Thomas Rich

“ They sat down at the tea-table, Ditlinde on a sofa, Klaus Heinrich on a chair opposite the window.
“Rich relations!” she repeated, and the subject obviously excited her. “No, far from it; how can we expect to be rich, where cash is so short and everything is sunk in various enterprises, Klaus Heinrich? And they are young and in the making, they're all in the development stage, as dear Philipp says, and won't bear full fruit till others have succeeded us. ”

“ Like God's "sanctified ones, the Medes," the heart of "the earth" is steel, and its eye unpitying. It is ready to dash out the brains of sucklings, to spoil the property of the rich, and to reduce the social fabric of the Beast to its elemental chaos. ”

“ If a king should fall under such contempt or envy that he could not keep his subjects in their duty but by oppression and ill usage, and by rendering them poor and miserable, it were certainly better for him to quit his kingdom than to retain it by such methods as make him, while he keeps the name of authority, lose the majesty due to it. Nor is it so becoming the dignity of a king to reign over beggars as over rich and happy subjects. ”

“ She was saturated with her family history—she, Tony Buddenbrook, who, as the daughter of Consul Buddenbrook, went about the town like a little queen, before whom Matthiesen the porter took off his hat and made a low bow! The Rostock tailor had been very well off, to begin with; but since his time, the family fortunes had advanced by leaps and bounds. It was her vocation to enhance the brilliance of family and firm in her allotted way, by making a [107] rich and aristocratic marriage. To the same end, Tom worked in the office. Yes, the marriage was undoubtedly precisely the right one. ”

“ Klaus Heinrich looked past Jettchen's head at the bright window.
“Impression?” he said.... “No, riches make no impression on me, I think—I mean, riches in the ordinary way. But it seems to me that it depends ... it depends, I think, on the standard. We too have one or two rich people in the town here—Soap-boiler Unschlitt must be a millionaire.... I often see him in his carriage. He's dreadfully fat and common. But when a man is quite ill and lonely from mere riches ... ”

“ If we are industrious, we shall never starve; for, as poor Richard says, "At the working man's house hunger looks in, but dares not enter; for, "Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them,” says poor Richard. What tho' you have found no treasure, nor has any rich relation left you a legacy? "Diligence is the mother of good luck," as poor Richard says; and, “God gives all things to industry;
Then plough deep while sluggard's sleep,
And you will have corn to sell and to keep,"
says poor Dick. ”

“ To what slights and insolences did he submit himself for the sake of feathering his own nest; and how he had counted upon that fat living, of which the Squire had so cruelly disappointed him! Talk of religion! why, there was Carew himself, with thirty thousand a year, and did not spend a shilling of it on religion! True, he kept a chaplain, but only as a check upon his steward, to manage his estate for him. If there was really any thing in it, would not a rich man like him have put aside a portion of his wealth, by way of insurance—insurance against fire?—and here Richard chuckled to himself. ”

“ Labor is wealth: and if we could [Pg 112] get men to work twenty-four hours a day, we should be just twice as rich. If the march of civilization is to proceed," continued Richard, loftily, "men, and boys, too, must not lie a-bed doing nothing all night, sir." Then with a complacent tone—"We shall get to the twenty-four hours at last; and, by gad, we must, or we shan't flog the Europeans as we do now."
On arriving at the inn at which Richard had first made acquaintance with Mr. Dale, the coach by which he had intended to perform the rest of the journey was found to be full. ”

“ If any man who was not rich held a high or important office, he would find some pretext for removing him, and then would offer the office for sale. One of the historians of those times says that at this period Richard's presence-chamber became a regular place of trade—like the counting-room of a merchant or an exchange—where every thing that could be derived from the bounty of the crown or bestowed by the royal prerogative was offered for sale in open market to the man who would give the best bargain for it. ”

