The Washington herald., 1914-01-04

IS
noted in Wills
Strange Traits Of Human Ma
ture Are Seen N
Documents.
R. G. DYRENF0RTH'S CASE
Told What Crasdsoa Must Do for
Succeeding Sixteen Years in Or.
der to Inherit $3.50, 900.
R. G. DYRENFORTH'S CASE

1t Is said mat Of strange wills there is
no end. Queer wills range all the way
from documents making good-sized print
ed pamphlets to a few words scrawIed on
bit Of soiled paper. or even the famous
VIII tattooed on mans back. Passing
those made familiar by tradition or fic-
ton. there are plenty of wills Of recent
date which show that human nature Is
capable Of as great eccentricity or mean
ness. simplicity and complexity as in
the days Of the historic instances.
To plan the life of a twelve-year-old
boy for sixteen years as a condition to
his Inheritance was the object of Robert
@. Dyrenforth. of this city. in one Of the
most peculiar Of recent Wills Mr.. Dyren-
forth was patent attorney In this city
and a former, commissioner of patents
When he died his estate was valued at
$4,000. His grandson. Robert St. George
Dyrenforth, Is to receive the property
when twenty-eight years old. IL he com
plies with all his grandfather's unique
conditions. Here are the things that
Dyrenforth. now a boy Of twelve, must
do In the next sixteen years:
Be ready to enter high school at four
teen and Harvard at eighteen. there to
take a special course, fitting him for
oxford University.
Spend successive vacations In France
Spain Italy, Greece. Germany, Denmark,
and Russia in the order named
He must become proficient in manual
training, dancing and music
Must Go to West Point.
As soon as he graduates from oxford
he must go to West Point, finish the
course there, resign. then be thoroughly
educated in law. and begin to practice.
Among the things he must not do are:
To associate with his grandfather's wife
and daughter, separated from the testa-
tor He is especially warned against the
"wiles of women"
'I particularly request my executors,
wrote Mr. Dyrenforth, '-to thoroughly and
well guard my beloved son from women.
and sensibly. that is, gradually. through
ne erratic extreme, to let him be in
formed and know the artful and
parasitical nature Of most Of the IN
fortunate sex. and TO take care that he
does not marry beneath him."
The will Of Marshall Field. of Chicago,
who died in 1906, is an example Of how
a vast fortune may be successfully tied
up. The residuary iegatees are Mr..
Fields two grandsons, Marshall Field, Cd
now a youth of sixteen. and Henry Field,
who is fourteen. They are to have the
fortune finally distributed to them when
they are fiftyIyears old. but at twenty
FIVE, thirty, thirty-five. and forty the
elder will receive $4,000. the younger
$4,000 on each of those birthdays. The
value of their shares was recently placed
at S54.0I0.0c0 IL is estimated that when
the lads are fifty they should divide 500.
600 000.
One may read between the lines OF hun
dreds of wills the desire of the testator
to hold his property together for genera
ton after generation, substituting some
sort of trusteeship for the entail which
is forbidden in the United States.
VIII of Mrs. Woods.
One of the most curious of these effort,
is found m the will of the late Mrs
Anna Il. +. Woods. Cf Providence, R
She makes an heirloom of her diamond
necklace leaving II to her son in trus
for the use of her eldest granddaughter
during her lifetime. and of the latter:
daughters after that. with a reminder
to other granddaughter, possession to be
ruled by priority Of birth She also pro-
Vides that while none Of the diamonds
may be sold. the setting of the necklace
may be altered at any time at the request
of the holders.
There is a legal tradition that the
shorter the will the harder il is to break
This may have been in the minds oi
some of the men who have recently
passed their fortunes in a few words
but probably they sought to prevent theiI