The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1906-10-05
The Worlds Richest LEGACY.

The Worlds Richest Legacy.
The most sensible will ever written was
made by aninsane man. He was Charles
Lounsberry, once prominent member of
the Chicago bar, who in his later years
lost his mind and was committed to the
Cook County Asylum, at Dunning, where
he died penniless. If he had lost his mind
he had kept his heart, or at least, in his
last moments he was endowed with a
lucidity that was higher thanlogc. For
this strange man, penniless though he
was, knew that he was yet rich, and he
made WILL which. as the Chicago
Record Herald said, was framed with
such perfection of form and detail that
no flaw could be found in its legal phrase
ology or matter" Inasmuch as poor,
mad Charles Lounsberry knew gold from
dross, we here reprint will.
Il Charles Lounsberry, being of sound
and disposing mind and memory, do here
by make and publish this, my last will
and testament, in order, as justly as may
be, to distribute my interestin the world
among succeeding men.
That part of my interest, which is
known in law and recognized in the sheep
bound volumes as my property, being in
considera bic and of none account, l make
no disposition of in this, my will. NY
right to live. being but life estate, is
not at my disposal, but these things ex-
cepted, all else in the world 1 now pro-
coed to devise and bequeath.
Item: | give to good fathers and
mothers in trust for their children, all
good little words of praise and encour-
agement, and all quaint pet names and
endearments, and charge said parents
to use them justly, but generously, as
the needs of their children shall require.
Item: l leave to children inclusively,
but only for the term of their childhood,
all and every, the flowers of the fields,
and the blossoms of the woods, with the
right to play among them freely accord
ing to the customs of children, warning
and thorns. And l devise to children the
banks of the brooks and the golden sands
beneath the waters thereof, and the odors
OF the willows that dip therein and the
white clouds that float high over the giant
trees. And l leave to children the long,
long days to be merry in. in a thousand
ways, and the night, and the moon, and
the train of the Milky Way to wonder at
but subject, nevertheless, to the rights
hereinafter given to lovers.
Item: l devise to boys jointly, all the
useful, idle fields and commons where
ball may be played; all pleasant waters
where one may swim; all snowclad hills
where one may coast; and all streams
and ponds where one may fish, or where
when grim winter comes, one may skate,
to have and to hold these same for tie
period of their boyhood. And all mea-
dows, with the clover blossoms and
butter flies; the woods with their appur-
tenances, the squirrels and the birds and
echoes and strange noises. and all dis
tant places which may be visited, to-
And | give to said boys each his own
place at the fireside at night, with all the
pictures that may be seen in the burning
wood, to enjoy without let or hindrance
and without any circumference or care.
Item: To lovers, devise their imagi-
nary world with whatever they may
need, as the stars of the sky, the red
roses by the wall, the bloom of the haw-
thorne. the sweet strains OF music, and
aught else they may desire to figure to
each other the lastingness and beauty of
their love.
Item: To young men, jointly, devise
and bequeath all bosterous, inspiring
sports of rivalry, and give to them the
disdain Of weakness and undaunted con-
fidence in their own strength. Though
they are rude, | leave to them the power
to make lasting friendships. and of pos
sessing companions, and to them exclu-
sively, give all merry songs and brave
choruses to sing with lusty voices.
Item: And to those who are no longer
children, or youths, or lovers, l leave
memory, and l bequeath to them the
volumes of the poems of Burns and Shakes
peare and of other poems, if there be
others, to the end that they may live the
days over again, freely and fully without
title or diminution.
Item: To our loved ones with snowy
crowns, bequeath the happiness of old
age, the love and gratitude of their child
rem until they fall asleep.