The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-04-06

The hour Of will writing Is a sol
tmn one; into his will the ~testator
puts his most serious reflections. and
from It we get a correct insight into
his character, because 1t genuinely re-
teals his heart and his conscience: it
- the testator himself who speaks,
though he is gone. 1.-THE moving finger
writes; and, having writ, moves on;
nor all.your piety nor wit shall lure
1t back to cancel half a line, nor all
your tears wash out q word of It,"
Our temporal possessions are but life
holdings, n the n in which
we part with them at the end of the
Journey reveals not only u fortunes
but III spirits in their least disguised
forms, our motives, our principles and
our affections.
The history of wills and their study
showing as they do the idiosyncrasies,
elevated or debased, the sel1shness or
generosity, of h makers, and reflect
Ing the customs and of the
times In which they were written, are
subjects profoundly interesting, not
only to the lawyer, but to all lay
men.
Wills have been known from the
earliest periods of human history. 1t
is claimed by learned antiquarians
that Adam, Noah and Job made testa-
SASo oiSpOslSlOLS VI tllS1I pI0pCIly
That the old patriarch Jacob did SO
cannot be doubted, for scripture re-
cords that Joseph received "a
portion above his brethren The
will, as W. know it, is sup
posed to come from Roman law; yet
!ong before, in fact thousands of years
before the days when Virgil sang, Nero
hddled and Caesar ruled. wills in writ
ten form were known in Egypt, a part
n parcel of their high state Of civil.
cation. The laws Of Persia of a similar
date do not show written wills, but they
DO show laws in many respects the same
rs are found in our statutes Of today
An enterpristng bank in Illinois has
copied the two side by side with strik.
Ing effect.
Only a few years ago William Mat
thew Flinders Petrie, the renowned
Psychologist unearthed at Kahun the
earliest known written will. 1t is dated
$500 years g and yet is so curiousl,
modern that it might be granted pro.
pate today. BY 1t the testator settle.
his property on his wife Teta for life
but empowers her to dispose Of it; {
guardian is appointed for the testator'l
infant child. and the document it wit.
messed in the manner prescribed by oul
modern forms.
Seven hundred years before Christ
Sennacherib left q will and by it passed
certain bracelets, coronets and othe.
precious objects Of gold, ivory and pre-.
cious stones deposited for safe keeping
in the Temple Of Nebo."
Plato, Aristotle and Petrarch lef
wills of great length and o
structural and sentimental beauty. an
so did Augustus Caesar n the poe
Virgil. The will, or q portion o
the will, Of Columbus Is preserved
I'm Genoa. The will Of Martil
Luther is under a glass case II
the Heidelberg library, and can b.
inspected by visitors. The will o
Napoleon was for a long time a
old Doctors Commons in London
but was returned to the Frencl
government at the request Of Empero
Louis Napoleon. The will of Shakes
peare can be seen at Somerset house
London. where it was brought whel
the Doctors Common was abandoned
as a registry some 80 years ago. There
too, are the wills Of Lord Nelson, Izaal
Walton. Edmund Burke and MANY 9th
er famous men. The world has been en
riched by their works and their will
are in perfect harmony with thei