The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1859-10-13
No. a..


"ac Died 01ch.~
People said this evsrywhsrs. when ths
morning papers announced the death Of john
Russell, President of the - Bank.' They
said it on Wall Street, where they count
wealth by hundreds of thousands. aud they
said il in elegant parlors. and by luxurious
breakfast tables. all over the squares aud ay-
enues of the great city: they said it. toe. in
dark alleys and in squalid homes where s,I
his thousands could not buy back to the mli-
honaire one hour of the life that was TO them
burden and misery. Everywhere it was
) the same story, He died rich
{ His family and his friends thought SO. as
they gathered around the bedside o. TIE dy-
ing man and you. reader, woala lave
thought SO too. if you could have looked
around that chamber. into which deata vas
entering with his dumb FOOTBALLS snI his
CHASTITY presence. On. it was a princsly-
room Rare pictures flushed the walls. that
winter day. with the glory Of Arcadisa sua,-
were piled thick upon the costly osrps,; an!
the daintily embroidered drapery fell in soit
crinkled clouds from the massive betsiesG -
And the owner Of ali this nagnifcence lay
there dying; and through all his life of IA ore
than threescors years he has toilei and ssrae-
gled for this-to die rich. Aud Lad bought
lands and sold them; he had cent reilly
freighted ships to foreign ports he h-a
owned shares in railroads, and stock banks,
and now
All there was An angel who stood az the
bedside of John Russell in that dying hour.
and the man had nothing out Of all his ia
to give him: no generous, noble. sacriicin.
deeds. which would have been pearls. aud
gold, and all precious jewels in tie Land Of
the angel so he wrote down at the close OF
the last chapter of John Russell's lie. "as
died poor
He died poor" A very few persons seii
this of an old man who lay in a back cham
Der of small dilapidated building. whose
solitary window looked out on the back gar
den of John Russell's residence. The floor
was bare, and there were only a few chairs. a
table, and a low bed in the room. BY the
side stood an old woman, whom the dying
man had occasionally furnished with an arm
full of wood or a loaf Of bread. She moisseaed
his cold lips with water, or held the ta'iow
candle close to his dim eyes. SO that he might
see once more the light Of this world. lie
had not . dollar upon earth; His fortune had
taken wings and flown away his wife aud
his children had gone before him. his friends
had deserted or lost sight of him, and now
none remained to watch with tho old man
till death called him. but the grateful oil
woman whom he had saved from starvation.
| But the angel with tho book stood there.
too. aud looking over tho old mans life, he
saw how many good, and gentle. and gener.
Gus deeds frightened hero every year how
he had been kind to the suffering. and for
given such wrongs as make man fiends, and
striven through all the trials and temptations
of his long, sad life. to be true 70 God aLd
himself So the angel wrote under the ia-t
chapter of this old mans life. every letter
:.s .hf.. asd mde r.I some rare setting OF diamonds
And the old man knew it, too. when Le
stood at the silver gates Of the Eternal City,
and they led him in, and showed him the '.n.
heritance to which he was heir
There was the house not made with hands,
with its columns Of pearl and its ceilings Of
jasper. with its pleasant rooms. and its lofty
halls, and its mighty organs from which pea
forever the notes of praise to our God.
There, too, was the pleasant landscape with
its green avenues, and its golden pavilions,
its trees waving in the Joy Of eternal leave,
and its silver meadow lsnds sloping do.n !,
the river Of eternal waters. Hs was heir 70
all these things, and he took their title deeds
from the hands of Gods angels, aaI entered
into their possession. while they were saying
ptily on earth. He died poor!'
All! reader. how unlike it is with the things
here. and the things there. All the wealth
soil ION the other side OF the river" nor one
title deed to its pleasant homes, or its foun-
tains Of sweet waters but only live SO tna.
when you sail out Of the great sea Of dea',.
you shall bear with you to the golden ports.
those words Of the angels. "Hs died rich,''
and you shall be satisfied with your inher..-
ance in the kingdom of heaven.-l Ar;Las's
Magazine.