The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-07-27
WEAKNESS OF MONEY
REV. THoMks DIXON ON THE Pow
gRTY OF SOME MoNsYED MEN.

CAPE CHARLES, va, July 2O.--heV.
Thomas Dixon, Jr., preached today the |
third sermon in the series on the cal |
mighty Dollar, or the Problem of Money
and the Gospel of Christ" in the Meth |
odist church on Cobb's island. Since the |
first Sunday the crowds are so large the |
building cannot accommodate them The |
text chosen was Proverbs xi, 28, "Hc that |
trusteth in his riches shall fall
Let no man believe that money in it.
self is an omnipotent power-that mon
ey in itself is the power that rules the
world. There never was greater blum
der. There never was a sadder mistake.
As matter of fact, money in itself is
the weakest thing on this earth.
First--It cannot even make gentle
man. We see strutting down the streets
of great western city.a man who sud-
denly became possessed of fortune of
81 ,000,00 He purchased his paper from
the newsboy on the corner, and in his
grandiloquent way, when the little fell
low handed him back his change, re-
turned it to the boy, saying, keep your
money, sonny; keep the change; take 1t
and buy cake of soap to wash your
face" The little fellow drew himself
up, and handing back the money indig.
nantly replied, Take your pennies and
go and buy book ON etiquette and learn
how to be a gentleman" The possession
of money does not even imply that man
is gentleman.
MONEY AND THE HOME.
Second-It cannot make a home. A
man may own houses by the possession
of money, but money in itself cannot
build home. / know men who own
miles of houses who do not have ahome.
To possess q house is one thing, home
another thing. The poor man who be-
lieves he can buy it with money makes
as grave mistake as the millionaire who
tries to construct his ideal in the palace
on the crowning hill. 1t is said that an
Irishman, who was so ugly that he could
find nobody who would marry him in
the old world, came to America to try
his fortune. AS he walked the streets he
saw sign which read, Families sup
Piled" He went in at the side door and
asked the clerk if families were supplied.
The gentleman behind the counter re.
piled that they were. He ran his hand
in his pocket, drew out his greasy wallet
and began to unroll his money. He said
to the clerk, 81 will take a wife and two
children" This impossible story but
states in the concrete truth so simple
and yet so hard for man to learn that the
brightest dream of the soul Of man can
not be had in life for money--silver, gold
or bank notes.
Equally impossible is it for the man of
millions to build home out of his
money. On Knob hill, in San Francisco,
there are magnificent palaces that cost
millions whose broad sweeping lawns
are overgrown with tangled grass, whose
doors are locked and bolted and barred.
One of them was owned by a great mil.
lionaire senator. Why this desolation
now? He built it for home. 1t cost
millions. Simply because he walked over
the threshold of that house one day be,
hind the coffin of the only child he had
in the world AS he crossed the door OF
his palace home he declared, 81 will
never cross the threshold of this house
again if live to be 100 years oldp He
sent carpenters, bolted and barred and
mailed the palace up, and he has never
crossed the doorsill since.
Money is mighty power, and yet il
is the weakest thing in the world. II
cannot make man a gentleman. II
cannot give q man home. And If q
man has no home and is not gentle
man, what is he?
Third-So weak is money in itself that
it cannot give man life. A policeman
on the force of New York who has beer
brave and faithful officer, who broke NJ
several gangs of roughs in several quar-
ters of the city, who tramped his beat
with sense of duty and of the highest
service to the state, was recently left 6
fortune, and few weeks after he re
ceived his fortune-money sufficient tC
lift him from poverty to wealth and lux
Jury and the things of this world-his
body was found dead in his room with Q
pistol bullet in his brain. Why should
he slay himself when he had been given
release from his hard task, when he
would be required no longer to tramp
the streets and brave the dangers Of the
storms of winter and the sweltering suns
of summer, to go on his dark errand oi
arrest in the dangerous quarters of the
city, when he might have lived his life
Of ease and luxury? Simply because
there was little country girl whom ht
| had learned to love who died three weeks
before, and he declared that life was moi
worth living because she had been taker
from him. He had money and all its
power, and life was not worth living.
MONEY VERSUS WEALTH.
Fourth-Money is so weak that it can
not even give man wealth. We are
apt to confuse wealth with money, A
man may have money, but not be rich
Real riches are one thing, money an
other. | heard of grocer who was
Igrowing rich. They said, by way Of
parenthesis, that he was SO stipgy and
mean that he would chase q fly al
around the room for grain of sugar
Riches are impossible under such condi,
'tions. Such a man may accumulate
money-he may possess it-but he is not
rich.
The Duke of Brunswick had accumu'
lated his treasures. He had his wealth
in diamonds and gold. He had room
built whose windows were of iron bars,
whose doors were of iron, double riyeted.
There was an opening in the solid stone
wall Of the room in which there was an
iron safe. His treasures were there
placed. He slept in an iron bedstead
rolled against this iron door, There was
only single window through whose dim