The Miser of Marseilles
In France there is a story told about a man named Guyo of Marseilles. During his lifetime, Guyo seemed as strange as his name. He would not have anything to do with other people, and he never spent any money unless he absolutely had to spend it. He worked very hard, and everyone knew that he made a lot of money, but they couldn’t figure out why he was so much of a miser.
Whenever he appeared in public, people would say bad things about him, and sometimes the boys in his neighborhood even threw stones at him. No one liked Guyo, because it seemed to them that he didn’t like anyone else.
Finally, of course, he died, but no one came to his funeral. “Good riddance,” they all said. “Now that he’s dead, he knows that you ‘can’t take it with you.’ It’s too bad he didn’t do any good with all his money while he was alive.” That’s what they thought, and that’s what they said.
As you know, legal proceedings take time, so it was a while later that Guyo’s will was read. When the people heard about it, they were amazed and ashamed.
The will said, “From the time I was very young, I have observed that the poor of Marseilles had great difficulty in getting water. I noticed that pure and sweet water, the gift of God, was very expensive, and very difficult to obtain in this city. I vowed before God that I would live but for one purpose, for one end. I would save money, money, money; and now I give it to the city, on one condition, that an aqueduct be made from yonder lake on the hills to Marseilles.”
Now as they drank the sweet, luscious, fresh water of that city, people said “Ah, when he lived with us we misunderstood him, but he did it for us.” The bubbling fountain in Marseilles was the gift of the man who was misunderstood and jeered at.
BSA Comment:
A Scout is thrifty. Thrift is more than watching your money. It is also making good use of your money. We can use our money to help people even if we are not misers.
Scripture: Psalm 49:13-17; Proverbs 22:1
NOTE: In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s a play based on this story was very popular in America.