CHAPTER XVII.
A RETROSPECT, CONTINUED.
As I look over the changes that half a century has wrought in the social life of my beloved country, I see some which awaken satisfaction--others which are not so exhilarating.

The enormous and rapid increase of wealth is unparalleled in human history.

In my boyhood, millionaires were rare; there were hardly a score of them in any one of our cities.

The two typical rich men were Stephen Girard in Philadelphia and John Jacob Astor in New York; and their whole fortunes were not equal to the annual income of several of the rich men of to-day.

Some of our present millionaires are reservoirs of munificence, and the outflow builds churches, hospitals, asylums, and endows libraries--and sends broad streams of charity through places parched by destitution and suffering.
Others are like pools at the base of a hill--they receive the inflow of every descending streamlet or shower, and stagnate into selfishness.
Wealth is a tremendous trust; it becomes a dangerous one when it owns its owner.