Something Better Than Gold

A young man came out of the Ozark Mountains in his early manhood with the firm purpose of making a fortune in gold. Gold became his god, and putting it first, he won it. He came to be worth millions. Then the crash came, and he was reduced to utter poverty. His reason tottered and fell along with his fortune.

One day a policeman found Eads Bridge gazing down into the waters of the Mississippi. He ordered him to move on. "Let me alone," he answered, "I'm trying to think. There is something better than gold, but I have forgotten what it is." They placed him in an institution for the insane. They knew that a man who could forget that was not himself.

- Clovis Chappell