Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabbath.
—James 5:4
4470 Producers Of Great Men
They tell us that, in the history of man, there have been no more than one hundred thousand really great men. And, of that number, eighty thousand or more came from humble, poor homes.
4471 Some Famous Persons
Poverty may keep one down for a time; but if he is of true metal, he will rise. Jay Gould was a poverty-stricken surveyor. George W. Childs was a book seller’s errand boy, at a salary of four dollars a month. John Wanamaker started business on a salary of a dollar-and-a-quarter a week. Andrew Carnegie began life on a weekly salary of three dollars. Abraham Lincoln was a miserably poor farmer’s son. Andrew Johnson was a tailor’s apprentice boy, and learned to read after he was married.
4472 More Of The Famed … And Christ
Columbus had no gold; he begged bread for his hungry boy and died in want, but he gave the world that which was better than gold, a new continent. Millet had neither gold nor silver, pinched with poverty all through life, but he gave to the world The Angelus. Jonathan Edwards had no gold to give; his wife and daughters were compelled to help support the family, but he gave to the world a great book, perhaps the profoundest volume produced in this continent.
Jesus Christ had neither gold nor silver. He supported Himself as a carpenter, and often ate the bread of a mendicant. When crucified He was nailed to a cross while His enemies mocked. But He spake as never man spake, in words of priceless truth.
—J. H. Bomberger
4473 Painter’s Missing Ingredient: Poverty
A nobleman, an amateur of the arts and enthusiastic painter, showed some of his work to the painter, Turner.
Turner examined the pictures for a while and then turned to the nobleman.
“My Lord,” he said, “you lack nothing but poverty to become an excellent painter.”
4474 Longing For The Spiritual
In their Lessons of History, authors Will and Ariel Durant declared, “As long as there is poverty there will be gods.” The inference is that people who lack material goods will seek spiritual satisfactions.
The converse is also true—material riches bring spiritual poverty. Affluent youth who have been sheltered from suffering and poverty do not seek out the consolations of religion.
—Selected
4475 Why Lincoln On The Penny
Perhaps few people today know why the face of Lincoln is engraved on the American penny rather than on one of the larger coins.
The reason for this goes back to the boyhood days of David Brenner, who had known nothing of liberty and much of hunger and want in Russia. After coming to America, where he found both liberty and opportunity awaiting him, Brenner became a famous sculptor, and was the man responsible for placing the face of the man who had said, “The Lord must love the common people, He has made so many of them,” on the most lowly coin of the United States.
Brenner’s idea was that there would be more pennies minted than any other one coin, and consequently there would be more of them in the pockets of the common people.
—Evangelistic Illustration
4476 Two Short-Sighted Ladies
In the village of Bedford, only twelve miles distant from Cleveland, there lived two charming and attractive girls.
To one of these President Hayes had become an ardent suitor; but the parent of the young lady had vigorously opposed their courtship, on the ground that young Hayes was poor, and gave evidence of hardly sufficient ability to warrant risking their daughter’s future.
The other suitor was young Garfield. Her parents, however, objected to their intimacy, giving as the reason of their opposition the poverty of Garfield, and the anything but bright prospects of his future.
The most remarkable coincidence of the courtship was that both young ladies lived in a village of not more than five hundred inhabitants, and both refused two future Presidents of the United States because of their poverty.
—Cleveland Herald
4477 Sharing Rothschild’s Wealth
“It isn’t fair,” a man declared, “for one man to have millions and millions of dollars, while his neighbor may have nothing at all.”
Rothschild motioned to his secretary and asked him to get the figures on his total wealth. While the secretary was doing this the banker consulted an almanac to find out how many people there were in the world.
When the figures had been compared and a few calculations made, Rothschild again spoke to the secretary.
“Give this man three cents,” he said, “that is his share of my wealth.”
4478 Plenty Of Kidney Donors
Detroit, Mich. (AP)—A man unable to find a kidney for a transplant, advertised this week and drew about 100 callers willing to sell one for the 3,000 dollars he offered, his minister said.
