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America Through the Spectacles of an Oriental Diplomat-Part8_TingFang Wu(1842-1922)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Once I asked a gentleman, who was known to be worth

half a million of gold dollars, whether it was not time for him to retire.



He pooh-poohed the idea and said that he could not afford to give up his work.

In reply to my inquiries he informed me that he would not call a man wealthy" target="_blank" title="a.富有的；丰富的">wealthy



unless he should be possessed of one or two millions of dollars.

With such extravagant ideas, it is no wonder that Americans work so hard.



I grant that a man's mission in this world is to attain happiness.

According to Webster, happiness is "that state of being



which is attended with enjoyment," but it is curious to observe

what different notions people have as to what happiness is.



I know an Englishman in China who by his skilful business management,

combined with good luck, has amassed immensewealth; in fact,



he is considered the richest man in the port where he resides.

He is a bachelor, over seventy years old, and leads a very simple life.



But he still goes to his office every day, and toils as if he had to work

for a living. Being told that he should discontinue his drudgery,



as at his death he would have to leave his large fortune to relatives

who would probably squander it, he gave an answer which is characteristic



of the man. "I love," he said, "accumulating dollars and bank notes,

and my enjoyment is in counting them; if my relatives



who will inherit my fortune, take as much pleasure in spending it

as I have had in making it, they will be quite welcome to their joy."



Not many people, I fancy, will agree with the old bachelor's view of life.

I once suggested to a multi-millionaire of New York that it was time for him



to retire from active work, leaving his sons to carry on his business.

He told me that he would be unhappy without work and that he enjoyed



the demands his business made on him each day.

Many a man's life has been shortened by his retiring from business.



It is the mind rather than the body that lives, and apart from their business

these men have no thoughts and therefore no life. A man's idea of happiness



is greatly governed by his personal tastes, and is influenced

by his environment, his education and the climate.



The form which it is to assume may vary with persons

of different tastes and positions, but it should not be carried out



for his own benefit solely and it should not be injurious to his health

or to his intellectual and spiritualimprovement, nor should it be detrimental



to the interests of other people.

Chapter 7. American Freedom and Equality



When an Oriental, who, throughout his life, has lived in his own country

where the will of his Sovereign is supreme, and the personal liberty



of the subject unknown, first sets foot on the soil of the United States,

he breathes an atmosphereunlike anything he has ever known,



and experiences curious sensations which are absolutely new.

For the first time in his life he feels that he can do whatever he pleases



without restraint, and that he can talk freely to people without fear.

When he takes up a newspaper and reads statements about different persons



in high positions which are not at all creditable to them,

and learns that no serious consequences happen to the writers,



he is lost in wonderment. After a little time he begins to understand

that this is the "land of the free and the home of the brave",



and that in America everybody is on an equality. The President,

the highest official in the United States, is neither more nor less



than a citizen; and should he, which is very unlikely, commit an offense,

or do anything in contravention of the law, he would be tried in



a Court of Justice in the same manner as the lowest and the poorest citizen.

Naturally the new visitor thinks this the happiest people on earth,



and wishes that his own country could be governed as happily.

Until that lucky day arrives he feels that he would rather



stay in free America than return to his native land.

One of the first lessons which is learned by the American child in school,



and which is deeply impressed on its mind by its teacher,

is that according to the Constitution all persons are born equal,



and that no distinction is made between sections, classes, or sects.




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