Though the publicity of cold type has put no brand on the dead McDonald, the story of "Mike" McDonald's life and fortune is not yet finished.
Suppose he did die worth a million dollars, whom will it benefit? What good will it do?
There will be a fight in every dollar, a quarrel in every penny.
There will be a strife among men and women over this fortune.
Much of it will go to lawyers to defend a woman charged with murder. Much more of it will go to other lawyers who will try to break his will. As McDonald's money was ill-gotten, so will it be spent to no good purpose.
In a few years McDonald will be forgotten except by those whom in life he ruined. His fortune will be gone. No one will remember him for the good he did, if he did any good.
Let not "Mike" McDonald's success in securing money encourage you to follow his method.
If you, young man, had an opportunity of entering a gambling venture, with a certainty of securing for yourself a fortune of a million dollars, you would be a fool to take advantage of that opportunity.
There is nothing in the life of even a successful gambler worth imitating and nothing that he does worth admiring.
"Mike" McDonald may have been better than the ordinary class of gamblers, but the occasional good deeds that men of his character do are always exaggerated.