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

As the lad can 10 d his own,
Yemay trust she lave" p 1'.F
-Haypcrs Weekly.
TIE READING OF THE WILL.
There is nothing in a lifetime thai
more arouses attention and excites ex
pectations than the reading of the dis.
position that the dead have chosen f.
make of what they leave Aside from
the individual interest that those assem-
bled may have in the matter, there is in
the dramatic nature of its effects upon
them more to observe than in any other
of the situations that cur cial life af.
fords. In three cases that ha come
under my notice the dramatic nature oil
the whole affair forcibly impressed me,
and, leaving out dates and substituting
other names than the real ones, the Lit.
tie narratives that can give of these
scenes may prove of interest-and oil
something more-tO many readers.
The first case have to relate is that
o. a wealthy bachelor. who, dying when
OF middle age only. had let behind him
G50,0O0. His relatives consisted of two
married sisters and their children, q
bachelor brother eldest of all the sur
vivorsl and the three children of de-
cea ed brother. All of the later were
adults, the eldest being a nephew of
twenty-five or whereabouts and law
student. The room was pretty we'll
filled with the dozen or SO of relatives
thus assembled. They were none of
them at all SO blessed In the way of
wealth as their deceased relative: and,
indeed. L may say they were most of
them, in that matter. much the other way.
1t fell to my share in the scene to speak
as to the villa document that had in
this ca'e been torn up by deceased on
the day preceding his death. Il had
been prepared by me the year before,
and destroyed. as it was the intention
~d the decea ed to make another, the
instructions for which had then been
given to me. When waited upon him
next morning with the document, Death
had been there be ore me. and the hand
-sya' cold that should have signed what
4 SO hurriedly had to prepare. had
asked his signature the day before to
the notes l had then made of his in
:structions, but this he had declined to
give. as the probability of death COM
ing so quickly upon him was rejected
as impulsive. He had. indeed. expec-
tations of pulling through altogether.
and of tina his medical attendant had
given him strong hopes. g..
What remained in my hands were the
fragments of the destroyed will and the
newly made and uneXceuted ne-both
now e4ually waste paper. The de-
ceased had, In fact, died intestRte. The
to-n-up will had been by me patched
and pastel together. that its Jntents
might be known, if desired, by the ex-
pectant relatives. They were <pectant
indeed, the deceased representing the
r;ch bachelor uncle"-a1 enviable
character, well known to the world at
large, and to novelists especially. The
nephews and nieces were now, except
as to the three children of the deceased
brother. out of the question as legatees,
as the property would be dcvisable. as
an intestate estate; between the two
surviving sisters. the elder brother, and
the three children of the deceased
brother-who would take their late
mothers share equally among them in
her right.
It was matter of great interest to me
to notice the effect of reading the two
proposed dispositions of his property
which the deceased had made, neither
of which could now take effect. 1t was
voted by those present that these should
both be read. though had cndeavored
10 avoid this by proposing to treat them
as the utilities that they really were.
Curiosity. cxcusable enough. was, how
ever paramount, and the assen. oled re-
lativeS heard thus what were the de-
ceased's intentions towards them at two
different periods of his life. The net
result was general satisfaction appar.
emily with all. AMI special one with
some OF them that none OF these inten-
fions of the deceased would now avail
anything. Death and the Law of the
land had in their idea made the best
disposition of the property. Now, how
ever, came the excitement that none
had expected, and which only drama
fist could properly depict as I saw it.
You are agreed. then" said the elder
brother, shat the deceased left no will
behind him?"
The reply was unan nous that they
all were so. and that the two proposed
dispositions of the property that had
been left were now valueless. There
upon up rose the late speaker, and,
drawing q paper from the breast pocket
of his coat. prefaced il with these intro
ductory remarks. 81 can now show
YOU thst my late brother has left will.
He made the one now hold in my
hand twenty years ago. and gave it to
me on his then leaving here for sea
voyage. As he never married, and BY
50 doing revoked it in law. the will is
still good one, and by it. as you will
hear. everything that he might leave at
his death is bequethed to me, and am
0smed as sole executor"
The silence that followed this as
founding speech was scarcely broken
by the breathing of any one present.
Life seemed to have stayed It's usual in
dicasons, and faces whitened al around
at the disastrous news that thus sudden
lv came to crush all the pleasant feel
7ngs that q few inmates before had 80
prevSiled. As this silence continued,
the speaker resumed by saying that he
would read them the will. The Young
law-student nephew thereupon broke
the spell that seemed cast upon every
body by saying: "You may save your
sell the trouble of reading the will. I'M