Idaho news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1887-1891, 1891-06-20
STORIES OF WILLS.

There was an old lady, toothless
old dowager, who had reprobate and
discarded sou, and q pretty, gentle
niece, who lived with her. Weused to
manage all her affairs, and il was
pretty well-known in the office that
the nice girl with the long curls' was
to be the old lady's heir Our head
clerk, ared-whiskered dandy, who had
no mean opinion of himself, built
could see, certain speculations on tina.
basis. The old lady never came with
out Eliza; and when visit was ex-
pected, Mr.. Catchpole brushed his fiery
hair into the most killing curls, and
changed the out-at-elbows coat for the
smart one he wore out OF doors, and
beautifed himself as far as that was
practicable. Well, a message came
one day that tine old lady wasill, very
i'll, with an urgent request that some
one should go at once and make her
will Of went our Adonis as fast as
premise OF something liberal over the
fare could urge thecabman When he
arrived, the old lady was alive-iust
alive enough to tell him that all her
property was to be left to Eliza. She
told him that in the kissing whisper
which supplied the place Of the cracked
voice; but when she came to the word
call, so full was the poor old Great
ure OF love for the niece: or, perhaps,
OF determination-let us hope not
hate against her son--that she half
rose up in her bed and clenched her
withered hand, and sbrieked out
that word again. 1t must have
been terrible sight-that OF life
struggling with death for will.
1t was a short matter to write that
will down; and Catchpole's pen flew
over the paper, and the old eyes that
were glazing so fast stared anxiously
the while, and the thin fingers actual
ly held the pen she had asked for be-
forehand ready TO sign the paper. In
few minutes all was ready; but what
difference that few minutes made.
The clerk had risen from his seat and
approached the couch, when the sur
geon, who stood on the other side,
said, with that'coolness which medical
practice brings, ut is too late; and
it was too late The dead fingers
clenched the unused pen so tightly
that they had to be unclasped from
it. The son was heir OF all, and Eliza
a beggar. Death had translated that
screamed out call" into none.
The sequel is soon told, The proper
ty was wasted by the son, and has
long since passed into other hands,
and Eliza, instead ofpossessing some
thousands year, and being woed by
Mr.. Catchpole, is faded daily COVER
ness.
Every lawyers office has plenty OF
such tales as this. One remember OF
q miser who had ruined more than one
family. and in his last moments wished
to make Incorporation as bequeath-
ed gold could compass. Poor wretch,
when the will was brought, catalepsy
had seized him. He could not move
his handi his tongue refused it's office;
only his eyes were free to move; and
OF those eyes | have been told q terri
BILE tale. He was, as misers often are,
n man Of strong mind and iron nerve.
Passive as he was in every other part,
the eyes told all that was passing
within. You could have seen in them
intelligence when the will was read to
him. the powerful volltion brought to
bear, and persevered in, when the writ
ten word which was to make it tes-
lament was required; the terror and
horror which came over him when he
ha 1ult rsthi
often aided him for evil, would not
help him for good; the despair which
burst the'unseen bonds around him,
and, with convulsiye motion, let
out the last of life. 1t must have been
a spectacle Of horror, when punish
ment came i'll the shape of n prohibi-
ton OF the one act OF mercy, which
might have made some amends for o.
lifetime of wrong.
Then there was another legend Of "a
man whose daughter married against
his will. He lived somewhere in q
retired country-house, far off from
any town. This man was subject to
a disease OF the heart, and one night,
feeling the symptoms OF ON approach.
ing attack, and that strange presenti-
ment which so often comes before
death, he reused his household. and
sent off n messenger on horseback, not
for surgeon, but for a lawyer He
wanted his will made instantly. The
messenger could not be expected back
for at least two hours, and long before
that the spasmodic attack had come
on, but Still in the intervals Of his
paroxysms, that determined man
wrote as though against time. When
~ lawyer did arrive, all that was
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