A QUEER BARGAIN WITH A BIBLE SOCIETY.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 11, Issue 833, 14 December 1888, Page 2

A QUEER BARGAIN WITH A BIBLE SOCIETY.

The. man is, still living, says the Springfield (Mass.) Union, who seventeen yjears ago walked into the rooms of the Bible Society in Boston and electrified the persons whom he found there, first by his appearance, and, secondly, by the communication he had to make. His appearance betokened more than poverty, for his shabby clothes were tied together with strings. What in the world had brought such a man there was the question everyone asked himself, and. the wonder can be petter imagined than described when the stranger remarked that he had property to the amount of 75,000 dollars which he would like to turn over to the society if he could be guaranteed 1 0 per cent annually upon it for the remainder of his life, his age then being 79. The officers suppressed their amazement as well they could, took his name, verified his schedule of his posessionp, and submitted the . case to the directors. They looked the matter over in the light of actuaries' table?, &c., and finally, after much deliberation, decided that the risk was too great, and so notified the would-be donor. Not long after he came back and renewed his proposition to turn the money over to the society, and said that he would be content with 7 per cent, annually. That proposition ' Was accepted, and for some years he appeared regularly at the expiration of the year and drew his interest, taking 500 dols. in cash and the company's note for the balance. After doing this for seven years or so he turned those notes back to the company, saying that he had ho use for them. He is now at the age of 96, blind, deaf, and crippled V>y a tall so that he can not walk, and the Bible Society pays the bills for his support.