The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1904-01-30

ILLS Is Story Ol HOW Il SIlldll DOy
worked his way into the heart of Il
childless Widower. To-day Francis
Barring Peckhanl, richest and folmost
of the many distinguished men at the
Newport bar, is dead and in his grave
Mourning him is ten-year-old Eddie ].
CorcOran, son and nephew of two
women who came into the Peckham
household years ago as servants.
From the child of woman who once
scrubbed floors for her living, little
Eddie has become heir to a fortune,
says the New York World.
He gets $4,000 outright and $4,000
more when his aunt and mother die.
Also there comes to him the Peckham
home in Newport, fine old house Of
earlier days, filled with works of art
and curios, antique mahogany and cut
.glass-the typical home of the rich
New Englander. 1t is appraised at
$4,000. So in all, little Eddie Cor
coran will inherit $S5,OOO.
His mother, Mrs. Corcoran, gets
$1,000 of the wealthy lawyers fortune,
and his aunt, Miss Mary Mahoney,
Mrs. Corcoran's sister, comes in for
$4,000, all Of which goes to Eddie at
their deaths. The sisters inherit the
house and all it's contents, too, but at
their demise it also descends to the
boy loved by the elderly lawyer as his
own son.
There is no scandal connected with
the affair, no talk Of will contest.
It was simply the fatherly love Of
man who yearned for a child and
never had one, the love of a man for
the small boy who was his greatest
comfort and his only joy. Mr.. Peck
ham, ever considerate of whom he
loved, left his estate in such a way
that no one would want to contest the
will.
When his wife died five years ago
she left him all her estate unreserved-
ly. Now, besides the boy whom he
loved so fondly, Mr.. Peckham had a
brother and two sisters. But not
cent Of his wife's money did he leave
to any Of them. All this he bequeath-
ed to the relatives of his wife, just as
she would have done had she died
widow. In his will there are $84, 900
of named bequests. The rest of his
$25O,OOO estate he left to be shared
by his brother, Orville B. Peckham, of
Chicago, and his two sisters, Miss Ella
Peckham and Mrs. Mary E. Packard,
of Providence.
Mrs. Corcoran and her sister came
into the family of the Peckhams when
Mrs. Peckham, who was Miss Mary
Ann Lawton, was still alive. For
years she had been an invalid. Blind
ness finally came to add to her other
sufferings, and her life was miserable
indeed, lightened only by the loving
care and attention of Mr.. Peckham.
1t was then that a housekeeper was
necessary. Mary Mahoney was en-
gagged, and finally, when more assist
ance was needed, her sister, Mrs. Cor
coran, came to the Peckham house.
hold to live, too. With her she
brought little Eddie, then young
ster of barely three years.
The boys father was dead, and the
mother was utterly dependent. Two
years later death came mercifully to
end Mrs. Peckham's sufferings. The
night when the widower sat alone in
his desolate library, the book he was
trying to read lying idle in his lap,
and his head bowed in his hands, a
little form crept up beside him.
"Don't c'y," whispered tiny voice,
and then a chubby little form snug
gled up into the old mans arms and
tried to brush away the tears that
would come.
Soft little lips pressed kisses on the
lonely mans face, and pink little
hands patted the furrowed cheeks.
Little Eddie Corcoran was trying to
comfort the only man in the world
whom he knew at all.
The small boy burst into the elder
" lawyers life like ray of bright