Birmingham state herald., 1895-12-04

versity centuries ago. The first. having invested all his money in annuities, di- rected that his body, after death, be cut into small pieces salted down in tub and sent to Pomerania for burial. This was done. Professor Coltusi in accord ance with his will, was carried to his grave by twelve fancifully dressed girls, preceded by band playing dance music.
 One of the most peculiar of German wills was left by Privy Court Councillor Ludekus, in Dresden, whose lawyer found in the box with his testament 150 en- graved mourning cards, bearing this an- nouncement:
 q have the honor to hereby announce to all my friends and acquaintances my death on the date of the postal mark
 JOHN LUDEKUS."
 These cards were sent out as directed. This is paralleled by the will of a Ger man who died in New York three or four years ago. who directed that his body be cremated and his ashes scattered to the four winds from the top of the statue of liberty on Bedloes island. Ills friends performed this office as directed
 br. James Boyle, who died at Kings ville Ontario. in the latter part of 1891, left his funeral sermon, which he direct ed to be read over his coffin. Dr. Boyle was a very eccentric character. clinging to the old-fashioned knickerbockers and cooked hat up to his death, which occur red at the age of ST. The sermon begins thus:
 You have come together as neighbors and friends to give my body decent and respectable burial which you owe to the friends of the departed. That body which lies in the narrow tenement is not mine any longer and is no part of me. I have risen out of it in full human form, in the full stature and dimensions of man, with all the organs, internal and exter- nal. that belong to humanity. l am not a shadow or specter. l am not air or ether or mere breath. I have all the senses I ever had. It was the soul alone that saw and heard, and tasted and smelt and felt and when I left the body I took them with me as fundamental parts of my immortal existence. The body was only a thin coveringa skin of film over the soul to enable it to act upon or communicate with the natural world and when 1t had served it's purpose was cast off by the soul. which needed it and could use 1t no longer. I will never re- turn to it and 1t will never come back to me-"
 The sermon then at great length goes on to explain the peculiar religious belief of the writer. and was followed by two appendices, the first entitled ''The Au- thenticity of the Gospels. or the Life and Character Of Jesus Christ" In the sec ond Dr. Boyle divides mankind into three ciasses-"tbe Human, the Animal and the
 
 he places persons regenerated by the Holy Spirit" in the second those still in the state of nature," and in the third, "animals in human form. but destitute of human qualities"
 pr. John Douglass, lawyer and Presby- terian minister. who died in Pittsburg. Pa-. in 1892, left remarkable wil in which he says:
 'T owe no man anything, and have no debts I direct and positively order that the expenses of my funeral shall not ex- ceed $75, and that my coffin shall be made of plain boards. without adornment or decoration of any kind. As I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Son of God, for salvation, and that men are saved while alive. it will not be necessary to hold religious services over my body"
 He also directed that no monument was to be erected over his grave or else where, and bequeathed his lot in the AL legheny cemtery to his son. coupled with the provision that mo stone shall tell to whom it belongs or who is buried there, and the stones now there must be al- lowed to crumble into dust and never re- placed"
 A very odd will was that left by an Englishman named Thelusson, who de- vised an estate of s600.000 to accumu late during the lives of his sons and