“These must be hard times if the people are willing to give up one of their kidneys,” said the Reverend Mr. Karoub.
Andrews said Ali, because of his language problems, apparently did not understand the hospital procedures. He will have to continue treatment until a kidney with the proper tissue match becomes available.
4479 A Poor Old Woman’s Story
The Hinton Daily News (West Virginia), carried the following news story: Mrs. ___, a 66-year-old widow who slept in the theaters and public restrooms because she could not afford to pay rent, received for Christmas a chance for a new life.
She appeared in Municipal Court on a charge of stealing a $1 headscarf from a downtown department store.
“I took it because I was cold,” she told the judge “I’ve never stolen anything before.”
Mrs. ___’s husband died 20 years ago, leaving her no estate. She said she receives $32 a month in Social Security payments, most of which is spent for food. She said she sells nameplates for doors and mailboxes but earns little from it.
“I don’t have enough money to rent a decent room anywhere,” she said, “and I prefer to stay in downtown theaters and sleep in the ladies’ lounge or (an all-night) garage.” She told the court she has a Golden Age card which admits her to theatres at a reduced price.
Mrs. ___ said she had been living in this manner for the past two years. The judge reached in his pocket for a dollar to pay for the scarf and dismissed the petty larceny charge against her.
The judge said he would mail the $1 to the store.
Then the manager of the garage where she has been sleeping stepped forward and offered her a job keeping the ladies’ lounge clean. He said she could stay there as long as she liked.
The Sisters of the Poor also offered her a home for life.
4480 King Estimated Their Future Worth
An ancient king made a great feast, and invited a company of poor people who were Christians. He also invited his nobles. When the poor Christians arrived, he had them up into the presence-chamber; but, when the nobles came, he set them in the hall.
Demanded the reason why, he answered, “I do not do this as their king. But, as I am going to another world, I must honor them as God’s dear children, who shall be kings and princes with me hereafter. I would have you esteem them according to their worth—and show it.”
—Adapted from Spencer
4481 A Bitter Epitaph
Otis G. Pratt was bitter over treatment he had received as an artist and sculptor, so he had his resentment carved on his tombstone. The stone standing over the grave of Pratt and his mother in Greenwood Cemetery here, attracts many tourists. Pratt died at the age of seventy-six. The inscription reads:
“Stranger, I lived in an age when law and respect clung to the rich and shunned the poor; when money and fashion had the brains and talent went over the water for want of free schools of art supported by our government. Such were the conditions which caused my landscape to decay with me as nature shows it.
“Farewell.”
4482 Epigram On Poor
• Poverty is not a sin, it’s a great deal worse.
—Russian humor
• Even Buddha
Cannot save
Those without money.
—Japanese Proverb
• Good workmen are seldom rich.
—English Proverb
• My poor are my best patients. God pays for them.
—Boerhaave
• Bein’ poor is a problem, but bein’ rich ain’t the answer.
—C. Grant
• The trouble with today’s economy is that when a man is rich, it’s all on paper. When he’s broke, it’s cash.
—San Francisco Examiner
• Posted on a bulletin board at Penn State: “For sale: Radio, record player, and tape recorder. All in excellent condition. I’m the one that’s broke.”
• The prosperous man is never sure that he is loved for himself.
—Latin proverb
• Assistant Secretary of Labor Jim Reynolds complains that when he telephones his old friend, Sargent Shriver, he gets the most depressing reply. Shriver’s office operators answer with one word: “Poverty.”
—Betty Beale
• Young Tommy asked a serious question. “Dad,” he asked, “what’s a millionaire? “
“Well, son,” said his father, “it’s somebody who has a million dollars.”
The little sober-sides thought a moment. “Well,” he said, his head up proudly, “I’m a oneaire.”
—Maxwell Droke
See also: Money ; Rich ; Jas. 2:5.