New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-04-07
7 GrNE AND BEQUEATH.

For some time we have thought that tesla
matchmaking might at last go out OF fashion
altoretber. Naturally to make and declare
last will is not pleasant to the nervous. They
feel like the man who declined to mount the
gallows ladder because he would not be acces-
sorry to his own death. 1t is better, so rich men
in articuLo may reason, to go away intestate'
than to be returned as having been non COM
pos menhs by jury of twelve extremely "a
tional men. The pOsthumous abuse OF hun
cry and disappointed kin is not an agreeable
thing to anticipate. So rich man,
unless he wishes to make certain ex-
traordInary devises, may well leave the
distribution of his estate TO the law, which Is
substantially Just, and cares for all who nave
any pretensi0n to be considered There Is
something absurd in making will ostensibly
to settle everything, and which at the critical
moment may be found to settle nothing. One
of the droest stories in history is that of
George IL. calmly pocketing his royal fathers
will, which no mortal ever saw aftcrward. 1t
was taking royal liberty which 1t might be
dangerous for private persons to initiate; but
unquestionably it saved great deal OF trouble
A lady, whose will was admitted to probate
lately in Boston, had evidently observed how
fruitful of litigation almost any will may be
made by disappointment and dissatisfaction.
Intending to make benefactiOns amounting In
value to $4,000, and fearing perhaps that her
heirs for some reason might not relish them,
Miss Snow. the testatriX, at the close OF the
instrument, added the following, the emphasis
being placed on some of the words either by
her hand or by her direction: /" | forbid all
"person or persons to break this my last Will
"and Testament, and whoever attempts to
"break it, OF breaks 1t. may he she, or they
"find no peace for mind or body in this
world or in the world to come" There Is
something pitifully desperate, touch OF
feminine gehemence, in these indefinite menaces.
Nobody cares to be cursed by dying woman,
however strongly reason may assure him that
all curses are Intellectual No lawyer would
like to go to jury with a clause like this as
evidence of the want of sound and dispOsiGg
mind and memory. No better evidence OF
clear and earnest purpose can be conceived
than that which these words furnish: 81 shall
abe helpless" says the dying woman; sit may
"be easy TO find legal flaws in these de-
"yises, and to break this will or attempt
"ever may offer this insult to my memory
"may be utterly wretched here and here
"afterm Such words as these may not be
suggestive of an amiable mind, nor OF for
giving spirit; but they show warm appre-
hension of wrong to which the dead have
over and over again been subjected. Imagine
q testatOr walking into court after his dear
relations have proved that he was weak or
foolish, mad or childish! Fancy him listening
IN corner to lawyer eloqucnty showing
that he did not know his own mind !!
Think of him hearkening to the evil
dence of the witnesses, the details of his
daily conduct the opinions of those who
always thought hun luuatic, the narratives
of those who watched his eating, his drink
ing. his dressing. and who are quite ready to
swear to the bee which was always buZzing
in his bonnet! A ghost thus cruelty traduced
would unquestionaby be guilty of contempt
of court, if ghost be capable of committing
that offense. We think that we treat the
dead with extraordinary respect, and so we
do in a monumental and funereal way !;
but if anybody wants to know to
how much real disrespect the departed
are exposed, let him read the long and libel
Gus results of disputed will cases. the his
tory of the ingenious ignominy and contempt
with which the tombs of testators have been
defled Miss Snow seems to have been a
woman with mind of her own, and yet under
circumstances easily to be imagined these
words of hers might make the very mischief
against which they are directed. One who
has missed a bequest may easily be persuaded
that there must be some mistake about it. So
there may be, but it is not necessarily the
mistake of the testatOr.
PERSONAL.