Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-05-30
BY his will he provided annuities for
several old servants and clerks. Then

BY his will he provided annuities for
old servants and clerks. Then
donations to various charities
md the gift of his collection of butter
lies, moths and beetles, the making OF
which had been the hobby of his holt
lays, to q museum. The residue of his
PROPERTY, of . considerable amount,
the subject OF ar eccentric be-
luest-so far as the means were defined
~ which it should be distributed. The
VIII had been left in my care, and after
he funeral l had given the usual notice
10 all his relatives, and to the W ofriends
named as executors, to meet next morn
ing to see the opening and hear the
of this document.
The relatives of the deceased num-
bered no less than sixteen-seven OF
whom were OF the gentler sex, and
all of adult age. The reading of the
will proceeded in silence until the
clause came, which read to
this effect: That as to all the rest,
residue, and remainder OF his estate
of whatsoever kind, not before be-
queathed, he, the said t%estator,- willed
and bequeathed the same among such OF
his male relatives present at the reading
of his will who should within half an
hour of such reading shed each a tear
to his memory. That the decision on
that matter should rest entirely with his
two executors, or the survivor of them.
or in the event of the decease of them
both, with whomsoever should be chosen
to read such his will. That he had ex-
pressly named his male relatives only
in such bequest because that, we'll know
ing that the other sex could shed tears
at their will, he did not choose to give
them q chance of doing so at his The
humorist and cynic that he really was,
was we'll shown in such queer form of
bequest, and especially SO in the word
ing of the last quoted clause of it.
There was one further and important
provision, that in the event OF nc tear
being shed within the stipulated time
the so-called residue should be given,
and thereby was given, to the hospital
specially named. Though it was no
laughing matter with those who had to
win the prize, it was made so at ace
by the highly-irritated and excluded
ladies. "Absurd old wretch!" .Ridic-
ulous old foolr' and the like, were on
the tongues of all of them, and fully
five minutes of the fleeting time was
being wasted in their seeming efforts to
keep others from obtaining what they
were so excluded from competing for.
With watches in hand the two exec
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 minutes to twelve.
You will please compare your watches
with it. 1 shall place my timekeeper
on the table where you car see it, and
we have now but to 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 to sit
with the light on your faces, and it will
be best that we all observe silence. The
ladies may either leave the room or re-
fleet here in silence on the importance,
if not solemnity, of the duty imposed
upon us by the testator." Not a lady
among them, however, offered to leave.
Curiosity was sufficient to detain them,
and two or three were interested as sis
tiers or daughters in the fortunes of the
new contesting nine. These settled al
once to the strangest effort, that proba.
bly,, as men, they had ever been called
upon to make. To that end they hac
all instinctively turned their backs upor
the ladies, whose twinkling eyes anC
laughing faces would have probably
gone far to stay all attempts at weep.
ing. Most of them were m;ddle-ageG
men-the nephews Of the testator, who
had himself lived to between seventy
and eighty years. 1t was no easy mat
ter for such men to squeeze out tears a
will, and the harder to do SO On thu
compulsion thus strangely given. Ye
the prize offered was too tempting T:
one to be thrown away without an effor
by any sensible man. Indeed, / re
GREETED that I had not an opportunity O
competing for it myself. AS it was,
had to sit in silence, and. act as umpire
should the two executors disagree as t,
whom had shed a tear within the stipu
lated time.
To their credit be it said that the dis
appointed ladies kept adecorous silence
aiding such desirable behavior by GOV
ering their mouths with their handker
chiefs. These articles were also in tn,
hands of several of the gentlemen VIII
hoped, doubtless, to lind speedy use TO
them. We could see that one or tw,
were moving their lips as if uttering t
themselves something or other that had
in bygone days, brought them to tears
None of the handkerchlefs they hell
contained, we could plainly see, an,
onion, or other help to draw water from
the eyes. We might have objected
equitably enough, on behalf of the 9th
ers, to any such outside ad; but such
thing had, OF course, not been though
of. As it was, the contest was fairly
{ enough conducted, though n of thu
1 the nine was evidently enough pinchins
or pricking himself in a tender par
, where pain had doubtless often brough
tears to him in youthful days. To sucl
: aid to bringing water to the eyes there
was probably no rightful objection, anc
indeed it was q delicate matter ever te
. say that such had been noticed at all
, Twenty minutes of the precious thirty
had now gone, and no claimant had ye'
, arisen from among the n;ne to show 6
wet cheek to the two a%rbitrators.
, One of the nine had sat for ten minutes