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Show cnuren, ana i nestm to explain tost church steeples are out of dale, when lip interruplod lo say tliat the names of all contributors would be printed in the paper, and then I dug up ""lth-it ""lth-it 1'urLker words. And we"re all r ed tv. h the same stick, tuy jjicuiis.'' "UncieWafc- oiory a PLEASURE OF GIVING tSQKIMnACK, the hanker, is acquired acquir-ed Ins quite a reputation as a philanthropist," phi-lanthropist," observed the druppist. "He's always giving to somebody or something, and I notice that the sickening sick-ening details always get into print. He i 1 believes in keeping keep-ing his left band posted as to what his right band Is doing, and nobody ever will see him concealing conceal-ing any of bis light s under a bushel." "I'm sorry to bear you refer to that great and good man in sarcastic sar-castic terms," said the village patri- i I hear similar remarks concerning him. and I think it a poor appreciation of his generosity. As you say, he's always al-ways giving, and it's a small business to look a gift horse in (he mouth, as the psalmist s-ays. If he hires n man -with a megaphone (o announce his benefactions, he isn't hurting anybody. any-body. "Caustic things are said of every philanthropist who manages to get somcadvertlsing out of his liberality, but It's my opinion that you'll have to hunt a long time, with a searchlight and ft njllr of o-nmlirtoc hafii-n rrn find the man who en.joys doing good by stealth. If you do find lilm, he will prove to he a freak, and it will be your duty to see him returned to the as'y-lum as'y-lum from which he escaped. "We are all more or less hungry for the approbation of our friends and fellow fel-low citizens. And I am glad it's so. If we didn't care three whoops what our friends thought of us, we wouldn't paint our houses, or mow our lawns, or trim our whiskers. We wouldn't spend any money for flowers or boiled shirts or any of the things which make life beautiful and attractive. If a man spends a lot of money for a gorgeous lawn, with real trees and expensive flowers, and all sorts of ornaments, he's doing it because he wants to be praised by the people who see it all. You don't see any such lawns in lonesome lone-some rural districts. There the front yard always is a calf pasture. "The farmer reasons that it's no use having a pretty lawn, for there's nobody no-body to admire it. Nobody ever goes past the place except an occasional lightning rod agent or a man who is taking orders for fruit trees. "Why don't you sneer at the town man who pnfs so much money into beautiful grounds? It's all a grandstand grand-stand pla.V. lie expects to get advertising adver-tising out of it. and be does, and he deserves It. We shouldn't criticize any man who is doing good, even if we don't like bis methods. "Some people say that Skimhack Is trying to atone for all the sinfulness of his past career. It Is argued that until recent years he never gave away anything, but was after the dollars by day and night, and didn't care who grit hurt, so be overtook and captured them. They tell of mortgages he foreclosed, fore-closed, causing unspeakable suffering here and there, lie is accused of resorting re-sorting to every dark trick to increase bis hoard. Most of the stories probably prob-ably are bunk, hut what if they are true? Now that he shows signs of re-pentence re-pentence in his old age we should encourage en-courage him in every possible way, and if he gives a phonograph to the high school, or puts up a public drinking drink-ing fountain in the public square, we should tell him he's everybody's darling, dar-ling, and not dig up a lot of nucient history for his confusion. "I haven't much money to give away, but when I do loosen up to (he extent of a dollar or two I like to have an audience. I like to imagine that people are saying. 'What a great-hearted, benevolent old geezer he is !' The other morning a man approached me and asked me to contribute something toward mil tine a new steeple on the - r-T ---in ii i in i ii i i |