The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1904-08-19
Mathew
Whitman's S Will
By PERCY CHAMBERLAIN


\" HEN the dried-up old lawyer fin
Wv ished reading the will he grave
ly removed his spectacles and glanced
about the group surrounding the Ii
brary table.
On every face save one was surprise
and CONSERVATION; on that one an
amused smile played.
And yet Harold Olney had more cause
for surprise and CONSERVATION than any
of the other heirs. He had been old
Mathew Whitman's favorite nephew,
had always enjoyed liberal allowance
by the old man and had been led to sup
pose that the bulk of the great estate
would go to him. Acting on this un-
derstanding he had not hesitated to go
the pace and mortgage the fortune So
he was hopelessly in debt and now the
sum of his expectations was 81 500. Not
only he. but the other heirs had ex-
pected his portion to have two more
ciphers added.
Their hopes had not been SO high
as Harolds but they all had expected
far more than they got.
The old man had treated them all alike
and had left each nephew and niece ex-
actly $500. The balance of his great
estate was to go to the Humane. So
ciety. No reason was given in the Will
for this strange ignoring OF his rela-
tives and patronage of cause with
which he never had manifested any par
ticular sympathy during his life. and
the old lawyer was unable to give any
reason in answer to the angry clamor.
Perhaps the angriest person in the
dingy old library was Jefferson Frank
lin who had hoped to share equally
with Harold the major portion of the
estate. The four nieces had no such
great expectations as they were we'll
aware of Uncle Mathews dislike and
contempt for women, but they had ex-
pected $4,000 or $4,000 each, as the
old man had been stickler for blood
relationships and his estate ran well
over the half million mark.
But jefferson Franklin had had good
reason for his hopes to be put at least
on a level with Harold, and share the
greater part of the estate. In the first
place it was no more than just, as he
was as near to the blood and a male.
Moreover, he had led a steady, sober.
industrious life and proven himself a
good business man, and while he knew
his uncle always had condoned Harold's
wild escapades and easygoing life. be-
cause of some peculiar affinity between
him and the boy, the other nephew
knew that the old man approved of the
;rtr In I'm
ther that old Mathew Whitman had po-
sessed the desire to keep the fortune to-
.gether and had expressed the fear that
Harold would dissipate it. Besides all
this Harold had lot of the old mans
money while he lived. He had educated
both nephews and done much else for
them, but Harold had had liberal reg
ular allowance and besides this the
old man had paid his debts several
times-and very considerable debts
they had been. too.
Uncle Mathew had frequently ex-
pressed his approval of Jefferson's
steady business habits, and the young
man had good reason for his expecta-
tions. So when the will was read he
scarcely could believe his ears. A paltry
1900, when he had expected more than
a hundred times the amount. Indeed, he
had planned just how he was to invest
it so as to become power in the busi-
ness world.
Fifteen hundred dollars!" he ex-
claimed. why, the old fool was crazy.
We ought to break the will"
Eyes, yes!" chorused the nieces. "He
was a stingy old maniac. Let's break
the will"
The old lawyer shook his head grave
ly. THAT would be difficult" he said
what do you say, Harold?" asked
Jefferson, fiercely turning to Harold.
ooh, Uncle Mathew was sane enough" :"
replied Harold. "And I'm hanged if he
didn't have the right to do as he
pleased with his blamed old money"
The meeting finally broke up in a
storm of imprecations upon the men,
ory of the deceased. AS they were
going the piping voice of the lawyer re-
called them.
"You have forgotten a clause in the
will" he said "Mr. Whitman requested
that from the amount of your legacies
you contribute enough to erect monu-
ment over his grave"
There was a shout of derisive laugh
fer from Jefferson and the nieces. The
humor of it struck Harold, and he
laughed, too.
"Let the Humane society erect monu-