“ No, they are no longer poor, but of what avail is money now? It cannot bring back the days that are gone, the happy days before Richard went away. And they were happy, then, so happy.
After her father's death, which had occurred while she was still a mere child, she and mother had devoted themselves to the task of caring for little Richard. They toiled; they starved, they saved—all for Richard. They prayed and planned and hoped—for Richard. He must go to school, he must go to college, he must become a power in the world. ”

“ This act, so characteristic of the despotic arrogance which marked Richard's character, shows that the reckless ferocity for which he was so renowned was not softened or alleviated by any true and genuine nobleness or generosity. For a rich and powerful king thus to rob a poor, helpless peasant, and on such a pretext too, was as base a deed as we can well conceive a royal personage to perform. ”

“ Much pondering enabled Richard to hit at length on what he considered a hopeful scheme; he would apprentice ‘Arry to engineering, and send him in the evenings to follow the courses of lectures given to working men at the School of Mines. In this way the lad would be kept constantly occupied, he would learn the meaning of work and study, and when he became of age would be in a position to take up some capitalist enterprise. Thus he might float clear of the shoals of black-guardism and develop into a tolerable member of society, at all events using his wealth in the direct employment of labour. ”

“ But it would be lean living—and I have chosen the flesh-pots."
"Don't despise yourself because you couldn't go on being poor in a big way. You are going to be rich in a big way, and that is better."
As the days went on, however, Richard wondered if it were really better to be rich in a big way. Sometimes the very bigness and richness oppressed him. He found himself burdened by the splendor of the mansions at which he made his morning calls. He hated the sleekness of the men in livery who preceded him up the stairs, the trimness of the maids waiting on the threshold of hushed boudoirs. ”

“ In the spring of 1889 prospects indicated a great scarcity of water to irrigate with, and Thomas was worried as a consequence. Besides, he found himself burdened with a heavy indebtedness as a result of his trip to England, but, by cultivating four acres of land in addition to his own, he paid off all his indebtedness and had enough left to keep his family well provided, so that he felt that the Lord had blessed him for following the promptings of His Spirit. ”

“ I would rather restore to poor Rick his proper nature than be endowed with all the money that dead suitors, broken, heart and soul, upon the wheel of Chancery, have left unclaimed with the Accountant-General—and that’s money enough, my dear, to be cast into a pyramid, in memory of Chancery’s transcendent wickedness.”
“Is it possible, guardian,” I asked, amazed, “that Richard can be suspicious of you?”
“Ah, my love, my love,” he said, “it is in the subtle poison of such abuses to breed such diseases. His blood is infected, and objects lose their natural aspects in his sight. ”

“ It's not that I grudge my money, or have not as much of it as I want, thank Heaven!"
"Then you've got more than any body else I know," said Richard, laughing; "and I am acquainted with some rich men too."
"I dare say, Sir; you are a rich man yourself, I hope. You look like a young gentleman with plenty of money in your pocket."
At any other time Richard would not have been displeased by such an observation, which was, moreover, a perfectly just one. He looked from head to heel like a young man of fortune, and had been brought up as idly and uselessly as any such ”

“ Richard and his wife made their home at Crossroads, where he devoted most of his working hours to the writing of short stories. In August of that year my brother, accompanied by his wife, returned to Chicago to report the Progressive convention. During the year 1913 he wrote and produced the farce "Who's Who," of which William Collier was the star, and in the fall of the same year spent a month in Cuba, with Augustus Thomas, where they produced a film version of "Soldiers of Fortune." ”

“ Herr Marcus announced that as partner he should be able to strengthen the working capital by a hundred and twenty thousand marks current. A sum of fifty thousand marks was set aside as a private fortune for Thomas, and the same for Christian, in case he wished to establish himself separately. Justus Kröger paid close attention to the passage that ran: “The fixing of the dowry of my beloved daughter Clara I leave to the discretion of my dear wife.” “Shall we say a hundred thousand?” ”

