Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-11-23
HENPEckEp HUSBANDS.

HENPEcKEp HUSBANDS.
vindietive Wills BY. Which They
Sought to Punish Their Widows.
This is where get my own back"
You can almost imagine the henpeck-
ed husband, who has borne for years
the lash of q shrew's tongue, gleefully
making this remark as with the aid Of
q lawyer he cuts Off his wife with the
proverbial shilling. What reason 1t
recently to leave his wife out Of his
will altogether and further stipulate
that any expense she may incur In
connection with his will shall be paid
out of her own pocket and not be
charged against his estate is not
known.
"As for thirty years my wife has
never lost an opportunity Of lashinz
me with her tongue" ran codicil In
the will Of a Liverpool merchant Of
generation ago, "and making me the
butt Of her vulgar wit, bequeath to
her an annuity Of $500 so long as she
lives under the same roof with her
mother, whose tongue Is as poisonous as
her own and whom she hates as cor
daily as she does me, and 30 long as
mother and daughter together visit
my grave on the first day Of each
month, and in the presence Of my So
lic'tor or his deputy, express regret for
the unhappiness they have caused me-"
Probably, however, the neanest will
on record was that of a man who left
to his wife the sum Of one farthing.
with the direction that It should be sent
to her by post in an unstamped en-
velope, complaining that she bad called
him IAN old pig and other names.
It was probably jealousy, rather than
affection, that inspired the following
clase In a will preserved at Somerset
House: Having expiated the errors Of
a single life by the sorrows Of mar
ried one I now make my win In the
full belief that you will outlive me.
There are widows, my love, and there
are widows. Some rejoice and some do
not. Those that do are O. discreditable
lot. The bare idea Of your joining their
ranks is so distasteful that to dampen
any glee you may feel at my death {
leave you a10 a year instead Of the
k100 you expected"
A wealthy man left not a single
penny to his widow unless within the
space Of FIVE years she married again,
In which case he bequeathed to her the
sum of e1,000. My object In making
this proviso." continued the testator, 'is
that some other man may know from
experience something Of the difficulties
I have found from living with her."
During my married life," wrote an
other disillusioned husband, Il have
always declared that my wife was the
dearest woman in the world. and am
convinced that should any one be rash
enough to marry her after my death
he will find her so. To deter. as far as
possible, any one making such ruin
Gus experiment I leave her nothing"
Vanity appears to have been the be-
setting sin Of the wife Of another tes-
tator, who left her the sum Of e12,o0o.
to be increased to 224,000 provided
that after his death she wore q widows
cap, which In his lifetime she had
stoutly declared she never would wear.
my widow" wrote the disingenuous
husband, would please me greatly by
doing this, as think 1t would suit
her." The good lady, however, was
as sharp witted as she was vain. for
after wearing the odious cap for six
months she boldly claimed the increas-
ed legacy. The matter was brought
before court Of law and to the Wild
ow's delight judgment was given In
her favor on the ground that the tes-
tator had omitted to stipulate that the
cap should be worn always. The week
after this decision was given the tri-
umphant widow was once more wife.
1t is happily seldom that the revenge
of a disappointed husband takes quite
such an extreme form as In the case
of the man whose will ran thus: when
I remember that the only happy times
ever enjoyed were when my wife
sulked with me and when I remember
that my married life might for this
reason be considered to have been a
fairly nappy one, because she was
nearly always sulking, am constrain-
ed to forget the repulsion the contem-
plation Of her face inspired me with
and leave her the sum Of 100000 on
condition that she undertakes to pass
two hours a day at my graveside for
the ten years following my decease In
company with her sister, whom ! have
reason to know she loathes worse than
she does myself"