It is true the California gold will last forever unchanged, if its owner chooses; but, while it so lasts, it is of no use; no, not as much as its value in pig iron, which makes the best of ballast; whereas gold, while it is gold, is good for little or nothing. You can neither eat it, nor drink it, nor smoke it. You can neither wear it, nor burn it as fuel, nor build a house with it; it is really useless till you exchange it for consumable, perishable goods; and the more plentiful it is the less its exchangeable value—Edward Everett.
(1263)
GOLDEN AGE, THE
That the golden age is not in the past nor in the future, but now, is the refrain of these verses:
There are no days for me in long ago,
No days in which to work and love and pray,
No richly freighted hours where sweet winds blow.
There is no treasure for me but to-day.
There is no field where I may sow my seed
Beyond the reach of evening’s setting sun.