“ When his brother Henry was leading processions and preaching the People’s Charter, Richard enrolled himself as a special constable, cursing the tumults which drew him from business, but determined, if he got the opportunity, to strike a good hard blow in defence of law and order. Already he was well on the way to possess a solid stake in the country, and the native conservatism of his temperament grew stronger as circumstances bent themselves to his will; a proletarian conquering wealth and influence naturally prizes these things in proportion to the effort their acquisition has cost him. ”

“ Up she sprang, kicking her skirts as she always did when angered.
"Money! money!—always money!" she cried. "I do not care one rap for it! And Richard is not wealthy!"
"Richard is heir to wealth," replied his Grace calmly. "And even an you are so impervious to its charms, I, my dear, am not. Richard is extremely useful to me. I beg you will not leave him for any such mad rake as Lovelace, who would be faithful to you for perhaps three months, certainly not longer."
"Tracy, I will not have you speak to me like this! How dare you insult me so? ”

“ His twenty years might possibly, then, by extremity of good luck, be curtailed by five. By diligent execution of menial drudgery; by performing to some overlooker's satisfaction his daily toil; by careful obedience and subservience to these Jacks in office, themselves but servants, and yet whose malice or ill-humor might cause them to report him for the most trifling faults, or for none at all, and thereby destroy even this hope—he might be a free man in fifteen years! He would, even then, he was told, be still a young man. But that he would never be young again Richard was well aware. ”

“ In the afternoon Richard had another private talk with the lad. This time he addressed himself solely to ‘Arry’s self-interest, explained to him the opportunities he would lose if he neglected to make himself a practical man. What if there was money waiting for him? The use of money was to breed money, and nowadays no man was rich who didn’t constantly increase his capital. ”

“ Before Richard arrived in England, however, [Pg 76] he had formed the plan, in connection with Philip, the King of France, of going on a crusade. Richard was a wild and desperate man, and he loved fighting for its own sake; and inasmuch as now, since his father was dead, and his claim to the crown of England, and to all his possessions in Normandy, was undisputed, there seemed to be nobody for him to fight at home, he conceived the design of organizing a grand expedition to go to the Holy Land and fight the Saracens. ”

“ We make these times better if we bestir ourselves. “Industry needs not wish,” as poor Richard says; and,
“He that lives upon hope will die fasting.”
“There are no gains without pains; then help hands, for I have no lands, or if I have, they are smartly taxed; and, (as poor Richard likewise observes,) “He that hath a trade hath an estate; and he that hath a calling hath an office of profit and honour; but then the trade must be worked at, and the calling well followed, or neither the estate nor the office will enable us to pay our taxes.
If we are industrious, we shall never starve ”

“ For among the bigger boys Richard had been his hero and protector, and no service was ever too great for him to undertake for his idol. And Richard had petted and yet imposed upon him in the way peculiar to all boys of a larger growth, [Pg 85] when a small one asks nothing better than to obey. It was really to be with Richard as much as to share in the war that he had stolen away from his mother and followed the Hillsboro’ men to the field.
At last the tent was quiet save for the deep breathing of the tired men, but Richard could not close his eyes ”

“ Richard thought he would be on safe ground to ask about the grapes.
“Po’rly, Mistah Richud, po’rly,” George Alexander pulled a long face. “Not ’nuff blue-stone. A spray what’s all water, I says, ain’t no spray ’tall.... It’s a mighty good thing us black folks is all rich.”
There was a joke here, no doubt, thought Richard. George Alexander’s expressionless face seemed to be waiting for the “interlocutor” to bring the end-man out. ”

“ There is an account of a grand entertainment [Pg 173] which was given by the Warwick family at York, some years before, on the occasion of the enthroning of the earl's brother George as Archbishop of York, at which Richard was present. Richard, being a prince of the blood royal, was, of course, a very highly honored guest, notwithstanding that he was but a child. So they prepared for him and some few other great personages a raised platform, called a dais, at one end of the banquet-hall, with a royal canopy over it. ”