The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1871-04-22

dollar in bis clenched hand. O, holy
dollar! object of his life~long pursuit.,
what comfort hast thou for him now in
his pain of death
AT length the dead man revived and
dictated his will 1t was strange to see
the mother and son and lawyer mutter-
lng-and sometimes wrangling-beside
the bed Of death. All the while the tes-
tator clutched the dollar in his right hand.
While the will was being made the
preacher came-even he who held the
pastoral charge Of the church whose pew
doors bore sanity names on silver plates,
and whose seats on Sabbath day groaned
beneath the weight of pectabiIIty. broad
cloth and satin.
lie came and said his prayer-deco~
rousiy and III measured words-bnt never
once did the dying man relax his hold on
the dollar
Cant you read me something, say
quick, don't you see I'm going?" at length
sand the rich man, turning a frightened
look toward the preacher
The preacher, whose cravat was the
whlest, took a book with golden clasps
from marble table. And he read:
'And | say unto you it is easier for a
camel to go through the eye of needle
than for a lich man TO enter into the
Kingdom OF God"
"Who said those words s-who-who
-who?" fairly shrieked the dying man,
shaking the hand which clencbed the
dollar at the preachers head.
yyo.cJ,.r Ioc ,,-o, ~
leaf and did not reply.
"Why did you never tell me this be-
fore Why did you never preach from it
as | sat in your church, Why-why 2"
The preacher did not reply, but turned
over another leaf But the dying man
would not be qnieted
And it's easier for camel 10 90
through the eye of "A needle than for rich
man to enter into the Kingdom Of God, is
it Then what's to become of me Am
| not rich What tenant did | ever
spare--what debtor did l ever release
And you stood np Sunday alter Sunday
and preached TO us, and never said a
word about the camel. Not word
about the camel"
The preacher, in search Of consolng
passage, turned rapidly over the leaves,
and, in his confusion, came to this pas
sage, which he read:
go TOO now, ye rich man, weep and
howl for your miseries that shall come
upon you. Your gold and silver is can
kercd and the rust of them shall be a
witness against you, and shall eat your
flesh as it were with fire ye have heaDed
treasures together for the last days Be
hold the hire Of the laborers who have
reaped down your fields, which is of you
kept by fraud, crieth; and the cries of
them which have reaped are entered into
the ears of the Lord Of Sabbath
''And yet you never preached that to
me - shrieIed the dying man.
The preacher who had blundered thro'
the passage from James, which we have
quoted, knew not what to say. He was
perchance terrified by the very look of the
dying pariShioner.
Then the wife drew near and strove to
comfort him, and the son (who had been
reading the WHY attempted word or two
of consolation.
But with the dollar in his hand he
sank into death, talking of stock, of rent,
Of copper mines and camel, of tenant and
debtor, until the breath left his lips
Thus he died.
When he was cold, the preacher rose
and asked the lawyer whether the de-
ceased had left anything to such and such
charitable society which bad been en-
grated upon the preacher church.
And the wife closed his eyes and tried
to wrench the dollar from his hand, but
in vain. He clutched it as though il were
the only savior 10 light him through the
darkness oc eternity.
And the son sat down with dry eyes
and thought of the hundreds of thousands
that were now his own.
Next day there was a hearse followed
by train of carriages nearly half mile
in length. There was a great crowd
around an open grave, and an elegant
sermon upon the virtues of the deceased
by the preacher. There was huttering
of Grape badges, and rolling of carriages,
and-no tears. They left the dead man
and returned to the palace, where sorrow
died even as the Grape was taken from the
door knob
And in the grave the dead hand still
clutched the dollar.
A TERRIBLE FIGHT.-A shoemaker
was standing behind his counter one day
L,ot vvaak when ia efsr,,,1I a man aDnar~