The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-18
WOMAN'S
WORLD.

other day to the effect that the short
est will ever recorded at the Surrogate's
Office was made by a woman" said the
old lawyer, to a New York Sun re-
porter. This is probably the case, but
it is the exceptional brevity that goes
to prove the usual prolixity of the
wills of women.
"As a rule, when I am summoned to
record the testamentary directions of a
woman go prepared for long siege
Of writing and advising. To start with,
a woman has a greater variety of be-
longings to bequeath than a man, or,
If the chattels are not really more
varied, she, herself, establishes line
of distinction and divides them into
more classes. A man. when making
his will, is given to generalizing. A
woman, on the other hand, particular
ICES, and where the masculine devisor
will take a set of objects, or group
of sets, for that matter, and lump them
all off to one legatee, she will scatter
the same things around among score
of friends or relations.
1.-THE strangest part of this writing Of
feminine wills is that no matter how
positive and concise of thought the tes-
tatrix may be on ordinary occasions,
the minute she sets out to make pre-
parations for the post mortem distr1-
button of her property she becomes I'M
certain of herself. The mainstays of
her wealth, such as real estate and
bank account she will probably be
sure about but the minor requests
cause her needless troubles and she is
bound to take UP each item separately
and argue its appropriateness as a
gift to this person and that and ex-
plain with minuteness, what each, in
turn, has done to merit remembrance.
If all these considerations could be
threshed over and settled privately be-
fore my interview begins, l wouldn't
mind the nervousness of the channels
through which she arrives at her con-
illusions, but when the pros and cons
are reserved for my own judgment and
I am expected to decide upon each pro-
vision the prospect certainly does not
make a lawyer tingle with thrills of
pure delight
Then, too, women are faddy about
their Wills Every little while some
body with a bump for statistics for
ages around through legal literature
and brings to light a number of tesla
1nentary curiosities. In all these resur-
of freak requests were devised by wo-
men. Personally / have drawn up but
few of these outlandish wills where the
money was hidden away under Robin
Hoods barn, or the legatee was to
come into his own only by the accom-
plishment of some unreasonable, crazy
task imposed upon him, but my expert
ence has been sufficiently varied to
show me that women are fond of bi-
zarre effects in the matter of bestOwing
their riches.
Another popularity of women's
wills is the rarity and meagerness of
their requests to charitable enter
prises. This statement is, of course.
made in a broad sense. There have
been some notable gifts to public in
situations by wealthy women, but it is
a fact that when the average woman
of means comes to die she loses sight
of the stranger at her gates and en-
riches those endeared to her by ties
of blood and friendship, to the exclu
sion of homes and reformatories that
stand by waiting for contribution.
The cause of this apparent lack of gen.
erosity is undoubtedly due to the fact
that the charity of many a woman is
personally conducted and that all ar
rangements for providing for her bene-
ficiaries have been completed privately
and on a cash basis prior to the writ
ing of the will. But, however often this
explanation may hold good, certain it
is that when ten men and women
equally endowed with the good things
of the world come to attend to their
wills, five Of the men will bequeath
some small sum to charity, while one
OF the women viii be inclined to a sim
liar benefaction.
And this brings me to another
feature of women's wills. All things
considered, must confess that wo-
men are disposed to be unjust in their
wills. In the past twenty years / have
drawn up hundreds of wills whose
terms were so obviously unjust in GER
tain particulars that I actually felt
ashamed of myself for writing them,
which is pretty strong assertion,
coming from a lawyer. This injustice
is particularly manifest in the case of
step children. have known many wo-
men who were good to their husbands
children so far as physical care of
them went, yet when it came to hand
ling the financial affairs of the family
the children were sure to suffer
through the transaction.
There is one class of dependents,
however, upon which women who
make wills lavish money without
stint, and that is pet animals. There
was a time when a will which contain
to invest several thousand dollars for
the support of a cat or dog was a'mat-
ter for newspaper comment, but nova
days unless the bequest is excessive
such items are not considered worthy
of mention. There are animals in this
town that are living off the fat of the
land in private homes and dogs board
ing houses. and all their expenses,
which are never light, are paid through
the kindness of a mistress whose last
thought was for them.
But manifestly absurd and unjust
though the wills of many women are,
it is seldom that one of them is con-
tested. The same document, dictated
by a man, would probably be hauled
about in the courts for years, but
somehow the general opinion is that IT
is better to take the will of woman
at its face value, and all concerned
usually resign themselves to a peace
able acceptance of its provisions.
Another point worth noting about
women's wills is the number of
changes they are apt to undergo, even
after having been approved and at
tested. Frequently the most trifing
change in the circumstances of a Legal
tee will, in the opinion of the testatrlx.
necessitate a rewriting of the whole
will. had a case in point only a few
months ago. A client up on Fifty
fourth street had finally succeeded af-