Connecticut western news., 1902-09-04

money they Spenu TOT cl&drs Anu lux uries, for theater tickets, fishing ex- cursions and baseball games, clubs and parties, they could get their lives 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 maintenance and mental development of your chil- t,ren by insuring your life, then your professed love for your wife and chill dren Is a mere insincere profession of the lips and not of the heart. "Set 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 get my life insured. I am not poor. am enc of the wealthiest merchants of this city. I am building up 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 a murmur. Besides that, l have made last will and testament and left them everything"
 Yes; your statement may be 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 ideasf Have you ever made her your business confidant so that she would be able to take care of the money and the busi- ness after you are dead? Have you taught her the difference between the stability of a government bond and Wall street speculation in stocks2 Have you ever taught her the neces- sity of taking receipt? Why, the wife and the mother of your children may be as helpless as a little child in refer enee 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 five-year-old lad. Leave your wife sense as well as cents; leave her brains as well 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 $300,0OO. 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 old proverb trenchantly teaches that ''any fool can make money, but it takes 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 will 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 anticipating his earthly de his spiritual as well 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 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. Tn the first place, he must get his letter of credit drawn up and signed. It would be practically impossible to start on journey around the world, as I 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 a 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 rency. Further, If traveller should be weighed down with a satchelful of coin he would in all probability be waylaid by some thief and murderer and slain for his gold. So 1t is the GUS tom of the traveller about to start on a long journey to buy a letter of credit He pays to the cashier of any one of our great American banking houses like Brown Bros. or J. F. Morgan & Co.,, a certain amount of money, That bank gives him letter of credit, and he can get the money noted in the let ter of credit cashed by the agents ot that bank in almost every city of the world. If you are going into any dan. gerous region 1t is also very important for you to have a passport. This pass port, signed by the secretary of state at Washington, is a notification that you are, an American citizen. If any foreign nation insults or maltreats you, that nation will have to answer for the insult to the United States government
 Getting an Eternal Passport.
 Now, my friend, as you have to take an eternal journey, as perhaps In the very near future you will have to leave this old planet and go into the endless life beyond, what spiritual preparation have you made for the momentous embarkation? Have you made the proper spiritual preparation for the journey which shall take you Into country where you would like to live through endless eternity, where you would like to live until time itself shall be no longer? Have you in readi
 ness for this eternal Journey a letter of credit made out at the Bank of Di vine Grace? Have you an eternal pass port written in red ink-written in the blood which flowed out of the wounded side of a dying and an atoning Christ If you have not such a letter of credit you are Ill prepared, you are lost in deed, even though in this world you had all the wealth of a Rothschild, a Vanderbilt. Rockefeller or an Astor
 even though you once on earth lived In as magnificent a mansion as did Dives of old, at whose gate the dogs were licking the sores of dying beg gar. Shrouds have no pockets, and Q skeletons bony fingers can hold nc gold, and all your worldly riches will