The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1890-04-16

OF a message to deliver: comes into !
rail tram OF stage coach, OF depot. ol
shop. with milling face that sets
everybody to thinking, II that mal
can, with small equipment IL life, bt
happy. why cannot l. possessing tal
more than he has. be equally happy?
One day OF that kind OF doing things
may not amount t. much, but forty
years OF that-no one but God INN
self can appreciate its immenslty.
The simple fact is that the worio
has been. and the world IS now, full
Of dead lions. They are people OF
great capacity and large opportunity:
doing nothing for the Improvement
OF society. nothing ion the overthrow
OF evil, nothing foG the salvation OF
souls. Some OF them are momental,y
hons. They have accumulated so
many hundreds of thousands OF dol
lars that you can feel their tread when
they walk through any street or come
into any circle. They can by one
tinancial move upset the moley mar
ket. Instead OF the ten per cent. OF
their income which the Bible lays
down as the propei: proportion OF
sheir contribution TO the cause OF
God. they do not give i've per cent,
OF three PEI cent, OF two per cent:
OF one per cent, or a half per cent.
or a quarter per cent. That they are
lions, no one doubts. When they
roar Wall street. State street, and
Boruse tremble In few years they
will lie down AID die They will
have great funeral, and q long TOW
OF fine carriages, and Inightlest requ-
ens viii roll from the organs. and
polished shafts 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 Us to how much he
can ca11y with him, put a ten-cent
piece in the palm Of his dead hand,
and five years after open the tomb,
and you viii find thathe has dropped
even the ten-cent piece. A hon. Yes,
but a dead lion! He left tallhis treas
ure on earth, and has no treasure III
heaven. What shall the stone cutter
put upon the obelisk over him? /
suggest let it be the mans name,
then the date OF his birth, then the
Gate of his death, then the approprl-
ate scripture passage: Better IS a
living dog than dead lion.
But I thank God that we are hav-
ing Just now an ontbursts OF splendid
benihcence that IS to increase until
the earth is g;i.dlei with it. It IS
spreading with the speed OF an epi-
demic. but with just the opposite
effect of an epidemic. Do you not
notice how wealthy men are openln g
free libraries, and building churches
in then: native village? Have you
not seen how men of large means,
instead of leaving great philanthro-
pies in their wills for disappointed
heirs to quarrel about, and the or
phan courts to swamp. are becoming
their own executors and administra-
tors? After putting aside enough
for then. families for ''he that provld-
eth not Cor his OWL, and especially
those Of his own household, Is worse
tha an infdel,' they are saying
What can I do, not after I am dead,
but while living, and in full posses
sion of my faculties, to properly di-
rect the building of the churches, OF
the hospitals OF the colleges. or the
libraries that I design for the public
welfare. and while I yet have full ca
capacity to enjoy the satisfaction OF
seeing the good accomplished!
There are bad fashions and good
fashions, and whether good on bad,
fashions are mighty. One Of she
good fashions now starting will sweep
the earth-thc fashion for wealthy
men to distribute, while yet alive.
then: surplus accumulation. tits be
ing 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, it ascends to another court
aud is decided in the opposite dlrec-
ton, and the new evidence is found.
and the trials are all repeated. The
children. who ut the fathers funeral
seemed TO have an uncomfortable
g1ief. after the will is read gointo an
elaborate process to prove that the
father was crazy, and therefore IL
competent to make q viii: and there
are men Oh the jury who think that
the fact that the testatCr gave so
much Of his money to the Bible socl-
ETY., and the missionary society. OF the
opening of a free library,is proof pos
tive 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. [. be-
ing OF sound mind. Go 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 al over the land success
full men are calling in architects and
saying to them: How much would
it cost for me to build a picture gal
lery for our town. OF ! am spe,
cially interested in the incuuables
and how large building would ac-
commodate three hundred OF sucE
patients" or The church of Coo
has been great help TO me all ny
life, and I want YOU to draw the plan
for : church, commodioas, beautiful
well ventilated, and with plenty o.
windows to let N the light: l want
you to get right at work u making
out plans for such I building, for
though I an well now, life is uncel,
tain, and before / leave the world
| want to see something done that VII
be al appropriate acknowledgment
| of the goodness of God to me and mine.