The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-12-03

and after speaking of his character and
the example such a man sets to young
men, he paid a beautiful tribute to the
man to whom they were responsible
for the Y. NJ. c. A. building. He closedI
by asking how bett=r could Mr.. Worth's
mernor be honored than by keeping
up the work which his benefactions had
inaugurated and sustained in our
midst.
Mr.. Diggs then read the following
letter from Mr.. E. S. Tennent, who he
said was one OF the five young men
who met with DR.. Geo. G. Worth ten
| years ago and organized the associa-
tom:
S~partanburg. s. c., November %.
Mr.. r. c. Diggs, General Secretary Y.
NJ. c. A, Wilmington, n. c.:
Dear Mr.. Diggs: 1t is with profound
sorrow 1 have heard of the death Of
that great and good man, David G.
Worth. / am sure there are few out
side OF his immediate family who es-
teemed him more or wed him better
than /. He was .one that / admired
as a man n loved as a friend.
It was my pleasure to have been
I iIo"h Z j Will Hill ~ "
Y. NJ. c. A. work. and perhaps no one
knows better than 1, how ever willing
! he was to give and to do for the young
men of our community-he was not
only ready to give literally Of his
means, but in our hour of trouble,
gave very freely OF his time and his
service-it is no Disagreement OF 9TH
ers to say that but for Mr.. Worth our
association would never have had such
IN o1aOonf homo and n11r work yvn11l6
many times, have tagged.
/ have the strongest personal reasons
to know that his interest in young men
was great and he was ever willing to
| counsel and assist all whom he thought
worthy. Surely such an honorable.
biameless and withal successful life as
his is an inspiration to all men. His
was the truest type of an humble, con-
secrated Christian gentleman that I
have ever known.
Sincerely,
E. S. TENNENT.
DIR. Hoge then addressed the meet
ing, speaking of the movement to erect
the Y. M. c. A. building. At the re-
vival meeting Of the Rev. Mr.. Pearson
in this city in 1888, Mr.. Pearson made
an appeal in behalf of a fund to erect
a building and asked for subscriptions.
He first asked for subscriptions of
$1,000, but for a long time there was no
response, when finally Mr.. Worth
quietly authorized him to put him down
for 81, 600. Up to this time the effort
to get up the building fund was waver-
ing in the balance, but Mr.. Worth de-
cided it's fate by his subscription. The
result was that about $1,000 was raised
at that meeting that night.
Mr.. w. NJ. Cumming then spoke as
sollows:
AS one of the five young men who
organized this association ten years
ago, I have been asked to say a word
at this meeting, but 1 feel that I ought
not to attempt to do so without pre-
paration and as l had no time for pre-
paration I declined, but since hearing
what has been std by Colonel Moore
and those who have preceded me, 1
feel that 1 cannot refrain from paying
a tribute, too, even at this late hour
and without preparation, to Mr..
Worth's memory AS 1 lave said, 1
was one of the five charter members of
this association and I have for ten
years been intimately connected with
it's work, and yet, strange as it may
sound. / never knew till a ago
Of Mr.. WOrth's largest contribution to
1.-THE $4,000 of which Colonel Moore
has told you and which was given with
the sole condition that nothing shOul
be said about it," The knowledge of
this princely gift is as great a surprise,
and as much a piece of news to me, as
Is to most Of you in this audience.
illustrates very strikingly one charac-
teristic of our departed friend. A SIM
liar incident occurs to me: last week /
learned that one day Mr.. Worth met
an officer of a church in our city of a
different denomination from his own
and handing him a package aid
Here is a contribution for your church.
/ only request that it shall not be made
public" and in some apparent embar-
rassment passed on. The astonished
gentleman opened the package. it was
$3.50.
Several years 6 I met a very cul-
tured and delightful Japanese gentle
man INC he wrote for me some lines Of
a Japanese Ong and also their trans
lation into English prose. They ran
something like this: "Woulds't thou
know the heart of the true Japanese?
1t is like the snow on the top of Mount
Full" That was a beautiful smile, but
the heart of Mr.. Worth was not like
that, except in it's beauty, in it's purity
and in it's being founded upon a basis