Milford chronicle., 1888-09-28

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hind US after we have departed this life is
important, for we have the best authority
for saying, HE that provideth not for his
own, and especially those Of his own house
hold, Is worse than an infidel, but the large
and fabulous sums for which many struggle,
II obtained, would be a hinderance rather
than an advantage. The anxieties and an
noyances that those have whose estates have
become plethoric can only be told
BY those who possess them. Il will be
a good thing when through your in
dustry and public prosperities you can own
the house In which you live. But suppose
you own fifty houses and you leave oil those
rents to collect and all those tenants 20
please Suppose you have branched out in
business successes until in almost every direc-
ton you have investments The fire bell rings
at night; you rush up stairs to look out Of the
window to see if it is any of your mills
Epidemic Of crime comes and there are en-
bezzlements and abscondings in all direc-
tions, and you wonder whether any Of your
bookkeepers will prove recreant A panic
strikes the financial world, and you are like
a hen under a sky full Of hawks and try
ing with anxious cluck to get your over
grown chickens safely under wing. After a
certain stage of success has been reached
you have to trust so many important things
to others that you are apt to become the prey
of others, and you are swindled and de
frnuded, and the anxiety you had on your
brow when you were earning your first thou
sand dollars IS not equal to the anxiety on
your brow now that you have won your
three hundred thousand. The trouble with
such one is he is spread out like the unfor-
tunate one in my text You have more
fingers and toes than you know what to do
with. Twenty were useful, twenty-four is a
hindering superduity. Disraeli says that a
king of Poland abdicated his throne and
Joined the people and became a porter t.
carry burdens. And some one asked him
why he did so, aud he replied Upon my
honor, gentlemen, the load which / quit
is by far heavier than the one you see me
carry The weightiest is but straw
when compared to that world under which
labored. l have slept more In four nights
than have during all my reign. begin te
live and to be q king myself. Elect whom
you chooserfor me who am so well it would
be madness to return to court"
''Weu,n says somebody "such overloaded
persons ought to be pitied for their worri-
ments are real and their insomnia and their
nervous prostrations are genuine l reply
that they could get rid Of the bothersome
surplus by giving it away. If a man has
more houses than he can carry without vexa-
tion, let him drop a few Of them. If his es-
tate is 80 great he cannot manage it without
getting nervous dyspepsia from having too
much, let him divide up with those who have
nervous dyspepsia because they cannot
get enough Mol they guard their sixth
finger with more care than they did the
original five They go linping with what
they call gout and know not that, like the
giant Of the text, they are lamed by a super
duous toe. A few of them, by large chari
ties, bleed themselves Of this financial obesity
and monetary plethora, but many Of them
hang on to the hindering superfluity till
death, and then, as they are compelled to
give the money up any how, in their last will
and testament they generously give some of
it to the Lord, expecting no doubt that he
will feel very much obliged TO them. Thank
God that once in while we have a Peter
Cooper who, owning an interest in the iron
works at Trenton, said to Mr. Lester;
81 do not feel quite easy about the
amount we are making Working under
one of our patents we have a monopoly
which seems To me something wrong. Every
body has to come to US for it and we are
the price and this while our philanthropist
was building Cooper institute, which moth
ers a hundred institutes of kindness and
mercy all over the land But the world had
to wait FIVE thousand eight hundred years
for Peter Cooper. l am glad for the benev-
olent institutions that get legacy from
men who during their life were as stingy as
death, but who In their last will and
testament bestowed money on hospitals
and missionary societies; but for such
testators 1 have no respect. They would
have taken every cent of it with them if
they could, and bought up half of heaven
and let it out at ruinous rent, or loaned the
money to celestial citizens at 2 per cent. a
month and got a corner on harps and trump
cts. They lived in this world fifty or sixty
years in the presence Of appalling suffering
and want and made no effort for their re
lief The charities Of such people are for the
most part In ''paulo-pOst future" tense and
they are going to do them. The probability
is that If such one In his last will by do
nation to benevolent societies tries to atone
for his lifetime closefstedneSs, the heirs at
law will try to break the will by proving
that the old man was senile or crazy, and the
expense Of the litigation will about leave In
the lawyers hands what was meant for the
American Bible society. o ye Overweighted
successful business men, whether this sermon
reach your ear or your eye, let me say that
II you are prostrated with anxieties abou.
keeping or investing these tremendous for
tunes, / can tell you how you can do more to
get your health back and your spirits raised
than by drinking gallons Of bad tasting
water at Saratoga, Homburg or Carlsbad
give to God and humanity and the Bible 10
per cent. OF all your income and it will make
a new man Of you, and frosd restless walking
Of the floor at night you shall have eight
hours sleep without the help Of bromide of
potassium, and from no appetite you will
hardly be able to wait your regular meals,
and your wan cheek will ill up, and when
you die the blessings Of those who but for
you would have perished will bloom all oveI
your grave with violets if it be spring, OF
gladiolus if it be autumn.
Perhaps some Of you viii take this advice,
but the most of you will not And you will
try to cure your swollen hand by getting on
1t more fingers, and your rheumatic foot by
getting ON it more toes, and there will be
sigh OF relief when you are gone out of the
world; and when over your remains the min
ister recites the words; blessed are the dead
who die In the Lord, persons who have keen
appreciation Of the ludicrOus will hardly be J
able to keep their face straight. But whether !
in that direction my words do good or not,
am anxious that all who have only ordinary
equipment be thankful for what they have
and rightly employ 1t. think you all
have, fguratiYely as well as literally, !
fingers enough. Do not long for hin
dering superfuities. Standing In the
presence Of this fallen giant Of my text and |
In this post-mortem examination Of him, let |
US learn how much better of we are with |
lust the usual hand, the usual foot. You |
have thanked God for & thousand things, but
/ warrant you never thanked him for those |
two implements OF work and locomotion, that |
no one but the Infinite and 0mnipotent God |