Once in the village a notorious miser lay dying. On his deathbed he called his three closest advisors to him. His clergyman, doctor, and lawyer dutifully arrived.
"I know that everyone says you can't take it with you," said he, "but I for one am determined to try." After I'm gone I want each of you to attend the funeral and, just before the casket is covered up, you are to toss an envelope containing a sum of money that I will give you into the grave."
Amid some shock and disbelief each finally agreed to play his part. In due course the miser died and the funeral was held. The three attended together and played their parts silently and solemnly.
As they were driving home afterward, the minister suddenly spoke up and said, "Gentlemen, the strain is just more than I can take. I must confess to you that our parish is in dire need and, to ease the burden of the poor, I removed $50,000 prior to enclosing it in the envelope."
"Well, said the doctor," I too must confess that our hospital is in the midst of an important building program and, to help those who are suffering, I removed $100,000 prior to sealing my envelope and tossing it into the grave."
Both turned to the lawyer, who began, "I'm shocked, shocked! How could you gentlemen, respected community leaders betray the trust we were each given? I'll have you know that I enclosed my personal check in that envelope payable for the full amount."
--------------- A Final Thought ...
Lawyers...
"I said there was a society of men among us, bred up from their youth in the art of proving by words multiplied for the purpose, that white is black, and black is white, according as they are paid. To this society all the rest of the people are as slaves."
- Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Anglo-Irish satirist. Gulliver, in Gulliver’s Travels, pt. 4, “A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms,” ch. 5 (1726), describing his native land.