is wealth by stating that it was obtained by the
possessor or his ancestors through a "mutually beneficent partnership"
between the rich and the poor by which the poor had their share of the
joint returns advanced to them. Mr. Ruskin in his reply stated the
question again, and then proceeded to answer it by a telling personal
illustration. He says:

"Where does the rich man get his means of living?" I don't myself
see how a more straightforward question could be put! so
straightforward, indeed, that I particularly dislike making a
martyr of myself in answering it, as I must this blessed day--a
martyr, at least, in the way of witness; for if we rich people
don't begin to speak honestly with our tongues, we shall, some
day soon, lose them and our heads together, having for sometime
back, most of us, made false use of the one and none of the
other. Well, for the point in question, then, as to means of
living: the most exemplary manner of answer is simply to state
how I got my own, or rather how my father got them for me. He and
his partners entered into what your correspondent mellifluously
styles "a mutually beneficent partnership" with certain laborers
in Spain. These laborers produced from the earth annually a
certain number of bottles of wine. These productions were sold by
my father and his partners, who kept nine-tenths, or thereabouts,
of the price themselves, and gave one-tenth, or thereabouts, to
the laborers. In which state of mutual beneficence my father and
his partners naturally became rich, and the laborers as naturally
remained poor. Then my good father gave all his money to me.

Space forbids a more extended notice of Mr. Ruskin's broad and
thoughtful views on economic problems, but before closing this paper,
I wish to notice how the life of this great philanthropist has touched
and brightened other lives. Many men think noble thoughts and at times
are stirred by the loftiest aspirations, but in actual everyday life
they sadly fail to live up to their teachings; but he who can and does
master himself, he who gives his life for justice and thinks of the
welfare of others before he considers himself, has reached a far
higher summit than have the most gifted intellects who, while
apprehending the beauty of goodness, fail to express that beauty in
their daily lives. John Ruskin's life has been at once earnest, p