The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-10-04

q IullOuSS vi III oh ia hA-
medicines in the saddlebags, arriving
on the ninth day of the fever and
coming in to take hold Of the pulse of
the patient, while the family, pale with
anxiety and looking on and waiting
for his decision in regard to h pa
tient and hearing him say, Thank
God, 1 have mastered the case, he is
getting weH!" excftes in me an admi-
ration quite equal to h mention of
doctors of the past or the illustrious
living men of the present.
THE LIMITS OF WEALTH.
Yet what do we see in all depart
ments? People not satisfied with or
binary spheres of work and ordinary
duties. Instead Of trying to see what
they can do with z. hand Of five fin
gers, they want six. Instead of usual
endowment of twenty manual and
pedal addenda, they want twenty-four.
A certain amount Of money for liveli-
hood and for the supply of those
whom we leave ehind US after We
have departed this life is important,
for we have the best authority for say
ing. He that provideth not for his own
and especially those of his own house
hold, is worse than an infidel," but
the large and fabulous sums for
which many struggle, if obtained,
would be a hindrance rather than an
advantage.
The anxieties and |annoyances of
those whose estates have become Pile
thoric can only be told by those who
possess them. 1t will be a good thing
when through your industry and pros
perity you can w the house in which
you live. But suppose o own fifty
houses and you have ali those rents to
collect and all those tenants to please.
Suppose you have branched out in
business successes until in almost ev-
cry direction you have investments.
The fire bell rings at night; you rush
up stairs to look out of the WindO to
see if it is any Of your mills. Epidemic
Of crime opens, and there embeZZle-
ments and absconding in all direc-
lions, and you wonder whether any Of
your boOk-keepers will prove recreant.
A panic strikes the financial world, and
you are like a hen under a sky full
of hawks and trying with anxious
cluck to get her own OvergrOWn chick
ems safely under wing. After a GER
tain stage of success has been reached
you have to trust SO many important
things to others that you are apt to
become the prey of others, and you
are sWindled n defrauded, and the
anxiety o had on your brow when
you were earning your first $1,000 is
- tiuoi ~ IN iihANNy in JONA DAC'
now that you have won your $500, 900.
FINANCIAL OBESITY.
The trouble with such a one is he is
spread out like the unfortunate one in
my ext. You have more fingers and
toes than you know what to do with.
Twenty were useful; "a are a hindering
su~perfluity. Disraeli says that a king
of Poland abdicated his throne and
joined the people and became a porter
- ~I 4~ix
ed him why he did 50, and he replied:
Upon my honor, gentlemen, the load
which [ cast off was by far heavier
han the one you see me carry. The
weightiest is but a straw when COM
pared to hat weight under which I
labored. I hav slept more in -four
nights than I have during all my
king myself. Elect whom you choose.
AS for me, I am so we'll it would be
madness to return to court"
"Well,'' says somebody, "such over
loaded persons ought to be pitied, for
their WOrrimentS are real, and their
insomnia and their prOstra-
ton are genuine" I reply that they
could get rid of the bothersome sur
plus by giving it away. If a man has
more houses than he can carry with
out vexation, let him drop a, few of
SAANAAAs IL AAAo NoSCkS - ~ 80 AN >oAA
not manag it without getting nervous
dyspepsia from having too much, let
him divide with those who have ner-
vous dyspepsia because they cannot
get enough. No; they guard their sixth
finger with more care than they did
the original five. They go limping with
what they call govt and know not that,
like the giant Of my text, they are
famed by a superf1uous toe. A few
of them by charities bleed themselves
of this financial obesity n monetary
plethora, but many of them hang on
to the hindering superiority till death,
n then, as they are compelled to give
the money up anyhow, in their last
will and testament they generally give
some of it to the Lord, expecting no
doubt hat he will feel very much
obliged to them. Thank God hat once
in awhile we have a Peter Cooper, who,
owning an interest in the iron works
at Trenton, said to Mr.. Lester: Il do
not fee quite easy about the amount
we are making. Working under one
Of our patents, we have a monopoly
which seems to me something wrong.
Everybody has to come to us for it,
and we are making money too fast
So they reduced the price, and this
while Our ph~ilanthrOpist was build
ing Cooper institute, which mothers a
hundred Institutes of kindness and
mercy all over the land. But the world
had to wait $500 years for Peter Coop
er!
DEATHBED GENEROSITY.
I am glad for the benevolent institu-
tons that get a legacy from men who
during their life were as stingy Is
death, but who in their last will and
testament bestowed money on hospi-
tails and missionary societies, but for
such %testators 1 a no respect. They
! would have taken every cent of it with
them if they could and bought up half
of heaven and let it out at uinOu rent
Oh loaned the money to celestial citi-
ZenS at 2 pei cent. a month and got a
corner" or harpS and trumpets. They
lived in this world so or so years in the
presence Of appalling suffering and
want and made no efforts for their re-
lief. The charities Of such people in
the "Paulo post future" tense. They
are going to do them. The probability
is that if such a one in his last will by
a donation to benevolent societies tries
| to atone for his life time closefistedness
the heirs at law will try to break the
| will by proving that the old man was