Bruce Shanks (1908-1980)

[inscription reads] " startled me so that I almost jumped. / Financial poverty with a clear conscience is better than wealth of gold, with an empty soul. It seems to me that, finan¬cial poverty, for a greater part of man’s life, and wealth of the soul must be almost synonymous, that is, the latter nourishes on the former. / It is not that I imagine these remarks I put in here are original with me; it is that their truth has just been revealed to me. / It is monstrous how the poplars are being killed. I would think it would be "