Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-09-04

of my children"
My brother, that is very brave and
| frank statement to make. You say II
Ia useless for you to make n last Will
and testament because you have moth
Ing to leave and you cannot afford TO
even get your life insured. If you, q
great big, strong man, are having
such hard time to make living.
what will your physically weak wife
do with big brood Of little ones strap
ped upon her back when you are dead7
II 1t Is SO hard for you to swim in the
current Of life and keep your head
above the waters. how will she, a poor
widow, be able to do 1t when your
kinder to her than 1t Is to you? Has
the cruel world ever been any gentler
or extended more helpful hand to
wife and mother who Is left poverty
stricken widow than it has for your
Mark you, for what most men fool
ishly squander every year, for the
money they spend for cignrs and lux
urics, for theater tickets, fishing OK.
cursions and baseball games, clubs
|
insured for enough. and more than
enough, to support and educate their
children long after they are dead. Fur
thermore, my brother, if you are not
willing to economize In your selfish in
dulgences for the physical maintena nee
and mental development of your chill
dren by insuring your life, then your
| professed love for your wife and chill
dren is n mere insincerc profession of
| the lips and not Of the heart. "Sct
| thine house in order"
| But" | hear some one saying. "the
| temporal aspects Of this text do not
affect me at ALL | do not have to got
my life insured. I min not poor | am
ono of the wcalthicst merchants of this
city. ! am building up n fortune,
which Is growing larger every day If
my wife or children wish to buy any
thing, all that they have to do is to go
down to the city stores and charge the
same TO me. I pay for all their lux
uries without murmur. Besides that.
have made a last will and testament
and left them everything
Yes; your statement may he all true.
| But, my successful merchant friend.
have you literally set your temporal
house in order? Have you taken your
wife into your business confidence so
that she knows your plans and ideas:
/ Have you ever made her your business
confidant so that she would he able to
| take care of the money and the bust
ness after you are dead? Have you
taught her the difference between the
stability of n government bond and
! Wall street speculation In stocks?
| Have you ever taught her the neces-
sity Of taking a receipt? Why, the wife
and the mother Of your children may
be as helpless as little child in refer
ence TO business matters after you are
dead. She might be so helpless that
the executors could swindle her out of
her money as easily as you could cheat
in business n five-year-old lad. Leave
your wife sense as well as cents; leave
her brains as we'll as bonds. Set
thine house in order"
Make wise Provisions.
One of the dearest friends Of our
family some years ago was left a
widow with 100000. Her executor
persuaded her to invest the same in
railroad stocks so that she might have
a million dollars. She went into Wall
street and speculated. Today she is
| absolutely penniless. Make no such
mistake in reference to your wife as
that husband made in reference to his
wife who was our family friend. The
! al IL, Il, hn
/ any fool can make money, but it takes
a very wise man to keep it," When
you set your temporal house in order,
see that your loved ones will be able
to care for the money which you viii
bequeath them. See that the money
which you will leave will not be able
to slip through their fingers as water
can run through sieve
But my text has wider scope than
/ the mere fixing up Of the temporal
| house. In participating his earthly de
mise a common sense man should set
| his spiritual as we'll as his temporal
| house in order. He should prepare for
his own eternal journey over the river
of death, besides looking after the tenn
poral interests Of the members of the
/ household he is going to leave behind.
| Unless man has taken a long journey
away from home. journey which
runs up into the months and perhaps
! into the years, he can have no concep-
! ton of the immense amount of prep
aration necessary. In the first place,
he must get his letter of credit drawn
up and signed 1t would he practically
impossible to start on n journey around
the world, as | did some years ago, and
carry enough gold and silver with you
To pay all your necessary expenses.
Why, the gold and silver would be as
| heavy as satchelful of lead. Besides,
the gold and silver that are stamped in
| the American mint would not be ac-
ceptable In foreign lands. Every coun-
! try has its own system Of national cur
rcncy. Further, If traveller should be
weighed down with satchelful Of
coin he would in all probability be
waylaid by some thief ard murderer
and slain for his gold. So it is the Gus
! tom of the traveller about to start on Il
! long journey to buy n letter of credit
He pays to the cashier of any one of
our great American banking houses
like Brown Bros. or j. T. Morgan n
Co, certain amount of money. That
bank gives him letter OF credit. and
he can get the money noted in the let
|