loe's Island Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty waved her torch, outward
bound steamers exchanged salutes, the Brooklyn Bridge and all the ferries
were thronged with people hurrying to the labor marts of the metropolis,
as the steamer with George and Gertrude aboard moved up the harbor and
was safely docked on the North River.

In the lead down the gangway Gertrude hastened George to secure a
carriage for their hotel, so anxious was she to reach rooms on American
soil, where she might honorably break the seal of her father's mysterious
big blue envelope. It had rarely been out of her mind since the day of
her wedding in Paris.

After breakfast, served in true American style, the Ingrams glanced at
the big morning papers crowded with American news, and wondered why
European papers printed so little about the States. Then they retired to
their rooms to break the seal of the blue envelope.

George was all attention as his young wife with the flush of health and
excitement in her cheeks tore apart the envelope, and stepping to the
window for better light, she began to read Reuben Harris's letter.

Paris--

_Dear George and Gertrude_,--

The accumulation of my fortune, now largely invested in prime
securities, has been a surprise and often a burden to me, and with it
came, as I now clearly see, great responsibilities.

Money is power, and most people zealously seek it. Many fail to get it,
and often those who do succeed, fail to keep it. Wealth unsought comes
only to a few, while others, with perhaps hereditary financial
instincts, pursue with certainty of success the golden fleece.

My early experiences with poverty, and now with wealth, and my late
extensive observations have impressed upon me, as never before, the
common brotherhood of mankind. The great problem of our age is the
proper administration of wealth, so that the ties of brotherhood may
still bind together the rich and poor in harmonious relations. What
shall be the laws of accumulation and distribution? To decide this
wisely the discretion of our present and future legislators will be
heavily burdened.

The condition of many races is better to-day on the foundations on
which society is built, than on the old ones tried and abandoned. What
were yesterday's luxuries are to-day's necessities. The poor enjoy
to-day what yesterday even the rich could not afford. Mankind always
has exhibited great irregularities. In e