The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1890-04-03


able opportunities more than he had but IL
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 secs the wonder
ment, and WILL with benignant and all-sug-
gestive smile, say, "Yes, IL is as 1 told the
world many centuries ago--better is small
faculty actively used than great talent un-
employed, better is living dog than dead
| lion'"
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
ment of society, nothing Tor 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 tread
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 winch the
| Bible lays down as the proper proportion of
their contribution to the cause ot 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 quarter per cent. Thnt they
are lions, no one doubts When they roar,
| Wall street, state street, Lombard street and
the Bourss tremble.
In n few years they will lie down and die
| They will have n great funeral, and a long
row of fine carriages and mightiest requicms
Of Aberdeen granite will indicate whore
their dust lies, but for all use To- the world
that man might rs well have never lived.
As an experiment MS 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 he has dropped even tho
ten cent piece. \ lion! Yes but a
dead lion! He left all his treasures on earth,
and has no treasures in heaven. What shall
| the stone cutter put upon the obeiisk over
him? | suggest, let It. 10 tho mans name.
then the date of his birth, then the date of
his death, then the appropriate scripture
passage: Better is "a living dog than dead
But thank God that we are having Just
now an outburst OF splendid beneficencc that
is to increase until the earth is girdled with
It, II is spreading with the speed OF an epi-
demic, but with Just the opposite effect o. au
epidemic. Do you not notice how wealthy
men are opening free libraries and building
churches in their native viLngey Have YOU
not seen how men OF large means instead
OF leaving great phllanthropies in their
wills for disappointed heirs to quarrel about
and the orphan courts to swamp, ars be-
coming their own executors and admins
traitors? After putting aside enough for
their families Dor ne that provideth not FOR
his own, and especially those of his own
household, is worse than an iuldel'D, they
are saying: "What can | do, not after | am
dead, but while living and in full possession
Of my faculties, 20 properly direct the build
ing of the churches, or the hospitals, or tho
colleges, or the libraries that | design for IN,
public welfare, aul while yet | have lUlI
capacity to enjoy the satisfaction of Sneing
> the good accomplished" There are bad fash
ions and good fashions and whether good ol
bad, fashions are mighty.
One of the good fashions now starting viii
sweep the earth-the fashion for wealthy
men to distribute, while yet alive. their
surplus accumulation. IL is being helped by
5 tho fact that 50 many large estates have i'm.
mediately after the tcstator's death, gone
2 into litigation. Attorneys with large fee,
> are employed on both sides, and the case goe
5 on month after month, and year after year,
and after one court decides 1t ascends TO an.
t 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 tc
have an uncomfortable grief. after The
. will is read go into elaborate process TO prove
that the father was crazy, and therefore in.
, competent 10 make n will and there are men
5 on the jury who think that the fact that the
S testator gave so much of his money 90 the
{ Bible society and the missionary society OF
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: "ln the name of God, amen. l.
being OF sound mind, do make this my last
will and testament
r The torn wills the fraudulent wills. the
broken wills have recently been made such q
spectacle 10 angels and TO men that all ovcI
the land successful men are ealing in nrchi
tccts and saying 10 them: "How much
would 1t cost for me 10 build picture gal
A lery for our town" or "What plans can yur
, draw me out for concert hally' or, II an
' specially interested in tho inCurahlcS,' and
e how large IA building would accommodate
| three hundred of such patientsY or, "Ih,
2 church OF God has been great help 10 IN,
, all my life, and want you 20 draw me d
e plan for church, commodous, beautiful
9 well ventilated, and with plcnty of window
% let In the light; | want you to get right al
10 work in making out plans OF such n building
for, though am well now life is uncertain
/ and before leave the world | want 10 Sc,
something done that will be an approprat,
? acknowledgment Of the goodness of God &c
l me and mine; now when eau | hear from
= your
. In our own city we have many examples o
this. What IA grandeur Of bcneilcencc ha'
l our fellow citizen, Mr.. Pratt, demonstrated
e building educational institutions which viii
r put their hands on the Nineteenth century
: and the Twentieth century, and all the cen
, turies! All honor 20 such man, Do not say
so when he is dead, say it now. IL would b,
a good thing II some of the cuO.lcs we Chlse
on tombstones were written on paper in tim,
) for the philanthropists 10 read them Will,
, yet they are alive, Less post mortem praise,
and more ante-mOrtcm!
A poor Scotch lad came to America at
a twelve years OF age and went b. Pittsburg.
, He looked around for work, and became an
engineer in a cellar, then rose 10 become n
!, Telegraph messenger boy, then rose 10 posi-
tion in a railroad Office. then rose To place in
q "A telegraph Office then rose % be superln-
. tendent OF railroad, then rose till he became
I an iron and steel manufacturer, then rosf
until he opened free libraries in his native
land and last month free library in Ale
gheny City and now offers two million dol
: lars for "A free library in Pittsburg. This eN
ample will be catching until the earth l.
A revolutioni2ed.
How ajestic such men in comparison
with some | wot of, who amass wealth aud
. clutch il with both hands until death begins
10 feel for their heart strings, and then they
1 dictate to an attorney Il last will and testa-
4 ment in which they spite some daughter
% because she married against her fathers
e wish, and fling few crusts 10 God and suf-
5 fering humanity, as much as 10 say: II
A have kept this surplus property, through all
4 these severe winters, and through all these
/ long years, from q needy apd suffering world,
| and would keep it longer IL | could, but as
{ must give il up, take II, and much good may
I il do you" Now we begin To understand th3