The daily Alaskan., 1909-05-13
New Way of Settling Accounts.

years. They made money, but when John died Martin found great diih- culty in settling up the business. Johns oldest son Peter fearing that his uncle woV'l absorb the dead part ncr's interest. bothered and delayed his uncle in such fashion that, financial panic coming on. what was left of the firms assets was so cntanglCd that 1t could only be liquidatcd after q patient management Martin Stokes, breaking down in health. turned the whole mat ter over to his nephew and left for parts unknown.
 Ten years later he rcappeared, slckly looking old man. but with some appearance of having proSpcrcd. Peter Stokes had meanwhile saved some S2O.OUO from the wreck, half of which, of course. belonged tO his uncle. But Peter furnished accounts to show that the firm had been inSolvcnt His uncle looked them over. studied them and banded them back 10 his nephew with the remark:
 "Tm sorry, Peter. that you got noth- Ing out of it. But. after all, may not have been away SD long for nothing. have no children to enjoy what have accumulated and have determined to leave it to you and your sisters. will place it i'm safety deposit company's vault and tell you where l keep the key. After my death you can unlock the box containing the securities, and they will be yours without any will and testament on my part. All l ask from you is bare pittance so long as I live. which will be at most but few years"
 He took long. fat envelope from his pocket sealed with his own seal and wrote on it. 'I give this property to my nephew. Peter Stokes, and bis sisters. Lydia and Grace stokes" The words bore that days date and was signed by the donor.
 This plau," he said, leaves at my death nothing to be settled. By will an estate must be liQuidated the same as a business. And you know that in winding up a business there Is lot of shrinkagc. You have done all the work in settling the affairs of John E Martin Stokes with no pay. What ever there may be between us of q business nature connected with these nrrairs is settled now by this tranSac- ton. The envelope goes into box or the Fidelity Trust company, and here is the key on my ring
 The ncphcws and nicccS accepted the gift and the conditions with alac- ritv. Tho envelope was fat enough to contain some twenty or thirty bonds, or if the property was in stocks there might be twice as many certificates.
 Those to whom the gift was made desired their uncle to come and live with them. This he declined to do. He rented a little cottage, where he ;rpt house by himself He said noth- ing to his nephew or nicccS about the paymcnt of the rent but 1t was paid bv them. lie said nothing about sup plies. but they opened accounts Tor him at provision stores. though they secretly instructed the tradCSmcn to keep them posted as to the amount the oM man was being credited with. Al the end of the first year Peter Stokes figured up the amount eXpend- ed at about $GOO. But the owners Of the estate. which could not be used till after the donors death, fearing that 1T they appeared niggardly the donor might take back his gift, expended for him an additional $iOO, making q to- tai of $l,OOO. This they considered keeping within bounds.
 The old man remained for a time very delicate. Indeed, the doctors bills amounted to several hundred dollars. His loving nephew and nieccs begged him to come and live with them, that they might the better administer to bis comfort. But he said he didn't wish 10 be a burden on any one, assuring them that they would not be the loser by a cent for what money they eX- pended upon him. After the first five years his health became very good and remained so for three years, when he died rather suddenly. Before the old man breathcd his last Peter Stokes figured up that the amount expended upon him had amounted to exactly S9.SJO But there were funeral eX- pcnses to be paid amounting to about S1JO. However, since his uncle was dead. there would be no need to be cytravagant in this respect. and he re- solved to cut the amount down to $I5.
 The first thing Peter did when bis uncle was pronounced dead was to take his key ring from his pocket and. detaching the safety deposit key, start for the trust company. His sis tcrs cXactCd a promise that he would not open the envelope till the day after the funeral, the same as in case of wills. Bringing the packet home, he locked it in his desk and waited.
 The morning after the funeral the family gathered in the library, locked the door, took out the envelope and tore 1t open Within were folded ..fz.,., ,r 1l,,,l. ,,,rrb p,npt ND Ona Of