The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1904-09-17

Few men care to be advised on the
necessity of making their wills because
it is a grave subject in more than one
sense. It implies that the hour of
death is fast approaching and the time
is at hand when you must part with
boarded earnings. To will is to give
away and the man who has toiled and
sweated 20 amass moiety of this
worlds goods does not, at the end,
contemplate with great degree of
pleasure the prospect of passing over
the possession of his little all to an
other person. These and various
other influences tend to make the ex-
ecution of wills a favorite subject of
proscrastination.
The hale and hearty old man thinks
he has many years of happiness yet
left, before it will be necessary to take
such step. 1t is put off from year
to year until the very threshold OF
existence is reached. Then it but too
often happens that the mind is weak
with age and disease. The memory
isebbing away and the reason is unsta-
bic and Aightv. 1t is very easy for
litigious relatives to charge undue in
fuence. 1t isnot impossible to prove
a state of mind under which the al
legged will is declared null and void.
The reports, too, ARE full of cases where
in the hurry and excitement of the
moment, requisitite formalities were
omitted flaws, important enough
to upset the entire arrangement, crept
in unnoticed and unchallenged.
Even so good lawyer as Rufus
Choate is said at one time to have
drawn upa faulty will. He discover
ed the imprefection only when he
chauced to be getting into bed after a
hard days labor. A stray reflection
had directed his attention to the mat
ter, whereupon, being too conscien-
tious to take the responsibility Of the
future litigation that might arise, he
mounted his horse rode FIVE miles and
obtained the signature of the dying
msfntgq sfng hfyft hthft p6fss II FEKs s6EEeell 9qmak-
ing wills to be emphasized is to make
them in time. Dispose ofthe business
while your health is good and your
mind is clear. You can then best
Judge what the wisest and most bene-
fetal disposition of your property may
be. You can then make the most pro-
per provision for those in which you
feel a praiseworthy interest. And
there will be no danger Of will un-
der these circumstance being liable to
the opposition of quarrelsome and evil
minded persons, who, to get few
dollars of a mans estate, are willing
to prove him insane.
It is also a good practice to invite
the assistance of a reliable attorney,
so that your will may be drawn up in
legal shape. tits the poorest economy
in the world to try to save few dol
lars, getting along without such as
sistance, unless, Of course, you are ac-
quainted with common legal prin-
ciples and feel reasonably able to Sue
ceed without futher legal aid.
No man need be afraid to have his
will drawn up. even though he may
have years Of life before him. Its
provisions cannot take effect until
his death, nor will its existence inter-
fere with the operation of subsequent
wills, since the latest will is an ipsO
tactorevocation Of all prior instruments
of the same kind. Somuch money has
been spent, trouble incurred and i'll
| feeling occasioned by faulty and defec-
tive wills, that we deem it duty to
speak these word of warning and
advice as matter eminently proper to
the scope of a Catholic journal. - The
NesO Century.