Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-11-25
"reminiscences of Millionaire.

! htinlUiSCGuGcO vi Il
4 rich NAL is not 10 be thought IL
/ liberal because be will not give to every
Object TO which lis neighbors may call
his attention. lie may have an object
in life whose resliz ,tion will require
all his money, and therefore he is 81
! frugal that ignorance accounts him
mean. The following "reminiscences Of
the founder Of Johns Hopkins Univer-
sity, Baltimore. illustrate this fact:
/ He left nire million dollars, a moieiy
of which was divided between eighteen
relatives, and tie bulk retained for u
university and several hospitals.
liz started life with four hundred
dollars. ana built up, by his own exer-
tigns, u colossal fortune. From the
/ beginning he declared that he had O
mission from God to increase his store.
ana that the golden flood that poured
into his Golfers did not belong to him,
or the hundreds of others who sought
to borrow or beg it from lin.
He declared that supernatural
power prevented him from taking
money from his pocket to bcstow foolish
aims, and that some day the world
would know that he was not the grasp
ing, avaricious and narrow-miuded man
he was accounted.
He nevertheless helped secretly
many worthy persons. and after his
death, it was discovered that not few
merchants had been saved by him from
financial embarrassment and sorrow.
But il the common acceptance of the
term he was not liberal. His mission -
prevented that. Toward the close of a
very long life, he became stingy and
suspicious, but the end he had proposed
never suffered change. and that WAS
the mistress of his soul, toward whom
he maintained an ipHexible fidelity.
Clifton" his estate. WAS his pride,
and upon it he srared no expense
Here the great university was to be
founded; but in this his design will
be- blili9d. The city authorities have
taken some seventy acres Just in front
of The imperial mansion, and the noble
chestnut grove he had nuitured. not
one tree OF which he would cut down
even when withered. bus fallen befofe
the remorstless axe of progress.
An urcanny old tramp used to station
himself under giant oak that stood
sentry by the lodge of Clifton. This
made Mr.. Hopkins nervous and became
q mortal offense.
lie tcld one Of his nephews of it, ana
said he did not know how to abate the
nuisance. why not pay him. uncle.
and send him away ~ queried the young
man. Pay him money" MIR. Hopkins
shr,eked, while his long arms flew
aboutlik windmills. Pay him money!
God Forbid When / do that there will
DO one hundred vagabonds here instead
of onci'
"Weil, then" added the nephew,
"if were you, Uncle John. l would
kick him out" 1 cannot DO that"
the old man pleaded. i" am afraid"
"What" tho nephew retorted, "are
you afraid of such u cur AS that p
." No, nor Mr.. Hopkins whispered.
hoarsely; Il am not afraid of him. but
afraid of God. Did you never read in
the Bible how Dives treated Lazarus r
On one of the Lass days of his earthly
existence Mr.. Hopkins called his de-
voted gardener TO him and said,-
am beginning to hate this place.
because it does not bring 10 money. l
hate everything that does not bring in
money. Did you ever feed hogs? Have
you not observed that the strong AMI
mails bear away the ears of corn, and
that the weaker ones pursue them
squealingly, in hopes that oil or some
of the treasure will be lost or dropped ~
The gardener replied that the sketch
was true one.
"Well. then," said Mr.. Hopkins, 1
am that strong hog. have that big
ear of corn. AMI every piggish rascal
in Baltimore is intent upon stealing it,
or wrestling it from me!
"Sir." he said, turning brusquely to
the gardener, "do you think very
rich man happy?"
The gardener answered. :" The ex
treme of poverty is sad thing. The
extreme of wealth no doubt bears with
it many tribulations."
Mr.. Hopkins reioinei. lyon are
right, my friend; next to the hell Of
being utterly bereft Of money is the
pargatory of possessing vast amount
Of it. l have mission, snd under IFS
shallow | have accumulated wealth.
but rot happiness. = Augusta (Gs.)