Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1890-04-11

ventilated, and with plenty of windows
to let in the light; I want you to get
such q building, for, though 1 am we'll
now, life is uncertain, and before l
leave the world l want to see something
done that will be an appropriate ac-
Acknowledgement of the goodness of God
to me and mine; now when can l hear
from you?"
In IL own city we have many ex-
amples of this. What n grandeur of
beneicence has our fellow citizen, Mr..
Pratt. demonstrated, building educa-
tional institutions which will put their
hands on the nineteenth century, and
the twentieth century, and all the cen
turtles! All honor to such a man! Do
not say SO when he is dead, say it now.
1t would be a good thing if some of the
eulogies we chisel on tombstones were
written on paper in time for the philan-
thropists to read them while yet they are
alive. Less post-mortem praise, and
more ante-mortem!
\! poor Scotch lad came to America at
twelve years of age, and went to Pitts
burgh. He looked around for work,
and became an engineer in o cellar,
then rose to become a telegraph mes
senger boy. then rose to a position in a
railroad Office, then rose to q place in q
telegraph office then rose to be superin-
tendent of a railroad, then rose until
he became an iron and steel manufac-
turer, then rose until he opened free
libraries in his native land and last
month q free library in Allegheny City,
and now offers two million dollars for a
free library in Pittsburgh. This exam
pie win be catching until the earth is
revolutionized.
How majestic such mon in compariso on
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 at
torney a last will and testament, in
which they spite some daughter because
she married against her fathers wish,
and fling a few crusts to God and suffer-
ing humanity, as much as to say: Il
have kept this surplus property, through
all these severe winters, and through all
these long years, from Q needy and suf-
fering world, and would keep it longer
if l could, but as I must give it up, take
it, and much good may it do you'll" Now
We begin to understand the text, Better
is o living dog than a dead lion"
Who would attempt to write thS
obituary of the dead lions of commerce.
the dead lions of law, the dead lions of
medicine, the dead lions of socia, in
f1uence? Vast capacity had they, and
mighty range, and other men in their
presence were as powerless as the ante
lope or heifer or giraffe when from the
jungle a Numidian lion springs upon its
prey. But they get through with life.
They lay down in their magnificent lair.
They have made their last sharp bar
gain. They have spoken their last hard
word. They have committed their last
mean act. When a tawny inhabitant of
the desert rolls over helpless, the lion
ess and whelps fill the air with shrieks
and howls, and lash themselves into
l%amentation, and it is q genuine grief
Tor the poorthings. But when this dead
lion of monstrous uselessness expires,
there is nothing but dramatized woe,
for Better is a living dog than q dead
lion"
My text also means that an oppor-
tunity of the living present is better
than a great opportunity passed. We
spend much of II time in saving, IF
only had" We can all look back and
see some occasion where we might have
done a great deed, ormight have effected
an important rescue, or we might have
dealt a stroke that would have accom-
plished a vast result. Through stupidity
or lack of appreciation of the crisis, o.
through procrastination, we let the
wasted in thinking of what we nigh,
have said or might have done! We
spend hours and days and years in walk
ing around that dead lion. We cannot
resuscitate it. 1t will never open its
eyes again. There will never be another
spring in its paw. Dead as any feline
terror of South Africa, through whose
heart thirty years ago Gordon Cumming
sent the slug. Don't let us give any
more time to the deploring of the dead
past. There are other great opportu-
mites remaining. They may not be as
great. but they are worth our attention.
ties for the saying of kind words
and doing of kind deeds. Helpless
ness to be helped. Disheartened ones
to be encouraged. Lost onesto be found.
Though the present may be insignificant
as compared with the past, Better is o
living dog than o dead lion"
The most useless and painful feeling
is the one OF regret. Repent of lost OPP
portunities we must, and get pardon we
may, but regrets weaken, dishearten and
cripple for future work. If q sea cap
tain who once had charge ola White Star
steamer across the Atlantic ocean, one
AOS6S ~Ao VII ~ ASSh VI" ANS"-
foundland, and passengers and ship
perish, shall he refuse to take command
Of a small boat up the North River, and
say: Il will never 60 on the water again
unless l can run one of the White Star
line?" Shall the engineer of a light
ming express, who at the station mis-
read the telegram of the tnin dis
patcher and went into collision, and for
that has been put down to the
work of engineering freight
train, say: Il never will again
mount an engine unless I can run a YES
thule express?" Take what you have
of opportunity left. Do your best with
what remains. Your shortest winter day
is worth more to you than can be the
longest day OF a previous ummer. Your
opportunity now, as compared with pre-
vious opportunities, may be small as a
rat terrier compared with the lion which
at Matabosa. fatally wounded by the
gun of David Livingstone, in its death
agony leaped upon the missionary ex-
plorer and with its jaws crushed the
bone of his arm to splinters. and then
rolled over and expired, but, Better is
n living dog than u dead lion"