Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-27

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Lrowu, and the hand which supported the
dropping head was long, thin and almost
horrible to look upon. Nobody, gazing on
this human wreck could have believed him
TO be asleep, and before him on the table lay
several sheets ofpaper covered with writ
ing.
"Poor wretch the banker thought, che
sleeps, and, no doubt, dreams of the millions
he will possess tomorrow Yet when 1
throw this fragment OF humanity
on the bed, and smother 1t with n pillow, no
physician on earth could find out that he
did not die a natural death. S:in, let me
read what he has written"
The banker took the well arranged manu-
script from the table and read as follows:
Tomorrow at noon the time of nv voluntary
Imprisonment ex xpires, and shall be free to
go and communicate with the outer world
again. Before leave this room and see the
light of heaven, hold it necessary to tell
YOU what / feel. On my conscience and in
1uy belief in God Almighty, who witnesses
this nv confession, l swear that | despise
freedom, despiSe wealth, lite. health, knowl-
edge and everything and all which the books
consider as mankind'S Joy and treasure! For
Is years have carefully studied human life.
1t is true, know nothing by personal ex-
perience. have seen nothing of the world
tor 10 wears. Bat l have studied
books, aud in them 1 have expert
enced aud l have lived the life and ex-
perience of thousands and centuries. In
them l have sung songs with the poets,
rambled in woods and forests, and chased
the elk and the wild boar. And l loved
Yoman! Women sprunk out OF the ir-
genious brain of the poet-chaSte and pure,
lovely and noble. She has visited nv lonely
chamber at night, and whispered soft aud
intoxicating love tales in my ears, until nv
heart turned sick aud my head dizzy.
despise womankind! In books l have
climbed the summit of Elboorz and Mont
Blanc, and watched the sun rise and set and
battle the heavens, the seas, and the mount
aims in purple and gold! l have taken wing
with the eagle ard looked on green fields
and pastures aud on rivers and lakes;
have seen small villages and giant towns,
and have listened to the waves in Storm
and seen the outbreak of VcSuvius; art and
science, splendor and greatness, have been
equally revealed to me, and despise them
ALI have met with fearful dangers and
struggles-in books; L have fought battles,
burned cities. killed kings, and reigued
supreme over their subjects, and despisej
them all In books L have found sagacity
and wisdom, science and knowledge, and
what the scholarship of the world had
boarded up through ages and centuries
IL is all crammeo in a little corner
of nv head, and l know that 1 am
wiser than YOU all l despise your books,
worldly goods sense and prudence. All
this is idle and evanescent, and nothing re-
mains but death; that cancels all. The
naughty and the beautiful, the ingenious
and the heroic-all are food for the worms,
anG your works, which you meant to create
I'll 4, IL
be frozen or burned with the globe you call
the world, and with the illusions you have
believed TO be immortal truths. And for a
proof OF the sincerity of this. my conviction,
I here declare that / give up all claims to
the two millions, due TO me tomorrow at
noon! As have voluntarily STAYED in this
room so long TO show YOU that / despise the
world, so snail l voluntarily forfeit the
wager. bv escaping through the window five
hours before my time Of imprisonment ends.
l despise and throw away the money that 1
have coveted so much, for which my merce-
nary greed made me keep the wager which
brought me the conviction of the iolly of all
earthly things.
Large tears were dropping down the
bankers cheeks. He put the manuscript
back on the table, knelt down and kissed
the end of one of the long, soft locks of this
sage Then he slowly rose, and, noiselessly
as he had come, he left the room and slipped
back to his own apartments. There be Law
down on mis- bed and thanked God as he had
not done for wears and slept as he had not
done for months.
Next morning one OF the servants came
in, pale and agitated, relating how he had
seen the prisoner in the side wing jump out
OF the window and hide himself in the gar
Gen near to the portal. The banker went
there at once, together with the keeper, to
satisfy himself of the truth of the statement.
The prisoner was gone, and the banker drew
a sigh of relief. To avoid explanations and
the idle talk OF strangers, he bade the SER
wants keep their own counsel. The
written remuneration of the two
millions, which the prisoner had left
on the table, the banker took and locked up
in his sac =
One year had passed since this eventful
night aud day. Again the banker sat among
his guests, and again they were discussing
topics of general interest. They spoke of
human ambition, and The purpose and aim
OF human exertion. As they were mostly
men of wealth. of course they spoke of
money as not essential to perfect happiness,
and not worth achieving.
I'VE are taught" said one of the gentle
real periection. Now, among those men who,
either through genius or sanctity, have be-
come famous, rich men have been as rare
as comets. This ] think proof that to
gain human perfection wealth is superhu-
ous."
Quite So" said another; SIT seems to be
impossible to worship the spirit and the
clay at once. Poets and geniuses, in gen.
eraI, are mostly men OF small means, and
absolutely disregard the superhuous things
which we are used to call the comforts of
lite. Stoical Indifference, ascetical absti-
nence are looked upon as the pinnacle of
greatness and perfection, and the Roman
Catholic Church has made 1t an essential
part OF her creed and the crowning glory OF
her priests and saints
Said q third: SIN nv opinion
there is nothing exalting, nothing praise
worthy, in abstinence. To disregard the
picture is to defy the artist. To despise
women, wine, music, good table, lux
urious home, is to disavow their creator and
donator-God."
"Spoken like man of sense" said a
fourth, man who possessed countless mil.
lions and was the greatest business rival ol
the banker-host; ''these ascetics look very
well in church history, but in reality they
do not exist. There may be men who des-
pse women, but you may be sure they are
either too old or otherwise deficient in in
spring love; some affect TO despise power
and fame, but / am certain they did theil
utmost to achieve them and failed; some
turn away from society and throw away life
but oniv because they know that life and
society would cast them out. 1 am a man
upward of sixty, but have never met with
the human being who, for the sake of an
idea, had refused to take fortune, or given
up the possession OF, let me say, for instance