She feels that the Lord has been specially kind to her, in providing a way for the gratification of her earnest desire in behalf of her dead kindred. She expresses also her gratitude to Brother Eskildz, to whom great credit is due for classifying the names and providing for the orderly and complete performance of the work, so that no names have been duplicated, and none omitted. She says she doesn't know how she could have accomplished what she has without his help. Her genealogical records are in fine shape, and are a credit to her.
When asked how much money she had spent for genealogical research, for books in which to keep a record of the work done and for the payment of people she had hired to officiate for her kindred, she replied she did not know, and she did not care to know. She was content to know that it had been spent in a worthy cause, gave the Lord the credit for it and did not even seek any personal recognition.
She has felt sure since embracing the Gospel that her mother must have had a foreknowledge that she would labor in this cause, and she has had many assurances since she first engaged in the Temple work that her parents are aware of the vicarious work she has done or caused to be done in behalf of the dead, and heartily approve of the same.
She has sought no notoriety in what she has done; in fact, was rather reluctant about admitting it or giving any information concerning it, but the consciousness of it affords her a great deal of satisfaction—infinitely more, she says that the possession of a million dollars could.
Some women have doubtless done more than she in laboring for the salvation of the dead, numbers considered, but her record offers a specially fine example of a holy purpose faithfully pursued, and Carolina Corradi will doubtless stand throughout eternity as the personification of self-sacrifice and filial devotion.
AN EXCEPTION.
A RICH MAN'S HANDICAP—WEALTH NOT ESSENTIALLY BAD—BUT QUALITIES ITS POSSESSION DEVELOPS A BAR TO SALVATION—TYPICAL CASE OF A MAN REARED IN AFFLUENCE—UNPROMISING START IN MARRIED LIFE—HOW HE BECAME INTERESTED IN TEMPLE WORK—WORTHY EXAMPLE IN RECENT YEARS.
It is not an uncommon thing for a poor person to look with envy upon the possessions of the wealthy, and remark how easy it would be for him to be generous, and make sacrifices for a righteous cause, if he were only wealthy. It is hard—perhaps impossible—for such a person to realize it (never having been possessed of wealth,) but wealth is more frequently a bar to the service of the Lord than a help therein. We are informed in the gospel according to Matthew that the Savior said "a rich man shall hardly enter the kingdom of heaven;" and again, "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven." Whether we understand from this that the Savior was indulging in hyperbole—the grossest kind of exaggeration, or that the eye of the needle referred to was a specially low gateway in the wall of Jerusalem, through which camels could only pass by crouching down, we must conclude that the rich are less susceptible to the saving influence of the Gospel than the poor. This is confirmed by the declaration that "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven," and numerous passages about the deceitfulness of riches, and of "the love of money," being "the root of all evil."
When we come to analyze the question, it is not the wealth itself that is evil, but the avarice and arrogance that its possession is apt to develop, for the more one has the more he is apt to want. The person who in his youth is eager to acquire wealth is apt to grow intensely avaricious if not miserly in his old age. The person who manifests pride and slight regard for others' rights in youth is apt to become unbearably arrogant as he grows older.