of our position at different times.
I do not hesitate to write freely that we are engaged in the pursuit of happiness, even though shallow minds might take exceptions on the ground of selfishness. This is not so, as to a properly constituted mind happiness includes seeing others happy, and the greatest satisfaction comes from making them so. I will therefore let the Declaration of Independence stand for the present without amendment.
Let us begin by postulating a great degree of happiness for friend Harris, who has a dear little wife, a small house, and twenty-five hundred per year. He will have no vacations and several children; and though we see him full of happiness now, and envy his good luck and all, yet we foresee that in twenty years, even though his salary is doubled, he will have been enabled to lay by nothing, and will have a little heart-burning at the thought that he cannot give his three daughters the ball dresses and jewels they see among their boon companions.
Thompy, who has four thousand now, is not quite as happy as Harris, and complains a good deal of being poor. He is hard-working and progressive, and will doubtless double his salary; while Perry who is getting ten thousand, part as income from property and part as trustee of something or other, is the poorest man I know. He has desires, tastes, and expensive habits which would make fifteen thousand a year look small to him, and can't get along without entertainments and personal expenses on a considerably higher plane than he can now afford.
Where will you land? As you are heading now, you will never be an earner--it is more likely that you will be a spender--of money. You have been accustomed to lots of things you could not afford on ten thousand a year. Of course, you can cut down to that figure; but where will it land you when you are married and have three daughters to send into society? You will be worse off than Harris or Thompy in spite of the fact that you have twice as much as one and just as much as the other.
Here is a curious fact I noticed when in college. I was asked by the manager of the crew to collect subscriptions for him, and I undertook the job in the dormitory in which I lived. I often found that the richest men were the poorest. They never had money with them, and, while they promised large amounts, they seldom paid; while the men of moderate means seemed to be the ones who would readily promise reasonable amounts, and then draw a check for it the first time you asked them. I am stating these facts for the purpose of drawing some conclusions; and I think you will agree with me, particularly when I have proved them up by testing them from the other side.
The obvious conclusion sounds almost like a platitude,--that it is not the amount of money one has that increases one's happiness, but the use it is put to and the attitude of mind you have toward your income and the life you can lead with it.
Let us now apply this to your particular case, and draw some more conclusions.
A priori, you would be dissatisfied because you will be unable to do the things you have been accustomed to doing, and your attitude will be that of a man who has to deny himself things he thinks he wants. You will then cut down the rate of expenditure to within your income, as you have a certain modicum of sense in regard to matters of this kind,--not acquired, but inherited,--and permit yourself to spend freely up to your limits. Observe the result:--
When at the end of ten years you are married, you will find there is no increase in income, and you will have a lot of expensive tastes for things which you have come to look upon as necessary; and the increased