Oftentimes you will find men who have been penurious all their lives, and who have amassed a fortune, attempting to buy respect in their old age. Sometimes they do it by making their will, and letting it be known what they are going to do. That is an exquisite piece of trickery.
Where a man wants to keep his money, and also wants to have the credit of giving it away, he holds on to it, and lets it be known that he is going to give $250,000 for benevolent purposes,—$10,000 here, and $20,000 there, $50,000 somewhere else, and so on. There are many men that are going to be very generous when they die. Dead men are always generous.
They keep their money while they live, and only give it away when they no longer own it. When men are surrounded by all that earth can give them,—by position, by circumstance, by plenary physical blessings,—how, after all, do they long for more! How pitious it is to see them!—BEECHER.