The Forrest City times., 1890-04-05

l thrones, ovorhears tho whisper, and secs tho wondcrment and will, with bcnignant
 and allsuggestive smile, say, "Ycs, 1t ia
 as told the world many centuries ago.
 better Is small faculty active used than
 great talent unemployed, better . living | dog than dead lion.''
 The simple fact is that tho 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 improv cment of society, nothing for
 the overthrow of evil, nothing for ths sal vation of souls. Some of them are none
 tary lions. They have accumulated so
 many hundreds of thousands of dollars that
 you can feel their tread when they walk
 through any street or come into any circle They can by one financial movo upset the
 money market Instead Of tho ten per cent | of their income which tho Bible lays down
 as tho proper proportion dt their contribution to the cause of God. l they do not give fivo per cent or three per
 cent or two per cent, or one per cent or Q
 half per cent, or quarter per cent That 1 they are lions, no one doubts. When they
 roar, Wall street, State street. Lombard street and the Bourse tremblc. In a few | years they will lie down and die. They will have great funeral, and a long row of 1 fine carriages, and mightiest requiems will | roll from the organ, and polished shaft of | Aberdeen granite will indicate where | thcir dust lies, but for all uss to the
 world that man might as well have i never lived. As an experiment as to
 how much ho can carry with him, put a ten cent pieco in the palm of his dead hand.
 and five years after open the tomb, and you l will find that he has dropped even the ten cent piece. A lion! Yes, but n dead lion !. | He left all his treasures on earth, and has no | treasures in heaven. N hat shail the stone | cutter put upon the obelisk over himl 1 suggest, let 1t 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 loin." | But thank God that we are having just | now an outburst of splendid heneficence I that is to increase until the earth Is girdled with it. It is spreading with the speed of
 an epidemic, but with just the opposite of
 feet of an epidemic Do you not notice l how wealthy men are opening free libra
 res, and building churches in their native 1 viilayel Have you not seen how men Of | large means, instead Of leaving great phil | anthropies in their wills for disappointed
 heirs to quarrel about and the orphan | courts to swamp, are becoming their l own executors and admnistra- torsi After putting aside enough | for their families flor "hc that provideth | not for his own, and especially those of his
 own household is worse than an inideln),
 they are saying; "W hat can do, not after l am dead, but while living. and in full possession Of my faculties, to properly di-
 rect the building of the churches, or the | hospitals, or the colleges, or the libraries
 that design for the public welfare, and i while yet have full capacity to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing the good accom- l plished There are bad fashions and good fashions, and. whether good or bad, fashions are mighty. Ono of the
 good fashions now starting will sweep
 the oarth-the fashion for wealthy men to distribute, while yet alive, their surplus
 accumulation It is being helped by the fact tpat so many largo 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 after year, and alter one court decides, it as eends to another court and is decided In the opposite direction, and then new evidence is found, and the trials arc all repeated. The children, who at tho fathers funeral seemed to have an uneontrollable grief, after tho will IS read go into elaborate process to prove that the father was crazy and there fore incompetent 10 make will; and there gre men on the jury who think tha. the fact that the testator gave so much of his money to the Bible Society, and the mis- sionary society, or the opening of free library is proof positive that he was in- sane, and that he knew not what he was signing when ho subscribed to the words "ln the name of God, amen. l, being of sound mind, do make this my last will and testament.'
 Tho torn wills, the fraudulent wills, the broken wills have recently been made such spectacle to angels and to men that all over tho land successful men are calling In architects and saying to them. How much would 1t cost for mo to build Die. ure-gallery for our townt' or, "What plans can you draw me out for concert hailf' or "I am especially interested in the incurables' and how large building would accommodate three hundred of such patentsr' or, "rhe Church of God has been great help to me all my life, and l want you to draw me plan fer q church. commodious, beautiful. well ventilated, and with plenty of windows to let in the light; want you to get right al work in making out plans of such a building, for, though I am well now, life is uncertain, and before l leave the world l want to sec something done that will be an appropriate acknowl- edgment of the goodness of God to me and mine; now when can 1 hear from yous', In our city We have many examples of this
 What a grandeur of benenccnco has our fellow citizen. Nr, Pratt demonstrated
 building educational institutions which will put their hands on the nineteenth century, and the twentieth century, and all the oentu- riesl All honor to such u man Do not say so when he is dead, say il now It would be a good thing if some of the cuiogies we chisel oa tombstones were written on paper in time for the phianthropists to read them while yet they are alive Less post nor tenn praise, and more ante mortcm.
 A poor Scotch lad came to America at twelve years Of age, and went to Pitts. burg. He looked around for work, and became an engineer in n cellar then rose to become d telegraph messenger boy, then ruso to Il position in a railroad office, then rose 10 place in telegraph office, then rose to be superintendent of railroad, then rose till ho became an iron and steel manufacturer, then rnse until he openej free libraries in his native land anu last month a free library in Allegheny City, and now offers two milton dollars for free library in Pittsburg. This example will bo catching until the earth is revolutionixed. How majestic such men ia comparison with some 1 wot of, who ams1ss wealth and clutch 1t with both hands uneil death begins to feel for thosr heart strings, and then they dictate to an alter. ney last will and testament in which they spite some daughter because she mar ricd against her fathers wish. and fling q few crusss to God and suffering humanity. as much as to say; 'l have scpt this surplus pfoperty, through all these severe winters. and through ail these long years, from q needy and suffering world, and would kccp t longer if could, bat must gtvo it up take it. and much gool may it do you.' Now We begin to understand the text "iSetter is a living dog than dead lion.n
 Who would attempt to write the obituary of the dead lions of commerce, the dead isons of law, tho dead lions of medicine, the dead lions of social intluencei Vast
 capacity had they, and mighty range, and other mon in their presence wero as powar- less as the antelope or heifer or giraffe