People moan about poverty as a great evil and it seems to be an accepted belief that if people had plenty of money, they would be happy and cheerful and get more out of life. As a rule, there is more genuine satisfaction in life and more is obtained from life in the humble cottages of the poor than in the places of the rich. I always pity the sons and daughters of rich men, who are attended by servants and have governesses at a later stage; at the same time I am glad to think they do not know what they have missed.
It is because I know how sweet and happy and pure the home of honest poverty is, how free from perplexing care and from social envies and jalousie show loving and united the members are in the common interest of supporting the family that I sympathies with the rich man’s boy and congratulate the poor man’s son. It is for these reasons that from the ranks of the poor so many strong, eminent, self-reliant men have always sprung and must always spring. If you read the list of the “immortals who were not born to die” you will find that most of them have been poor.
1. What is the popular notion about poverty ?
2. Are the rich persons happier than the poor ones ?
3. Why does the writer pity the rich man’s boy ?
4. What are the blessings of honest poverty ?
