New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1891-04-29
STORIES OF WILLS.

There was an old lady, a toothless
old dowager, who had a reprobate and
discarded son, and a pretty, gentle
niece, who lived with her. Weused to
manage all her affairs, and it was
pretty welLknown 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, l
could see, certain speculations on that
basis. The old lady never came with
out Eliza; and when a visit was ex-
pected, Mr.. Catchpole brushed his fiery
hair into the most killing curls, and
changed the out-at-elboWs coatf 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 the old lady wasil, very
i'll, with an urgent request that some
one should 60 at once and make her
will. Off went our Adonis as fast as
promise Of something liberal over the
fare could urge the cabman. When he
arrived, the old lady was alive-just
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
'all," 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. It must have
been terrible sight-that OF life
struggling with death for will.
It was 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
a 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 GOODNESS which medical
practice brings, "It 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
beggar. Death had translated that
cor n ~. COLL
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 a faded daily COVER
ness.
Every lawyers office has plenty of
such tales as this. One remember of
a miser who had ruined more than one
family, and in hislast moments wished
to make suchreparation as bequeath-
ed gold could compass. Poor wretch,
when the will was brought, catalepsy
had seized him. He could not move
his hand; his tongue refused it's Office;
only his eyes were free to move; and
of those eyes ] have been told a terri
BILE tale. He was, as misers often are,
man OF strong mind and ironnerve.
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 vol1tion 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
found the right hand, which had so
often aided him for evil, would not
help him for good; the despair which
burst the unseen bonds around him,
and, with convulsive motion, let
out the last of life. It must have been
a spectacle of horror, when punish
ment came in the shape of a prohibit
stionof the one act of mercy, which
might have made some amends for
lifetime of wrong
Then there was another legend of a
man whose daughter married against
his will He lived somewhere in
retired country house, far off from
any town. This man was subject to
q disease of the heart, and one night,
feeling the symptoms OF an approach
ing attack, and that strange PRESENT.
ment which so often comes before
death, he reused his household. and
sent off a messenger on horseback, not
for. q 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
the lawyer did arrive, all that was
left Of the will which had been so active