1 Money does not buy happiness or security. 2John Ringling, one of the five brothers of the Ringling Brothers Circus, started out in 1884 with a trained horse and a performing bear. 3For over forty years, he worked hard at the family enterprise, bought up smaller circuses, and imported new acts. 4In the 1920s, he was rated as one of the world's wealthiest men and owned every sizable circus in the country. 5Over 5,000 people were on his payroll, and over 240 railroad cars were in his retinue each time the circus moved. 6At the time of his death, however, he was a nervous, unhappy man; he was also bankrupt and beset by lawsuits. 7His carefully built circus empire passed into alien hands. 8All those years of work had turned to dust. 1. business organization
bankrupt
2. group
retinue
3. without funds to pay debts
enterprise
4. troubled or harassed
beset
5. strange; belonging to another person, place, country, or thing
alien