Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1859-02-26
lie Died Rich.


John Russell, president Of the -- Bank.
They said it on Wall street, whore they
count wealth by hundreds Of thousands
and they sad it in elegant parlors, and by
luxurious breakfast tables, all oyer the
squares and avenues of the great city they
said it, too, in dark alleys, and in squalid
homes where all Ills thousands could not
buy back to the millionaire one hour of the
life that was to them n burden and mise
ry. Everywhere it was the same story,
'Hc died rich"
His family and his friends thought so,
us they gathered around the bedside of the
dying man; and you, reader, would have
thoneht it too, if you could have looked
around that chamber, into which death was
entering with his dumb footballs and his
CHASTITY presence. Oh, it WIS prncely
room! Rare pictures flushed the walls,
that winter day, with the glory of .Arcadi-
an Summers the faircst blossoms of South
crn Mny were piled thick upon the costly
carpet; and the daintly embroidered drap-
cry fell in soft, crinklcd clouds from the
massive bcadstcad And the owner of all
this magnifcencc lay there dying; and thro'
all his life of more than three-scorc years,
he had toile2 and struggled for this-to
die rich lie had bought lands, and sold
them /; he had sent richly frcightcd ships
to foreign ports; he had owned shares in
railroads, and stocks in Banks and now
All there was an angel who stood at the
bedside of John Russel in that dying hour,
and the man had nothing out of all his life
togvc HIM; no generous, noble, self sac
riiicing deeds, which would have been as
gold, and all precious jewels in the hand of
the angel so he wrote down at the close
of the last chapter of John Russell's Life,
He died poor"
And John Russell saw the words as his
soul followed the angels on that journey
which sooner on later we must all take, and
he knew then for the first time that all the
labor, and toll, and struggling of his life on
earth, had only brought him this verdict
at the bar of the Kingdom of Heaven, Gle
died poor"
/" lie died poor" a very few persons
said this Of an old man who lay in back
chamber of a small dilapidatcd building,
whose solitary window looked out on the
back garden of John RuSscll's residence.
The floor was bare, and there was only a
few chairs, table and low bed in the
room. by its side stood an old black wo-
man, whom the dying man had occasion
ally furnished with an armful of wood, or
a loaf of bread. She moistcncd his cold
lips with water, or held the talow candle
close to his dim eyes, SO that he might sec
once more the light of this world lie had
not dollar upon earth his fortune had
taken wings and flown away; his wife and
his children had gone before him, his
friends had deserted or lost sight of him,
and now none remain to watch with the
old man till death called him, but the
grateful old black woman whom he had
saved from starvation
But the angel with the book stood there
too, and looking over that old mans life
he saw how many good, and gentle, and
generous deeds frightened every year
how he had been kind to the suffering, and
forgiven such wrongs as make men friends,
! and striVoa, through ali thc trials and temp
tatons of his long, sad life, to be true to
God and himself So the angel wrote un =
der the last chapter of this old mans life,
and every letter shonc like some rare set
| ting of diamonds, He died rich"
And the old man knew it, too, when
he stood at the silver of the Eternal city,
and they led him into the gate, and showed
him the inheritance to which hcwas heir"
There was the house not made with
hands, with it's columns of pearl, and its
ceilings ofjaspey with its pleasant rooms,
and its lofty halls, and its mighty organs
from which peal forever the notes of praise
to our God
There, too was the pleasant landscape,
! with its green avenues, its golden pavil-
lions, its trees waving in the Joy Of the
eternal leaves, and its silver meadow lands
sIoping down to the river of eternal waters
lie was heir to all these things, and he took
tho title deeds from the hands of Gods an
gels, and entered into their possession,
while they were saying pityingly on earth,
=" lie died poor"
All, reader how unlike it is with the
things there. All the wealth of this world
cannot buy one acre of the soil i" on the
other side the river" nor one title deed to
its pleasant homes on its fountains of sweet
waters; but only live so that when you
sail out on the great sea of death, you shall
bear with you to the golden ports those
blessed words of the angels, q lie died
rich" and you shall be satisfied with your
inheritance in the " kingdom of Heaven. -
WE notice q bill brought in to abolish tho
practice of imprisoning witness, who either
Will not or cannot give security for his ap-
pcarnnce Mt the trial. Now, although we adj
mit'that tho practice is attended with evils,