Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-31

mucn OF ms money 10 the BLDG society
and the missionary society, or the OPEN
ing of a free library, is proof positive
that he was insane. and that he knew
not what he was signing when he SUBJ
soribed to the words: Sin 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 architects and saying to them:
How much would 1t cost for me to build
picture gallery for our town. or,
'tWhat plans can you draw me ont for q
concert hall?' or, 81 am specially in
terested in 'the incurables,' and how
large building would accommodate 800
of such patients?' or, 1.-THE Church of
God has been a great help to me all my
life, and want you to draw me plan
for a church, commodious, beautiful,
well 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 am well now, life is uncertain
and before leave the world want TO
see something done that will be an APP
n ess of God to me and mine; now when
can hear from you?''
In our own city we have many exam
pies of this. What grandeur of bene-
fcence has our fellow citizen Mr.. Pratt,
demonstrated, building educational(in-
situations which will put their hands on
the Nineteenth century, and the Twen-
tieth century, and all the centuries! 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 eulogies
we chiseI on tombstones were written on
paper in 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
II years of age, and went to Pittsburg.
he looked around for work, and became
az engin eer in cellar, then rose to be-
come telegraph messenger boy, then
rose to a 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 manufacturer, then rose until he
opened free libraries in his native land,
and last month a free library in Ale
cheney City, and now offers 81, 900 ZOO
for free library in Pittsburg. This ex-
ample will be catching until the earth is
reyolutionized. How majestic such
men in comparison with some
wot of, who amass wealth
and clutch il with both hands until death
begins to feel for their heart-strings and
then they dictate to an attorney last
will and testament, 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, 81 have kept this sur
plus 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 obit-
uary of the dead lions of commerce, the
dead lions of law, the dead lions of medi-
cine, the dead lions of social influence?
Vast capacity had they, and mighty
range, and other men in their presence
were as powerless as the antelope or
heifer or giraffe when from the jungle
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 tawny inhabitant of the desert
rolls over helpless, the lioness and whelps
fill the air with shrleks and bowls, and
lash themselves into 1amentation, and it
is genuine grief for the poor things.
But when this dead lion of monstrous
uselessness expires there is nothing but
dramatized woe, for s'Better is a living
dog than dead lion. -
My text also means that an opportu-
nifty of the living present is better than
great opportunity passed. We spend
much of our time in saying: elf 1 only
had. - We can all look back and see
some occasion where we might have done
a great deed, or might have effected an
important rescue, or we might have dealt
a stroke that would have accomplished
vast result. Through stupidity or lack
of appreciation of the crisis, or through
procrastination we let the chance go by.
How much time we have wasted in think
ing of what we might have said or
might have donei We spend hours
and days and years in walking
around CnaI O6aO 1IOH. we ChHHoL re-
suscitate it. 1t will never open its
eyes again. There will never be an
other spring in its paw. Dead as any
feline terror of South Africa, through
whose heart thirty years ago Gordon
Cumming sent the slug. Don't let US
give any more time to the deploring of
<fRe dead past. There are other oppor-
tupities 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 q living dog than dead
lion -
The most useless and painful feellng IS
the one of regret. Repent OF lost oppor-
tunities we must, and get pardon we
may; but regrets weaken, dfshearten,
and cripple for future work. If sea
captain who once had charge of d White
Star steamer across the Atlantic pecan,
one foggy night runs on rock off New
fouDdland, and passengers and ship per-