The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-04-30


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 BY MARGARET E. SANGsTER. Copyright, 1905, by Joseph B. Bowles)
 Wills and testaments are supposed to be necessary when men and women have large estates, real or personal, to bequeath to their heirs, but people who have only a little property are often careless about this duty, and in- disposed to attend to 1t. Having lit- tie to leave they either think they may as we'll leave that little to any hap-hazard chance, or, influenced by vague superstition. they put off con- sidering the day of their death.
 Nobody likes to think of death. To make one's will indeed brings the in evftable hour no nearer, but the act forces on consciousness the certainty that the hour is coming. Furthermore, though the hour is itself certain. the time or method if its approach is full of uncertainty. We may live to round out a century. Here and there a man does. We may die tomorrow. by sud- den illness or accident The train may crash in a collision. the steamer spring a fatal leak, the pleasure-boat take fire. the mortal epidemic bounce on us like a stealthy beast of prey. These are possible catastrophes. Of
  and strong are all in our favor. Be- ing in ordinary vigor, obeying the laws of nature, and occupying a healthful environment. we should ex- pect to live out our days, to peace- full and ripe age, as strong in this centur vat four score as men were at forty 300 years ago.
 Everything in our modern life, with its comforts and luxuries, should make for 1nnUaUftV nr O must pass on and leave room on the earth for our successors.
 Therefore, knowing that we can take nothing with us, whether we own much or little, we should carefully look it over, and decide how 1t is to be divided In different localities. the laws differ. and a layman should not trust to himself to make his will un- aided. Secure the services of a good lawyer. and tell him in plain terms how you want to divide your proper ty.
 First in importance comes a mans provision for the comfortable mainte- nance of his widow. If we have chill dren he must secure them against want, so far as he may. Minor chill dren are to be educated. During the lifetime of their mother, sons and daughters should not receive their portions, if by a division of the es- tate she shall be left in dependence, or crippled in her means. If hus- band has confidence in his wife, as a woman of honor. justice and common sense, he will show his regard for her by so making his will that she may carry on his plans. and his children receive their portions at her death. This of course Is a matter for indi- vidual settlement, and depends wholly on circumstances. Men of millions are not hampered by the rules that here apply to men whose estate includes only a few thousands. Any will must be legally with essed by as many witness es as the state approves.
 Even an eminent lawyer has been known so to word his will that his legatees have fought bitterly over It's provisions in prolonged and furious litigation. The will of the late Sam uel J. Tilden Is a case in point. Mir. Tilden intended the bulk of his for tune to go toward the founding and perpetual endowment of a monumental library in New York. His heirs dis puted 1t. and able lawyers picked flaws in technicalities and otherwise SO that eventually the money was largely di- verted from the testator's purpose. The moral is obvious If you have much to bestow, enlist the best legal advice you can. and have that in turn reinforced by other counsel.
 The great majority of us are rot multi -milllonaires. We are plodding people, more or less thrifty, doing the best we can with what we have Our farm, our house and lot in town, our live stock, our pictures, our books and furniture. and the savings of our hard working years are to be divided among our loved ones. Among our loved ones! Though we may be gone. we want them to live on under the pro tection of our thought; under the shelter of our breeding care. So we make the most equitable will we can, and then, sleep better at night. in the thought that life will not be wholly hard for them, by and by.
 In some states, both husband and wife. to be safe. devise each a will. No husband should keep his will a sec ret from his wife. or. if 1t be the other way. and the wife be the richer party, should she keep her will a secret from her husband. A will is sufficiently important to be the theme of free and candid discussion and to be made an affair of conjugal confidence. Dis agreeable surprises, sprung on the llv- ing by the dead, are of all human cX- periences most maddening.
 In the case of jewelry, curios, fav-