Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1890-04-05

| years after open the TOMB and you
will find he has dropped even the
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 obellsk over
! him? suggest, let it be the mans name,
then the date of his birth, then the date OF
his death, then tho appropriate Scripture
! passage: Better is living dog than dead
lion
But thank God that we arc having just
now an outburst of splendid beneflcence that
is to Increase until the earth IS glrdled with
| it. 1t is spreading with the speed OF an cpl
tlenic. but with just the opposite effect OF an
epidemic DO You not notice how wealthy
uien 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 admins
traitors? After putting aside enough for
their families flor she that provideth not tor
household, is worse than an inhdel''l, they
are saving: "What can do, not after an
dead. but while living and in full possession
OF nv faculties, to properly direct the build
ino- of the churches, OF the hospitals, or the
colleges or the libraries that design for the
pnblic welfare, and while yet have full
ca,acity to enjoy the satisfaction of seeing
Inc good accomplished" There are bad fash
ions and good fashions, and, whether good or
bad, fashions are mighty :,
One of the good fashions now starting WIN
sweep the earth-the fashion for wealthy
mon TO distribute, while yet alive. their
surplus accumulation 1t is being helped by
the fact that So many large estates have, I'M
mediately after the testator's death, gone
!. into litigation. Attorneys with large lees
are employed on both sides, and the case goes
on month after month, and year after year.
and after one court decides 1t ascends 20 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 go into elaborate process TO prove
, that tho father was crazy, and therefore ln-
competent to make a will; and there are men
, on the Jury who think that the TACT that the
/ testator gave so much OF his money to tho
Bible society. and the missionary society, or
the opening OF free library IS PROOF posltIve
that he was insane, and that no 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 4
spectacle TO angels and to men that all over
the land successful nsa are calling IN arcnl-
tects and saying to them: How much
would it cost for me to build picture gal
lery for our town." or. 'What plans can you
draw me out for q concert hall:' or, i am
specially interested il the incurables, and
how large building would accommodate
three hundred OF such patlentsg' or. Inc
church of God has been great help to me
all my lie, and | want you to draw me a
plan fol, church. commodious. beautiful,
we'll ventilated, and with plenty OF windows
to let III the light; I want you to get right at
work in making out plans OF sucn ou'ldlnS,
for, though AN we'll now, lite is uncertain
and before leave the world l 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 IRON
you@
In our own city we have many examples OF
this. What a grandeur of baneticence has
our fellow citizen, Mr. Pratt, demonstrated,
building educational institutions which VIII
put their hands on the Nineteenth century,
and the Twentieth century, and all the cen
turtles. All honor to such q man Do not say
so when he is dead, say it now. 1t would oS
q good thing if some of the euloGles we cnlSel
on tombstones were written on paper IN tinie
for the philanthropists to read them willis
vet they are alive. Less post mortem praise,
and more ante-mortem.
\ Door Scotch lad came to America at
twelve years of age and went to Pittsour5.
He looked around for work, and became an
engineer in cellar. then rose to become a
telegraph messenger boy, then rosa to posi-
ton in railroad Office. then rose to place III
q telegraph Office, then rose to be superir.
tendent of railroad, then rose till he becams
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 a free library in Pittsburg. This ex-
ample will be catching until the earth Is
revolutionized.
How majestic such men in comparison
with some | wot of, who amass wealth and
clutch it with both hands until death begins
TO feel Tor their heart strings, and then they
dictate to an attorney last will and Tesla
inent, in which they spite some daughter
| because she married against her father $
wish, and fling few crusts to God and sui
fering humanity, as much as TO say: i
have kept this surplus property, through all
these severe winters, and through all these
long years from needy and suffering world,
and would keep it longer if 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 than 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 presen:e were as poweriess as the an
telope or heifer or giraffe when from the
Jingle Numidian lion springs upon It's
prey But they get through with life. They
Law down in their magnificent lair. They
have made their last SHARP bargain. They
have sposen their last hard word. They
have committed their last mean act. WJen
q tawny inhabitant Of the desert rolls over
! helpless the lioDess and whelps fills the air
with shrieks and howls and lash themselves
into lamentatiou, and it Is genuine grief Tor
the poor things. But when this dead lion OF
INDUSTRIOUS uselessness expires, there Is moth
ing but dramatized woe, for BETTER IS nv
ing dog than q dead lion"
Ny text also means that an opportunity OF
tine living present is better than great Oh
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 stroke that would have
accomplished vast result Throug.i stupid
through procrastination, we let the chance
go by. Howmuch time we have wasted in
thinking of what we might have said or
might have donel We spend hours and days
and years i'll walking around that
dead lion. We cannot resuscitate it. It
will never open its eyes again. There will
never be another spring in its paw. Dead as
any feline terror of South Africa, through
whose heart thirty years ago Gordon Cum
ming sent the slug. Don't let US give any
more lime to the deploring of the dead past.
There are other great opportunities remain
ing. They may not be as great, but they are
worthy our attention. Small opportunities
all around, opportunities for the saying of
kind words and doing of kind deeds. Help
Iessness to be helped. Disheartened ones to
be encouraged. Lost ones to be found.
Though the present may be insignificant as
compared with the past, Better is a living
dog than dead lion.
The most useless and painful feeling is the
one of regret. Repent Of lost opportunities
we must, and get pardon we may, but re-
grets weaken, dishearten and cripple for flu
ture work If sea Captain who once had
charge of a White Star steamer across the
Atlantic Ocoau OnA foCoy Dicht Rms on q