Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-03-31

would laugh there. And l think laugh OF
delight and congratulation will run around
the heavenly circles when this humble one of
whom / spoke shall 60 up and take the pre-
| cedence OF many Christians who in this world
felt themselves 20 be of ninety mine per cent.
more Importance. The whisper will go round
the galleries of the upper temple: "Can it be
possible that that was the weigher in our
storeF' "Can it be possible that that was the
car driver on our streetf "Can it be posi-
BILE that was the sexton of our churchP
"Can it be possible that is the man that
heaved coal into our cellarY" 81 never could
have thought it, What reversal of thingsl
| We were clear ahead Of him on earth. but he
is clear ahead of US in heaven. Why, we had
ten times more brains than he had, we had q
thousand times more money than he had, we
had social position mile higher than he had,
VIC had innumerable opportunities more than
he had, but it seems now that he accomplished
more with his one talent than we did with
our ten" while Solomon, standing among the
thrones, overhears the whisper, and sees the
wonderment, and will, with benignnnt and
all suggestive smile, say, Eyes, it is as told
the world many centuries ago-better is small
faculty actively used than great talent UNI
employed, better is living dog than dead
lion"
THERE ARE PLENTY OF DEAD LIONS.
The simple fact is that the world has been,
and the world is now, full Of dead lions.
They are people of great capacity and large
opportunity doing nothing for the improve
rcent 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 thousands
of dollars that you can feel their tread when
they walk through any street or como 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 lays
down as the proper proportion of their con-
tribution to the cause of God, they do not
| give five per cent, or three per cent, or two
per cent, or one per cent, or half per cent,
or a quarter per cent. That they are lions,
no one doubts. When they roar, Wall street,
State street, Lombard street and the BoursA
tremble. In few years they will lie down
and die. They, will have great funeral, and
long row OF fine carriages, and mightiest
requiems will roll from the organ, and polish
ed 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 he
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 that
he has dropped even the ten cent piece. A
lion Yes, but dead lionl He left all his
treasures ON earth, and has no treasures in
heaven What shall the stonecutter put
upon the obehsk over hm3 l suggest, let it
be the mans name, then the date Of his birth,
then the date Of his death, then the appro-
pirate Scripture passage, Better is living
dog than a dead lion"
But thank God that we are having just
now an outburst OF splendid benefcence that
Is to increase until the earth is girdled with
it. 1t is spreading with the speed of an cpl
demic, but with just the opposite effect Of an
epidemic. Do you not notice how wealthy
men are opening free libraries, and building
churches in thoir native village9 Have you
not seen how men Of large means, instead of
leaving great phlanthropies in their wills for
disappointed heirs to quarrel about, and the
orphan courts to swamp, are becoming their
own executors and administrators After
putting aside enough for their families for
che that provideth not for his own, and es-
pecially those of his own household, is worse
than an inidel'D, they are saying: What
can do, not after am dead, but while liv-
ing, and in full possession Of my faculties, to
properly direct the building of the churches,
or the hospitals, or the colleges, or the libra
ries that design for the public welfare, and
while yet have full capacity to enjoy the
satisfaction of seeing the good accomplished
There are bad fashions 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
accumulation. 1t is being helped by the fact
that 50 many large estates have, Immediately
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, il ascends to another 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 tho will is read go into elaborate
process to prove that the father was crazy,
and therefore incompetent to make will;
and there are men on the jury who think that
the fact that the testator gave so much of his
money TO the Bible society, and the mission
airy society or the opening Of a 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"
NOW Is THE TIME FOR GOOD WORK
The torn wills, the fraudulent wills, the
broken wills have recently been made such a
spectacle to angels and to men that all over
the land successful men are calling in archi
tects and saying to them: How much would
it cost for me to build a picture gallery for
our town. or, What plans can you draw
me out for COMFORT hallf' or, II am specially
interested in this ncurablss, and how large
a building would accommodate three hundred
Of such patientsf" or, 1.-THE Church of God
has been great help TO me all my life, and |
want you to draw me a plan for church,
cotnmodious 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 a building, for, though l am
well now, life is uncertain, and before / leave
the world want to see something done that
will be an appropriate acknowledgment of
the goodness Of God TO me spd mine; now
when can hear from your
In our own city we have many examples of
this. What a grandeur of benefcencs has
our fellow citizen, Mr.. Pratt, demonstrated,
building educational institutions which will
put their hands on the nineteenth century,
and the twentieth century, and all the cen
turtles! All honof to such q man! Do not
say 10 when he IN dead, say 1t now. 1t would
be q good thing II some OF the eulogies we
chisel on tombstonss were written on paper
In time for the philanthropists to read them
while yet they are alive. Less post-mortem
praise, and more antemorteml
A poor Scotch lad came to America at
twelve years Of age, and went to Pittsburg.
He looked around for work, and became an