Connecticut western news., 1890-04-02

will is read go into elaborate process to prove that the father was crazy, and therefore incompetent 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. I, being of sound mind, do make this my last will and testament"
 DO GOOD NOW WHILE YOU GAN.
 The torn wills, the fraudulent wills, the broken wills have recently been made such spectacle to angels and to men that all over the land successful men are calling in architects and say ing to them: "How much would 1t cost for me to build picture gallery for our town2" or, 'What plans can you draw me out for concert hall" or, 1T am specially interested in the incurables,' and how large building would accommodate three hundred of such patients2" or, ''The church of God has been a great help to me all my life, and want you to draw me plan for church, commodious, beau tiful, we'll ventilated, and with plenty of windows to let in the light; I want you to get right at work in making out plans of such building, for, though l am we'll now, life is uncertain, and before leave the world want to see something done that will be an appro- priate acknowledgment of the good. ness of God to me and mine; now when can hear from youa"
 In our own city we have many ex- amples of this. What a grandeur of benedcence has our fellow citizen, Mir. Pratt, demonstrated, building educa- tional institutions which will put their hands on the Nineteenth century, and the Twentieth century, and all the centuries! All honor to such man! Do not say so when he is dead, say it now. It would be good thing if some of the eulogies we chisel on time for the philanthropists to read them while yet they are alive. Less post mortem praise, and more ante morteml
 A poor Scotch lad came to America at twelve years of age. and went to 4AItSOuiR. I1e 1OOkcO dCOuuO AOT work, and became an engineer in a cellar, then rose to become telegraph messenger boy, then rose to position in railroad office, then rose to place in telegraph office, then rose to be superintendent of railroad, then rose till he became an iron and steel manu- facturer, then rose until he opened
 free libraries in his native land and
 last month free library in Allegheny City, and now offers two million dol lars for free library in Pittsburg. This example will be catching until the earth is revolutionized.
 How majestic such men in compari- son with some 1 wot of, who amass
 wealth and clutch it with both hands until death begins to feel for their
 heart strings, and then they dictate
 to an attorney a last will and testa- ment, in which they spite some daughter because she married against
 her fathers wish, and fling few crusts to God and suffering humanity, as much as to say: II have kept this surplus property, through all these severe winters, and through all these long years, from a needy and suffer
 ing world, and would keep it longer if I could, but as l must give 1t up, take it, and much good may it do your Now we begin to understand the text,
 Better is a living dog than dead lion"
 Who would attempt to write the obituary of the dead lions of com
 merce, theFead lions of law, the dead lions of medicine, the dead lions of social infuence2 Vast capacity had they, and mighty range, and other men in their presence were as power
 less as the antelope 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 inhabitant of the des ert rolls over helpless, the lioness and whelps fill the air with shrieks and howls, and lash themselves into la
 mentation, and it is genuine grief for the poor things. But when this dead lion of monstrous uselessness ex
 pires, there is nothing but dramatized
 woe, for Better is a living dog than dead lion"
 "IF ONLY HAD."
 My text also means that an oppor- tunity of the living present is better than great opportunity passed. We spend much of our time in saying, If I 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 Through stupidity or lack of apprecia- tion of the crisis, or through procrasti- nation, we let the chance go by. How much time we have wasted in thinking of what we might have said or might have done! We spend hours and days and years in walking around that dead lion. We cannot resuscitate 1t. It will never open it's eyes again. There will never be another spring in it's paw. Dead as any feline terror of ! South Africa, through whose heart l thirty years ago Gordon Cumming sent the slug. Don't let us give any l more time to the aeploring of the dead past. There are other great opportu- mites remaining. They may not be as great but they are worth our atten- ton. Small opportunities all around, opportunities for the saying of kind words and doing of kind deeds. Help
 lessness 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 living dog than a dead lion."
 The most useless and painful feel l inp is the one of regret. Repent of
 pardon we may, but regrets weaken,
 dishearten and cripple for future