The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-05-16

Is read ssch hi will. That hshad &.
pressly Named his mob relatives only
in such be4hest tecause that. vol know.
ting that ~ otheS sex. could she'd tears
TT their VII, heldid not choose to &iye
Them . anSs Of doing SO sshis. Me
hnm0test and cynic that he feally~8s
was we'll shown in such queer form oil
bequest. and especially so in the word
ing of the last quoted clause of it.
Therelwas one further and important
provision, that ia the event of no tear
being shed within the stipulated ins
the so-called residue should be given.
and thereby was, given, to the hospital
4 specially named. Though it was no
laughing matter with those who had to
win the prize, it was made so at once
lby the highly-irritated and excluded
ladies'. absurd old wretch!' "Ridic-
ulous old fool' and the like, were on
the tongues of all of them, and fully
five minutes of the fleeing time was
being wasted in their seeming efforts to
keep others from obtaining what they
were so excluded from competing fur.
With watches in hand the two exes-
utors had each risen from their seats
on the finish of the reading of the will
One Of them acted as spokesman for
both, and thus addressed the expectant
nine male relatives. 1.-The time by my
watch is now twenty m nutes to twelve.
You will please compare your watches
with it. l shall place my timekeeper
on the table where you can see it, and
we have now but 10 observe your faces
until ten minutes past the hour, when
it will rest with us to decide how many
of YOU, if any, are to share in the resi-
duary estate. .. You will please 10 SIT
with the light on your faces, and it will
| be best that we all OBJ erve silence. The
ladies may either leave the room or re-
if-not solemnity, of the duty imposed
| upon Us by the testator." Not a lady,
among them, however, offered tOleave.
Curiosity was sufficient to detain them.
and two or three were interested as sis
tiers or daughters in the fortunes of the
new contrasting nine. These settled at
once to the stranSest effort that proba-
bly,, assmen, they had ever been called
upon to make. To that end they had
all instinctively turned their backs upon
the ladies, whose twinkling eyes and
laughing faces would have probably
gone far to s. ay all attempts at weep
ing. Most of them were m;ddle-aged
men-the nephews of the testator,, who
had himself lived to between seventy
and ghty years. 1t was no easy mat
will, and the harder to do so on the
compulsion thus strangely given. Yet
the prize offered was too tempting
one to be thrown away Without an effort
by any sensible man. Indeed, re-
GREETED that had not an opportunity of
competing for it myself. As it was,
had to sit in silence, and act as umpire
should the two executors disagree rs to
whom had shed q tear within the stipu-
lated time. ..-,. ...
To Their credit be it said that the dis
appointed ladies kept decorous silence,
aiding such desirable behavior by coy-
ering their mouths with their handker.
chiefs. These articles were also in the
hands of several of the gentlemen who
hoped, doubtless, to find speedy use for
them. We could see that one or two
were moving their lips as if uttering to
themselves something or other that had.
in bygone days, brought them, to tears.
None of the handkerchlefs they held
contained, we could plainly see, any
onion, or other help TO draw water from
the eyes. We might have objected,
equitably enough, on behalf of the 9TH
e~s, to any such outside a d; but such a
thing had, of course, not been thought
of. As it was, the contest was airly
enough conducted. though one of the
the nine was evidently enough pinching
or pricking himself in a tender part
where pain had doubtless often brought |
tears tn him in youthful days. Tosuch
aid to bringing water to the eyes there |
was probably no rightful OBJ ect on, and
indeed it was q delicate matter even to |
say that such had been noticed at all. |
Twenty minutes of the precious thirty
had now gone, and no claimant had yet
arisen from among the n ne to show a
wet cheek to the two arbitrators.
One of the nine had sat for ten minutes |
or more with his face covered by his |
handS-his elbows resting one his knees.
Had tie subject not been too serious a |
one for betting upon, the odds might |
have been offered on him as probable |
winner. In sporting language re-
shaped best, to my thinking, in the con-
test. Five minutes more had gone. and |
no claimant declared himself as vet, |
when suddenly one, who had sat hither- !
to with eyes closed, rose to his feet with |
a tear clearly enough rolling down from |
each eye. He fell on his kne's before |
the two executors, the more clearly to |
show this iect, and his grief was APP
parently too deep for words. His now
openrd eyes merely glanced at the !
watch, by which he saw that he was q
winner. There now arose two others
the man of the covered face being one
one of them, and he also had wet cheeks
to show. The other of the two was
clearly enough weeping, and these
three of the nine were all that we had
to declare as entitled to share in the
estate, for the half hour was now up.
did not learn until years afterward
that the one who had covered his face
with his hands, and leaned his elbows
upon his knees. had occupied his time,
and his little fingers, in wetting his face
and cyelids with moisture from his
mouth, and not from his eyes. tits i'm
possible to think of everything, and we
a'e probably right in not being too sus-
picious of trickery in such curious
case. " Geo.
The third of my notes of such will
cases has a practical object in my tell
ing it. and may have good effect with
tho e who are about to make wills, or a
codicil to those already made. The
viii maker in this case had cause to be
very dissat SIZED with the condpct OF his
three chi dren, who had, at the time of
making b will, by their misbehavior
in many WAYS hopelessly offended him.