- sessed the more he desired. He also perceived that
his wealth did not gratify his wants. The moment he possessed it, he found he could not take care of it to his liking. He could not trust it in banks, for the banks might break; and he did not like to invest it in stocks, for stocks were liable to depreciate in value; so he made up his mind that he would convert it into money, and keep it continually in his sight; and accordingly he had it placed in heaps, and stood and watched it. But then he was unable to sleep because he feared burglars and assassins, whose plottings for his life and money constantly rung in his ear. As he stood and watched those shining heaps, he reflected that although he had obtained wealth he had derived no satisfaction from it, but that every dollar added to his possessions added a new pang to his sorrows; and he determined to kill himself, and accordingly proceeded to the banks of the river Seine, for the purpose of drowning himself. Upon arriving at the river's bank, happening to put his hand in his pocket, he found four guineas. Thinking they would thereafter be of no use to him, he concluded that rather than have them lost, he would, before he sought his watery grave, go and find some needy person to whom he might give the money. He accordingly went to a miserable hovel close by. As he approached it, he heard cries of agony and distress within. He entered, when he beheld a most heart-rending sight. There lay a poor, sick, distressed widow on a pallet of straw, with a few rags for covering; and there were four hungry, dirty, naked children crying for bread, while the sick mother had no bread for them, or the means
