The Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, S.C.) 1866-1891, 1890-04-17

opportunity, doing nothing for the improve
ment of society, nothing for the overthrow
of evil, nothing for the salvation of souls.
Some Of them are monetary lions. They
have accumulated so many hundreds of thou;
sands of dollars that you can feel their treaS
when they walk through any street or come
into any circle. They can by one financial
move upset the money market. instead OF
the ten per cent. of their income which the
Bible laws down as the proper proportion OF
their contribution to the cause OF GOD, they
do not give five per cent, or three per cent,
or two pei cent, or one per cent, or nall
per cent, or quarter per cent. That they
are lions, no one doubts. When they roar.
Wall street, State street, Lombard street ana
the Bourse tremble.
In few years they will lie down and die.
They will have great funeral, and long
row Of fine carriages, and mlghtlest requiems
will roll from the organ. and polished shaft
of Aberdeen granite will indicate Where
their dust lies, but for all use to the world
that man might as well have never lived.
As an experiment as to how much ne can
carry with him, put ten cent piece In the
palm of his dead hand, and five
Years after open the tomb, and you
will find he has dropped even the
zen cent piece. A lion! Yes, but
dead lion! He left all his treasures on earth.
and has no treasures in heaven. What shall
the stone cutter put upon the obelisk over
himP I suggest, let it be the mans name,
then the date Of his birth, then the date OF
his death, then the appropriate Scripture
passage: Better is living dog than dead
lion"
But thank God that we are having just
now an outburst Of splendid benetcence that
is to increase until the earth is girdled with
,t n &C.
demic, but with just the opposite effect OF al
epidemic. Do you not notice how wealthy
men are opening free libraries and building
churches in their native village? Have you
not seen how melt Of large means, instead
of leaving great philanthropies in theil
wills for disappointed heirs to quarrel about
and the orphan courts to swamp, are be
coming their own executors and admins
tratorsy After putting aside enough foi
their families for "he that provideth not FOL
his own, and especially those OF his own
household, is worse than an infdel'D, they
are saving: What can ! do, not after am
dead, but while living and in full possession
Of my faculties, to properly 1irect the build.
ing Of the churches or the hospitals, or the
colleges, or the libraries that design for the
public welfare and while yet have full
caoacity to enjoy the satisfaction OF seeing
the good accomp plishedF' There are bad fash
ions and good fashions and, whether good or
bad, fashions are mighty.
One of the good fashions now starting will
sweep the earth-the fashion for wealthy
men to distribute, while yet alive. their
surplus accumula tion. 1t is being helped by
the fact that So many large estates have, i'm.
mediately after the testator's death, gone
into litigation. Attorneys with large fees
are employed on both sides, and the case goes
on month after month, and year after year,
and after one court decides it ascends to an.
other court and is decided in the opposite
direction, and then new evidence Is found,
and the trials are all repeated. The children,
who at the fathers funeral seemed to
have an uncomfortable grief, after the
will is read go into elaborate process to prove
that the father was crazy, and therefore in
competent to rake q will; and there are men
on the jury who think that the fact that the
testator gave so much of his moneyto the
Bible society, and the missionary society, Or
the opening of free library is proof positive
that he was insane, and that he knew not
what he was signing when he subscribed to
the words: sin the name of God, amen. l,
being of sound mind do make this my last
will and testament"
Tho torn Wills the fraudulent wills. the
broken wills have recently been made such
spectacle to angels and to men that oil over
tects and saying to them: "How much
would it cost for me to build picture gal
lery for our town. or, "What plans can you
draw me out for concert hallT' or, II am
specially interested in the incurables,' and
how large a building would accommodate
three hundred of such patientS?' or, 1.-The
church of God has been a great help to me
all my life, and want you to draw me
plan for a church, commodious, beautiful!
we'll ventilated, and with plenty of windows
to let in the light; want you to get right at
work in making out plans OF such building
for, though am well now. life is uncertain,
and before I leave the world l want to see
something done that will be an appropriate
ackno owledgment of the goodness OF God to
me and mine; now when can hear from
you"
In our own city we have many examples OF
this What O grandeur of benefcence has
our fellow citizen, Mr.. Pratt, demonstrated,
building educational institutions watch Will
put their hands on the Nineteenth century,
and the Twentieth century, and all the cen.
turies! All honor to such man! Do not say
so when he is dead, say it now. 1t would be
q good thing if some of the eulogies we chisel
on tombStones were written on paper IN time
for the philanthropists to read them while
yet they are alive. Less post mortem praise,
and more ante-mortem!
A poor Scotch lad came to America at
twelve years of age, and went to Pittsourg.
He looked around for work, and became an
engineer in q cellar, then rose to become d
telegraph messenger boy, then ros, to posi-
ton in railroad Office, then rose to place in
telegraph Office, then rose to be supsrin-
tendent Of q railroad, then rose till he became
al iron and steel manufacturer, then rose
until he oLened free libraries in his native
land and last month d free library in Allie
Gheny City, and now offers two million dol
lars for free library in Pittsburg This ex-
ample will be catching until tue earth is
revolutioniZed.
How majestic such men In comparison
with some l wot of, who amasS wealth and
clutch it with both hands until death begins
to feel for their heart strings and then they
dictate to an attorney last will and testa-
ment, i'll which they spite some daughter
because she married against her fathers
wish, and fling few crusts to God and suf
fering humanity, rs much as to say: ~
have kept this surplus property, through all
these severe winters ami through all these
long years from a needy and suffering world,
and would keep it longer if L could, but US |
must give it up, take it, and much good may |
it do you" Now we begin to understand the |
text: Better is living dog than a dead |
lion"
Who would attempt to write the obituary |
of the dead lions of commerce. the dead |
lions of law, the dead lions of medicine, the |
dead lions of social influence? Vast capacity |
had they, and mighty range, and other men |
in their presen"' were as powerless as the an |
telope or heifer or giraffe when from the |
jingle a Numidian lion springs upon lis |
prey. But they get through with life. They |
lay down in their magnificent lair. Tney |
have made their last sharp bargain. They |
have spoken their las; harl word. They |
have committed their last mean act When |
4 tawny inhabitant oe the desert rolls over
helpless the lioness and whelps fills the ali
with shrieks and howIs, and lash themselves
into lamentation, and it is a genuine grief for
the poor things. But when this deal lion of |