True American. [volume] (Steubenville [Ohio]) 1855-1861, 1858-03-17
a LIFE PICTURE.
The Dying Miser.
BY GEORGE LIPPARD.
They brought him a dollar.

They brought him dollar.
He took i. and clutched it in his long
skinny fingers, tried its sound against the
bed post, and then gazed at it long and
intensely with his dull, leaden eye.
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 his tenants herded
together like beasts in their kennels; he
was there with his hand book in his
hand, when death laid his hand npon
him. ..... ....'.
He was carried home TO his splendid
mansion. He was laid upon bed with
a satin coverlet. The lawyer, the relations
and The preacher were sent for. All day
long he lay without speech, moving only
his right hand, as though in the act Of
counting out money. ,.....
AT midnight lie spoke.
He asked Tor dollar, and they brought
one 10 him, and, lean and gaunt, he sat
up in his bed and clulched it with the
grip Of death.
A shaded lamp stood on the table near
the sllken bed. Its light fell family
around the splendid room, where chairs,
and carpets, aud mirrors, silken bed and
lofty ceiling, all said Gold as plain as
lips can say it.
His hair and eyebrows were white, his
cheeks sunken, his lips thin and surround.
ed by wrinkles that indicate the pattern
of Avarice. As he sat up in bed with
his neck barred, and the silken coverle
wrapped around his lean frame, his white
hair and eyes contrastcd with his wastet
and wrinkled face. he looked like ghost
And his life was centred there, in tb
dollar, which he gripped in his clenchet
fist.
His wife, pleasant faced, matronly
woman, was seated at the foot of the bed
His son, young man of twenty one
dressed in the last touch of fashion, sa
by the lawyer. The lawyer sat by the
table, pen in hand and gold spectacle'
on his nose. There was a huge parch.
mcnt spread before him.
Do you think he'll make will p
asked the son.
Hardly compos maentis yet" was the
whispered reply. Z" Wait, he'll be lueiC
after while"
rMy DEAR" said the wife. chad
not better send for the preacher p
She rose and took her dying husband
by the hand, but he did not mind. Hi
eyes were upon the dollar.
He was lich man. He owned palace.
in Walnut and Chestnut streets, ant
novels and courts in The outskirts. HI
had iron mines in this State copper
mines on the lake somewhere, he hat
golden interests in California, His name
was bright on the records Of twenty banks
he owned stock of all kinds; he had ;
half a dozen papers in his pay. ..
He knew but one crime-to be in deb
without the power 10 pay.
| He knew but one virtue-to get money
The crime be had never forgotten il
the long way of thirty-fve years.
To hunt down debtor. to distress
tenant, and to turn few addtiona
thousands BY sharp speculation thes'
were the main achievments of his life.
He was a good man bis name wa
upon the silver plate on the pew door o
2 velvet cushioned church.
He was benevolent man; for ever,
thousand which he wrung from the tenant
of his courts, or from the debtors WHIT
wrilhed beneath his heels, he gave tel
dollars o.some benevolent institution.
He was a Just man; the gallows ant
the Jail always found him a faithful ant
answering advocate.
He now is dying man see him al
he sits upon the bed of death, with th
dollar in his clenched hand.
o! holy dollar, object Of his life lonl
pursuit, what comfor! hast thou for hin
now, in bis pain Of death
AT length the dying man revived ant
dictated his will. 1t was strange 10 Sc,
the mother and son and lawyer mutterin,
and sometimes wrangling. beside th
death bed. All the while the testato
clutched the dollar in his hand.
While the will was being made tn
preacher came even he who had hel,
the pastoral charge of the great church
whose pew doors bore the sanity names
on silver plates, and whose seats oil
Sabbath day groaned under The weight Q
responsibility broadcloth and satin.
He came and said his prayers mos
decorously and in measured words, bu
never once did the dying man relax hi
hold on The dollar,
Can't YOU see that I'm going 7" +;
length said the dying man, turning
frightened look toward the preacher.
The preacher, whose cravat was th
whitest took a book with golden elias
! from the marble table,
/ And he read:
"And say unto you, is easier for
camel TO pass through the eye Of q needl