Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1890-04-04

praise, ana more anto-nOruelul
A poor Scotch lad came TO America at
twelve years of age, and went to Pittsburg
He looked around for work, and became AN
engineer in cellar, then rose to become
telegraph messenger boy, then rose TO a posi-
ton in a railroad office, then rose 10 n place
in telegraph office, then rose to be superin-
tendent of a railroad, then rose till he became
an iron and steel manufacturer, then rose
until he opened free libraries in his native
land, and last month a free library in Ale
gheny City, and now offers two million dol
lars for IA free library in Pittsburg. This ex-
ample will be catching until the earth is revo-
lutionizcd ! majestic such men i'll com
parson with some woG of, who amass wealth
aud clutch it with both hands until death be-
gins to feel for their heart strings, and then
they dictate to an attorney last will and
testament, in which they spite some daughter
because she married against her fathers wish,
and fling few crusts to God and suffering
humanity, as much us to say: IL have kept
this surplus property, through all these severe
winters, and through all these long years,
from a needy and suffering world, and would
keep it longer if | could, but rs | must give
it up, take it, and much good may it do your
Now we begin to understand the text: Bet
ter a living dog than dead ion.n
THE DEAD LIONS.
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 influenced Vast capacity had
they and mighty range, and other men III
their presence we're 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 bargain. They have spoken
their last hard word. They have committed
their last mean act When a tawny inhabit-
ant of the desert rolls over helpless, the lion
ess and whcps fill the air with shrieks and
hOwls and lash themselves into lamentatiOn
and it is "A genuine grief for the poor things
But when this dead lion Of mOnstrOus useless
ness expires, there is nothing but dramatized
woe, for Better Is living dog than a dead
lion.n
My text also means that an opportunity Of
the living present is better than a great OPP
portunity passed. We spend much Of our
time in saying: IF | only had We can all
look back and see some occasion where We
might have done great deed or might 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, or through
procrastinatlon, we let the chance 90 by
How much time we have wasted in thinking
Of what VIC mi ht have said or might have
done! We spend hours and days and year:
in walking around that dead lion. We can
not resusCitate it. 1t will never open it,
eyes again. There will never be another
spring in its paw. Dead rs any feline terror
Of South Africa, through whose heart thirt )
years ago Gordon Cumming sent the slug
Don't let us give any more time to the de
ploring of the dead past There are Other
opportunities remaining. They may not h,
as great, but they are worth our attention
Small opportunities all around. opportunitie
for the saying of kind words and doing OF
kind deeds. Helpltssness to he helped Dis
heartened ones to be encouraged. Lost one
to be found Though the present may be in
significant compared with the past, Bet
ter is living dog than dead lion"
USELESS REGRET.
Tho most useless and painful feeling is thC
one Of regret. Repent of lost opportunities
we must, and get pardon we may, but regret
weaken, dishearten, and cripple for futur,
work. If sea captain who once had charg,
| of a " hite Star steamer across the Atlanti,
ocean one foggy night runs on Il rock Of
Newfoundland, and passengers and ship per
ish, shall lie refuse to take command of
small boat up the North river and say: {"
never will 90 on the water again unless car
run one of the White Star liuel" Shall tn,
engineer of Il lightning express, who at
station misread the telegram Of n train dis
patcher aud went into collision, and for tina
has been put down to the work of engineer
ing freight train, say: ~ never will agail
mount an engine unless ! can run a vestiDul
express:' Take what you have OF oppor
tunity left. Do your best with what remains
our shortest winter uny Is worth more u
you than can be the longest day Of previ
Gus summer. Your opportunity now, a
compared with previous opportunities, ma'
be small as "a rat terrier compared with tn
lion which at Matabosa, fatally wounded b,
the gun OF David Livingstone, in its dealt
agony leaped upon the missionary explorer
and with its jaws crushed the bone of hi
arm to splinters, and then rolled over AM
expired but, Better is a living dog than
dead lion"
Ny text also means that the condition of tn
most wretched man alive is better than tina
of the most favored sinners departed Tn
, chance of these last is gone Who're they ar
lHtJ ttillOJ ILdhc JlllN dSSelS dNdlld
BILE After Charlemagne was dead he wa
set in an ornamented sepulchre on golde
throne, and crown was put on his cold brow
and sceptre in his stiff hand, but that CAV
| him no dominion in the next world. One c
the most intensely interesting things | say
last winter in Egypt was Pharaoh of olde
times, the very Pharaoh who oppressed tn
Israetes. The inscription on his Sarcophagu'
and the writing on his mummy bandage
prove beyond controversy that he was tn
Pharaoh of Bible times. All the Egyptoogist
and the explorations agree that il is the oil
scoundrel himself. Visible are the very teet
with which he CRASHED against the lsraelitis
brickmaksrs. There are the sockets of III
mercless eyes with which. he looked upon til
overburdened people of God. There is tn
hair that iioatcd in the breeze OFF the Re
Sea. There are the very lips with which /
| commanded them to make bricks withol
straw Thousands Of years afterward, wine
the wrappings of the mummy were unrolleC
old Pharaoh lifted up his arm as if in implori
ton, but his skinny bones cannot again cIutc
his shattered sceptre. He is dend lion. An
is not any man now living, in the fact that /
has opportunity Of repentance ami salvation
better Off than any % those departed ones VIII,