Annals of a Quiet Neighbourhood

Do I now hear any of my friends saying in their hearts: Let the rich take that! It does not apply to us. We are poor enough? Ah, my friends, I have known a light-hearted, liberal rich man lose his riches, and be liberal and light-hearted still. I knew a rich lady once, in giving a large gift of money to a poor man, say apologetically, ‘I hope it is no disgrace in me to be rich, as it is none in you to be poor.’ It is not the being rich that is wrong, but the serving of riches, instead of making them serve your neighbour and yourself.