San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1878-01-26
HEIRS PRESUMPTIVE.
Interesting Reading Matter for Old Gen.
.ri,s.l tlenen of Means. ,., mr. d,

IL Is gradually becoming q well set
tied principle in law thata rich man can
not do what he pleases with his money,
or with himself, il he has heirs presump-
tive. A very rich man, if he has sons,
grandsons, nephews and nieces, should
be very unhappy. His movements are
regarded with suspicion; unless he is a
misery curmudgeon he is thought ex-
travagant, and he is placed under con-
slant surveillance lest, in a moment of
weakness, he shall ALLEVIATE property
which the heirs presumptive consider
already theirs. In Imagination, they
see the old man fairly under the sod,
and the glittering accumulation of Ia.
borious years in their hands. Mean
time the rightful owner and custodian of
this great wealth lags superhuous on the
Stage of life. They would not kill him,
as the laborers did the heir, in order
that the inheritance may be theirs; but
something very like, murder is in their
hearts as they note the exasperating vi
tality of the rich man whose simple and
temperate habits have given him green
Old age. Why doesn't he die and cease
to be the grasshopper and burden that
he isP It would be better for one who
has lived to the end of the time allotted
for human earthly existencel that he re-
lieved lis expectant heirs of anxiety.
1t is true that he is the sturdy root of
which they are the branches. But, then,
how much more would they flourish if
the root were under ground.
This feeling of ownership in an old
PERSONS estate finally grows into a set
tiled conviction. The man who accu-
mulated the coveted property ceases to
be regarded as its rightful owner. He is
an encumbrance upon it-almost an inn
,terloper. If he does any thing to impair
the value of his possessions Cor the
prospective possessions of his heirs) he
becomes fit subject of legal inquiry.
| "A younger man may, waste his SUBJ
stance in riotons living, and the world
laughs or pities until he returns with a
Willingness to feed on, the hnsks Of the
swinel 10 but no old rich man with Heirs
(and all, old rich men have heirs) is
allowed to make a fool or a prodigal OF
himself, He is; fortunate if those who
are waiting for dead mems shoes do not
interfere, with injhnctions and other
strange processes, to compel him to live
meanfy end with, rigid economy lest
tbeit prospective, wealth shall be wasted
before it, reaches them. A woman of
[unsound mind, living in her own house,
and supported blythe income of her own
estate, was lately brought into court by
an heir presumptiye,' in order that thei
judge might decree that she should be
turned out of her house and lodged less
extensively, and maintained in such al
frugal manner that her. estate should
be augmented. The heir presumptive,
having a contingent interest in the pro-
perty, thought it a waste that a feeble
minded woman should be comfortably
fed and lodged at the expense of an
estate which he expected, one day, to
enjoy. 1t was his PROPERTY that was
being wasted in the maintenance of one'1
who 'should have died yesterday" 1
More wrath, jealousy,'and disappoint-
ment are caused BY the late marriage of
rich old people than by any other event
in life. The noyelists have made good
use of this, and fiction is full of dramatic
surprises formed by introducing a young
wife or young husband lust when the
heirs presumptive are making ready to
divide an estate. The .schemers and
plotters are thrown into a tableau when
aqna rriage certificate is produced in
stead of ,awill.s In one of the interior
counties of this, State a rich widower was
left alone in his old age by his married
sons and daughters. Not one of them
would receive him into their houses;
not one would stay to, keep him COM
pany in the family mansion. In their
own comfortable homes they waited for
the old man Sdie and let go his hold
upon his riches. He married and
thought his blooming bride to his,
Hebolate homestead. Instantly, the
heirs tpresumptive were up in arms.
They invaded the house which they had
summed. They eamped there in brig
AIDES; and they never raised the siege
until the prosecuted wife was driven out
into the world again. In this case the
heirs presumptiye were willing that the !