Poverty May Be a Bitter Draught, Yet It Often Is a Tonic
The majority of the men of note in this country are not the sons of those fathers who could give them all they want, and much more than they should have, but are those who were brought up in cottages and cabins cutting their way through difficulties on every side to their present commanding position.
It is not prosperity so much as advertising, not wealth so much as poverty, that stimulates the perseverance of strong and healthy natures, rouses their energies and develops their character. Indeed, misfortune and poverty have frequently converted an indolent votary of society into a useful member of the community and made him a moving power in the great workshop of the world, teaching men and developing the powers which Nature has bestowed on them.
It can’t be too often repeated that it is not the blessings of life, its sunshine and calms, that make men, but its rugged experiences, its storms and trials. Thousands of men are bemoaning present indigence who might have won riches and honor had they only been compelled by early poverty to develop their manhood. Poverty does more, perhaps, than anything else to develop the energetic, self-reliant trait of character, without which the highest ability makes but sorry work of life’s battles.
Of all poverty that of the mind is the most deplorable, and is at the same time without excuse. Every one who wills it can lay in a rich store of mental wealth. The poor man’s purse may be empty, but he has as much gold in the sunset, and as much silver in the moon, as anybody. Wealth of heart is not dependent upon wealth of purse.
Thus the evils of poverty are much exaggerated, and the evils, if evils they be, are often all for our own ultimate good. Poverty is the great test of civility and touch-stone of friendship. It is one of the mysteries of our life that genius, the noblest gift of God to man, is nourished by poverty.