[Magdalen] church organs.... and a famous benefactor

[Lynn Ronkainen]

(from today's "Writer's Almanac" by Garrison Keillor:

It's the birthday of American steel magnate and philanthropist Andrew 
Carnegie, born in Dunfermline, Scotland (1835), the son of a weaver and 
political radical. His father instilled in young Andrew the values of 
political and economic equality, but his family's poverty taught Carnegie a 
different lesson. At the age of 12, the boy worked as a milkhand for $1.20 
per week. When the Carnegies immigrated to America in 1848, Carnegie was 
determined to find prosperity. One of the pioneers of industry of 
19th-century America, Andrew Carnegie helped build the American steel 
industry, which turned him into one of the richest entrepreneurs of his age.

In 1868, at age 33, Carnegie wrote himself a memo in which he questioned his 
chosen career, a life of business. He kept the letter for his entire life, 
carefully preserving it in his files. In the memo, he vowed to retire from 
business within two years, believing that the further pursuit of wealth 
would degrade him. Carnegie eventually sold his steel business and gave his 
fortune away to cultural, educational, and scientific institutions for the 
improvement of mankind.

Over the course of his life, Andrew Carnegie endowed 2,811 libraries and 
many charitable foundations as well as the internationally famous Carnegie 
Endowment for International Peace. He also bought 7,689 organs for churches. 
The purpose of the latter gift was, in Carnegie's words, "To lessen the pain 
of the sermons."


website: www.ichthysdesigns.com

When I stand before God at the end of my life I would hope that I have not a 
single bit of talent left and could say, "I used everything You gave me." 
attributed to Erma Bombeck
 "Either Freedom for all or stop talking about Freedom at all" from a talk 
by Richard Rohr