Delaware weekly Republican. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1841-188?, 1857-07-16
THE DOLLAR.

Ic.s III Whlcn ne mas bSen ihiilhteu Dy many u /
ott-headed &c soph.o II is said no died a few |
ears ago In Philadelphia, in utter abandon
lent. -e IL H4
They brought him dollar.
He took il and clutched it in his long skinny |
myers, tried its sound against the bed-post,
md then gazed on it long and intently with his
lull, leaden oyea.
That day, in the hurry of business Death
had struck him, even in the street. He was
hurrying to collect the last months rent, and
was on the verge of the miserable court where
lis tenants herded like beasts in their ken
nels--he was there with the handbook an his
hand, when Death laid his hand upon him.
He was carried home to his splendid man
sion. He was laid upon bed with satin COW
erlet. The lawyer, the relations and the
preacher were sent for. All day he lay with
out speech, moving only his right hand as
though counting money.
At midnight he spoke.
He asked for dollar, and they brought one
TO him, and, lean and gaunt, he sat up in'his
bed and clutched it with the grippe OF death.
A shaded lamp stood on table near the
silken bed. Its light fell family around the
splendid room, where chairs, and carpets, and
mirrors, silkcn bed, and lofty ceiling, all said
Gold as plain as human lips can say it.
His hair and eyes were white his cheeks
sunlzen, and his lips thin and surrounded by
wrinkles that indicated the p aston Of Ayarice.
AS he sat up in his bed with his neck barred,
and the silken coverlet wrapped about his lean
frame, white hair aud eyebrows contrasted with
his wasted and wrinkled tace-he looked like a
ghost, And there his life was conferred in the
dollar which he griped in his clenched hand.
His wife, pleasant-iaced, matroniy woman,
was seated at the foot OF the bed. His son, a
young man Of twenty one, dressed i'll the last
touch of the fashion, sat by the lawyer. The
lawyer sat by the table, pen in his hand, gold
speetacles on his nose. There was huge
parchment spread hetorehim.
"Do you think he'll make will7" asked
the son.
&c Hardly compe, laeatis, yet" was the wills.
pered reply. 9. Wait. Hen be lucid after a
while.o
"My DEAR" said the wife, e had not better
send for the preacher 20
She rose and took her dying husband by the
hand, but he did not mind. His eye was upo1
He was rich man. He owned palaces il
walnut and Ohestnnt-stIoets, and novels anC
courts in the outskirts. He had iron mines il
this State copper mines on the lake some
where he had golden interests in California
HIS name was bright upon the records o
twenty banks-he owned stock of all kinds, b.
had half-a-dozen papers in his pay.
he knew but one crime-tO be in debt with
out the power to pay.
Inc crime he had never forgotter-the vii
tue be had never forgotten, in the long way q
thirty-fve years.
10 hunt down debtor, to distress a tenant
to turn few additional thousands by a shar
speculatlon--these were the main achievement
Of his life.
He was good man--his name was upon In,
silver plate5 upon the pew door of a velvet
cushioned chair.
lie was benevolent man--for every thous
and dollars which he wrung from the tenant.
of his courts, or from the debtors who writhed
beneath his heels, he gave ten dollars to some
benevolent institution.
lie was just mantle gallows and iail al.
ways found him faithful and unswervinp nd
yocate.
And now he is dying inan-see As he
sits upon the bed of death, with the dollar in
his clenched hand.
Oh holy dollsE; object OF his lifelong pur
suit, what comfort hast thon for him now in hi
pains OF death
AT length, the dyingma revived and dictate,
his Will. II was strange to see the mother AM
son and lawyer mnttering, and sometS,e
wranglng, beside the bed of death. All tn
while the testator clutchrd the dollar in h
right hand.
While the will was being made, the preacI
er came-even he who hold the pastoral chart
Of the great church, whose pew-doors bo
seats on Sabbath-day groaned beneath b
weight OF responsibility, broadcloth and Il
satin.
lie came and said his prayers-decorous
and in measured words-but never once d
the dying man relax his hold of the dollar
"Can't yeu see I'm going ?'' at length 50
the rich man. turning frightened look to,
ards the preacher.
The preacher, whose crayat was of Il
Whitest, took book with golden clasp, fro
marble table.
And he read.
"And | say unto you it is easier for a cam
to go through the eye of needle, than i
rich man to enter the kingdom of God. !"
mo said these words-who-wh
iairly shrieked the dying man, shaking Il
hand which clenched the dollar at the preac
sr's head.
The preacher hastily turned over The lea
and did not reply
:" Why did You never tell me OF this befor
ny ala yon never preach from it as sat
your church Why-why Z"
me preacher did not reply, but turned oyr
snother leaf But the dying man wouln n
10 quoted,
" And it is easier for q camel to 70 throup
The eye Of needle than for rich man to e.
ter the Kingdom Of God, is itt Then what
70 become of me Am rich? What tcnaI
did ever spare-what debtor did ever r.
Lease And you stood up Sunday after SUI
uaE Ia1 pre4ched to us, and never said OF
word about the camel rs
The preacher in search Of oSusoIino ma
sage, turned rapidly over the leaves. and
ms confusion came to this passage which
read
eco now % rich men, for the miseries III
snail come upon you. Your gold and sily
are eAhkeFed, and the rust of them sha, be
witness against you; and shall eat vonr Hash
u
gether for the last day Behold mo hire
the laborers who have reaped down your Hal
when IS Of you kept back, cripth and I
cries o. them which have reaped are enter
Into tine ears Of the Lor Of St5hath p
And yet you never preached that 10 ma
Hhrieked the dying man.
The preacher, who had Numbered tbrol
the passage from James which we have quo
knew not what to say. He was, percIance
rifed by the very look of his dying IarsLioi
Then the wife, drawing near, strore to c,
tort him, and then the son (who had b
reading the will,) attempted aword or two
consolation.
And with the dollar in his hand, he sank
death, talking of stock, Of rent, of cor
mine and camel, OF tenant and of deb
until the breath left his lips. Thus he di
When he was cold, the preacher rose
asked the lawyer whether the deceased
left anything to such and such IL charita
sucIety, winch had been engraited upon
preachers church.
And tho wife closed his eyes and tried
wrench the dollar from his hand, but in vain
lie clutched it as though it were the only
yiourt to light him through the darkness
eternity.
And the son sat down with dry eyes, a
thought Of the hundreds OF thousands Will
were now his own.
Next day, there was a hearse followed by
H.
There was crowd around the open gray
ami an elegant sermon upon the virtues Of /