The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1892-07-09
1T WAS NOT FUNNY.

"While | was looking for something 10
write about" said REUBEN this morning,
81 let my eve rest on a small news item
in THE GLOBE yesterday evening where
was recorded the obituary notice of a
man who had made the struggle and had
died. The notice spoke of him as a poor
honest man-of a good man-but poor.
Well, that is something. We very often
see papers whooping up a lively send-on
to the dead rich-but the poor devil who
needs sympathy while living and who
had friends to appreciate a puff after he
is dead hardly eve gets it. And that is
where the world is wrong. Wrong be-
cause it does not help. The well-to-do
are always made better; the rich increase
the bank account and the strong grow
stronger in their inf1uence-but the poor
devil with fringe on his coat sleeve must
prowl around all night and all day to
keep the proving wolf from his door
must allow his pride to become scared
with the impudence of others must deny
himself all the pleasures he sees and must
live along a life of regret and humiliation.
And why? Why not 60 out into the
world and conquer? Why not go among
the other fellows and pull off your coat
and make things hum? Why not get
rich? Yes, that is the proposition.
But my friends let INT tell you that it
is not so awfully easy. The poor good
man who died and who soon will be for
gotten even among his friends-what
chance had he First he had a wife who
was in poor health and he had five or six
cbildren-and their mouths were always
open for bread. He hustled and he rus
tied. He worked hard and he worked
long days-but then what did it all
amount to. Six and seven and eight and
nine dollars a week. He could save
something on that-yes, but what some
thing. He did save about forty dollars
once and he thought that was a great
deal and it was for him. His wife
thought so, too, and they already com
menced to figure about the little home
they would some day have. The forty
dollars increased to fifty-that was a
whole half hundred dollars-ah, it was
coming their way. But just about this
time and sickness came. Then a darker
demon prowled around and after a long
time death took away one of the little
birds from that humble nest-leaving
not so many mouths to feed, TO be sure
but leaving sorrow and sadness-and
no money. Instead of the fifty dollars
and a beautiful child-debt was there
and the ground had been dug up and the
sweet face laid away.
And so it runs along. The other day
the father died-as | noticed and all he
left was a record that he was an honest
poor man. That is ali he saw in life
that was all the world saw in death. But
is it so? Did not that man, in his rags
and his poverty and his sickness and his
hunger, feel as he stepped into the boat
to cross the dark river-to 60 to that
endless time in search of eternity-did
he not feel that his journey would be
pleasant that no danger would come
that finally and certainly he would land
where was joy, and peace and happiness ?
To be sure he did-and after all the
struggle-the years of self-denial and
bitter strife, was lot his last thought
that of eternal happiness and he knew
twas not that, l want to know-worth
more than all else in the world could at
that moment have been worth to him.
OF course it was-and that was why he
did a good and profitable business while
living.