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Show GEORGE VANDERBILT. Great riches cannot be interposed as a bar when tho possessor thereof in summoned to render his final accounting account-ing in the world beyond. "Millions of money for a moment of time,' ox-claimed ox-claimed a dying man a generation or two ago, but fute was inexorable just as it has boon Hiuco tho dawn of creation. crea-tion. It will be so until tho ond of time. Soino men with swords may reap the And plant frcs'a laurels where they kill; But tltclr stronp: nerves at last must yield: They tame but one another still: Early or la to Thcv stoop to fate. And must give up their murmuring breath. When they, pale captives, creep to death. So sang James Shirley, one of the old English poets, two liuudrcd and fifty fif-ty years ago. Tho recent death of Qcorgo Vnnderbilt, ono of tho least known of tho family of multimillionaires multimillion-aires founded by the old commodore, brings forcibly to the mind the thought that health and not wealth comes first in tho long category of human desires; that tho lot of tho man in youth or middle age who goos forth to his daily toil in full possession of his physical powers is more desirable than the lot of tho man of wealth who. tortured by disease, finds that gold does not bring health or happiness, and sinks into an early grave. The aggregate wealth of the Van-derbilt Van-derbilt family is constantly increasing, but the stock is deteriorating from the physical point , of view. Cornelius, the boatman, who laid the foundation ol tho fortune, as the result of active out-of-door life in his youth, lived to be S3 years old and onjoyod cooil health during his more than four score years; William II., who inherited tho bulk of his fathor's estate, fniled to reach tho allotted three scoro and fen and answered the final call at the age of 01; I Cornelius, eldest son of William II.. died nt tho ago of oti, and George, who succumbed to appendicitis in Washington Washing-ton last week, passed away at the comparatively com-paratively early ago of 52. The cou-vvy is an undoubtqd loser by the sudden removal from active life of Gcorgo Vanderbilt. .He was a man ol studious habits and used his great wealth to secure tho happiness of others oth-ers as well ns himself. "Whilo tho English Eng-lish system of holding vast tracts oi laud by one man is repugnant to most Americans, yet duo credit must bo giv-en giv-en Georgo Vanderbilt 'for the great work ho accomplished on his Biltniore estate in Xorth Carolina, lie was a model landlord ond tho sincerity with which he is mourned by his tenants is proof that the money laid out in model villages and the like was not expended in vain. j That ho was comparatively unknown to tho great mass of Americans is due to tho fact that his great fortuue played no part in the game of high finance "in Wall street; that he was not enamored of society "high jinks,'' and that ho had not been through the divorce court. Better comparative obscurity, ob-scurity, however, than tho notoriety achioved by otherB of his family. But "comparisons are odious." Suffico it to say that a good man has gone to his eternal rest. |
