Waterbury Democrat., 1901-12-21
PITTABLE CASES.
Thrown on the Charity of the World Once Owned Their Homes.

When l was boy read a snort story in a magazine illustrating the folly of old people making over their money and other property to their children and then trusting to some member of the family to care for them in their old age. It cited as an exam pie an old gentleman possessed of some means who had two daughters. Both were married, but lived in differ ent parts of the country, so far apart that neither knew much about how the world fared with the other. The old man lived with one of the girls and was the pet of the house until after he had made over to her all his wealth, consisting of house and sey- eral thousand dollars. Then he be came a nuisance and the first thing he knew he had to get out and shift for himself. Ih his extremities he con- ceiyed plan to secure home for himself that worked like a charm and at the same time furnished an excel lent object lesson for future genera tions. The only thing he had left when he got the bounce was an old safe that he used in his store when he was successful merchant. and this he forwarded ahead of him to the resi- OcnCG Ol HIS JULIET Q0uSlt6E. dl lAG same time mailing her letter inform her that he had grown tired of living with Helen, disposed of his property to good advantage and concluded to spend the balance of his life with her, and cautioning her to be careful of the safe which he had sent to her ad- dress. for it contained the receipts of the sale and other treasures, all of fcI, off I,i He reached the house after q weary tramp and. it is needless to say, was received with open arms and assured of the best treatment the place afford ed. He took the daughter to one side and told her that all his life savings were in the safe, but that he had made up his mind not to open it while he lived and extracted solemn prom ise from her never to put q hand on it until after he was dead and buried. He was an odd character, and knowing this the daughter did not question him about the freak. fearing that he might get mad and return with the treasures to the other daughter. So things went along splendidly. the old man being pampered and petted until finally he took sick and died. He was buried hllh IttuAhthS from the funeral the family set about opening the safe. and when the feat was accomplished it's contents consist ed of q small mallet and note on which was written in the old mans hand a few lines like the following: When a man gives away his property
 before he's dead.
 Take this little mallet and hit him in
 the head"
 Two very forcible reminders of the logic of these rugged lines came to the notice of Selectman Doran yesterday. In the forenoon an old man, apparent ly on the brink of the grave. strolled into the office and addressed the select man in this fashion:
 MT Doran, 1 want to go up to Tom's.''
 man, eyeing the old fellow with some curiosity.
 Tom Moran," replied the aged man with great emotion. "I have no other back door now, and it's a case of over the hills to the poorhouse with me. That's my lot after long years of hard labor. I spent twenty years Tn q cast ing shop and rarely ever gave my wife leSS tlldA r-Of q hGGhs SSuG OlCu sl short time ago and left all the proper ty to the girls, and I have to get out. We had two houses, but they were in my wife's name."
 ''How much equity had you in the houses?" asked the selectman
 ''They are worth about $3,000," he answered. ''and there's mortgage of S600 on the property"
 ha do I, .I4 n 4i -af of admission to the almshouse and Here, go up to the almshouse for the present and I'll find out if you can't get a decent living out of tla property. If that story be true it is about the worst that ever came to my notice"
 The old fellow thanked the select man. bowed himself out and hobbled off. but he has not yet shown up at that institution.
 In the afternoon q patriarchal ap- bearing man. bowed down under the weight of years. appeared at the little window. He didn't mean to tap. but his hands trembled so that his fingers bounded against the woodwork with such force that one would think he was some impatient caller who wanted to be waited upon right off He was neatly dressed and his long, white hair showed that 1t was no stranger to the brush and comb. His tale of woe ran substantially as follows:
 ''Fm eighty-one years old and have been in this country since 1852. I worked in the iron mines in Armenia, Y. l., for over thirty years and came to this town twenty years ago and have lived here ever since. My wife and one son died within a month of each other three years ago and soon after I conveyed my two family house on Charles street to my daughter and her husband. They don't want me now and I've got till tomorrow noon to find a place. 1 don't know what to do. I called upon MT Guilfoile, the lawyer. and he advised me to see you. I worked for eighteen years in Riverside cemetery for Mir Begnal, God rest him. and could get chance to earn a dollar there still once in a while if l were let alone. My son-in- law Is not the worst. to give him his due. He's driven to it''
 Here he paused and filled up to cry and then exclaimed: .sOh, I tell you any man that lets go his hold on his little home and trusts to his children