The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-04-16

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 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 incomo 'rnru
Bible lays 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 per cent, or one per cent, or half
per cent, or quarter per cent. Ihat they
are lions, no one doubts. When they roar,
Wall street, State street, Lombard street and
the Bourse tremble
Ir few years they will lie down and die.
They will have great funeral, ana a long
row Of fine carriages, and mightiest requiemlss
will roll from the organ. and polished smart
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 hve
years after OPEN the tomb, and you
will find he has dropped even tne
ten 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 obeisk over
him? 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
COW an outburst of splendid beneficence that
Is to increase until the earth is girdled with
II. 1t is spreading with the speed OF an cpl
demic, but with just the opposite effect OF an
endemic. Do YOU not notice how wealthy
men are opening free libraries and building
churches in their native village? Have you
not seen how NEIL of large means, instead
of leaving great philanthropies in their
wills for disappointed heirs to quarrel about
and the orphan courts to swamp, are be-
coming their own executors and admlnis-
traitors? After putting aside enough for
their families for 'he that proVldeth not for
his own, and especially those of his own
household, is worse than an infdel'1, they
are saying: 'sWhat can I do, not after am
dead, but while living and in full possession
of my faculties, to properly direct 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
capacity to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing
the good accomplishedw There are bad fass'
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 accumulation. 1t is being helped bJ
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 alter 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 60 into elaborate process to prove
that the father was crazy, and therefore in
competent 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 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: in the name Of God, amen. l.,
being Of sound mind, do make this my last
will and testament"
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 gal
lery for our town. or, "What plans can you
draw me out for concert hall?' or, u 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 I want you to draw me q
plan for church, commodious, beautiful,
we'll ventilated, and with plenty OF windows
to let in the light; I want you to get right at
IN, nj ~
for, though am well now, life is uncertain,
and before leave the world I want to see
something done that will be an appropriate
acknowledgment Of the goodness OF God to
me and mine; now when can l hear from
you!"
In our own city we have many examples OF
this. What grandeur of benehcence mas
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
turiesI All honor to such mani Do not say
so when he is dead, say it now. 1t would be
good thing if some of the eulogles we caise. e;s
on tombstoneS were written on paper In tinle
for the philanthropists to read them while
yet they are alive. Less post morten praise,
and more ante-mortem.
A Door Scotch lad came to America at
twelve years Of age, and went to PlttSDurS.
He looked around for work, and became an
engineer in a cellar, then rose to become a
telegraph messenger boy, then ros, to posi-
ton in railroad office, then rose to place n
telegraph Office, then rose to be superin-
tendent of 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 free library in Allie
gheny City, and now offers two million dol
lars for free library in Pitts5urg. This e:e'
ample will be catching until the earth L
revolutionized.
How majestic such men in comparison
with some I wot Of, who anlass 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, in which they spite some daughter
because she married against her fathers 5
wish, and fling few crusts to God and sut-
fering humanity, as much as to say: y!
have kept t'Is surplus property, through all
these severe winters and through all these
long years, from needy and suffering world.
and would keep it longer if I could, but as
must give it up, take it, and much good may
it do you" NoW We begin to understand the
text: Better is living dog tnan 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 presence were as powerless as the an
te.ops or heifer or giraffe when from the
Jingle 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. TheJ
have committed their last mean act When
a tawny inhabitant Of the desert rolls ove-
helpless, the lioness and whelps fills the air
with shrieks and howls, and lash themselves
into Iamentation and it is q genuine grief for