I would be glad, also, if you have not secured anyone else, to assist you in herding your stock on Wall street. Railroad stock frequently runs down and gets the hollow horn for lack of care during the winter months.
Always feel free to call on me at any time that I can be of service to you.
Yours truly,
A——-B———.
The moral to be drawn from the career of Napoleon Bonaparte Ives is that they who make haste to be rich may not be innocent. As Gen. McClellan once said, there can be no better incentive to integrity than the generous approval accorded to honesty by those who are honest. All other kinds of approval are not worth struggling for. Money will buy a certain kind of applause, but it is the kind that turns to scorn when justice begins to get in her fine work.
And life itself is brief. Storied urn and animated bust may succeed well in society, but they cannot soothe the dull cold ear of death. Freckled granite and prevaricating marble may perpetuate the fraud of a lifetime, but they do not always indicate success.
For myself I would rather have more sincere and honest friends through life, and afterwards content myself with a plainer tomb.
Not many miles from the costly mausoleum of a great millionaire a sign-board by the roadside reads:
This way to Foley's Grove!
Enjoy life while you live, for