Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1922-05-05
CONCERNING WILLS
Such Documents Always OF Interest
to Students Of Human Nature.
The CUSTOM IS OF ANCIENT ORIGIN
Claim is Made That Adam Made
Will Witnessed by the Angel Gabriel
Other Famous Last tTestannsnts


Kansas City Star. .
To the student Of human nature few
documents absorb the interest as do
the last Wills and testaments OF the de-
parted; in them may be found every
motive from sanity benevolence to ma
licious revenge. The hard -fisted,
pinch penny miser often as not In his
will exhibits a charitable feeling for
his fellow man of which he gave no ev-
idence while in the land Of the living;
family quarrels are carried into the
hereafter and the dead hand in the
churchyard may rest heavily upon the
fortunes Of those left behind The will
Is the last word in human relation
ships, be that word of spite or hatred,
of tenderness or loving kindness
Wills have been made since the MEM
ory Of man runneth not to the contra
ry; men have been devising and be-
queathing since before the dawn OF
history. wills are Of such ancient
origin that their earliest beginning
cannot be accurately determined"
says Virgil NJ. Harris, trust officer OF
the National Bank Of Commerce OF st.
Louis, who has compiled an interest
ing collection in a booklet entitled,
wills and Will Makers" They can be
traced back through the Roman law TO
that of the Grecian, Egyptian ana
Chaldean. Blackstone says that 1t was
custom Of very great antiquity ana
that before the degree Of civilization
was attained, which led to Wills being
left in writing, they were made orally.
Job Left a Will. ""
There is the apocryphal will or
Adam. The Mohammedan claims that
the forefather of mankind left WILL
that seventy legions of angels brought
him sheets of paper and quill pens,
nicely nibbed, all the way from Para
disc, and that the Archangel Gabriel
set his seal as witness. There Is
much better authority for the last VIII
and testament Of Noah. Philastrius,
the bishop Of Brescia, in the fourth
century declared all persons heretses
who denied the division made by the
navigator OF the Ark. In the Vatican
is very curious document published
by Cardinal Mai in 1893 which 'pur4'
ports to be the Will Of Job. In ii are
many interesting details which are not
to be found In the Bible. One state
ment is to the effect that Jobs wife
sacrificed the hair Of her head to pro-
cure bread for her husband.
The Caesars, julius and Augustus,
uncle and nephew. deposited their wills
in the sacred temple Of Vesta under
the care of the most ancient priestess-
es. Shakespeare made this provision
in his will: II give unto my wife my
second best bed, with the furniture
The Bard of Avon was particular
about those personal effects. which
otherwise would have gone to the
heirs Of his blood" Demosthenes says
that at the end of d Will of his day 1t
was customary to imprecate the most
formidable curses on those who
should attempt to violate the wishes OF
the testator. Contested wills IN the
courts today are evidence OF the extent
to which the modern world has fallen
away from the ancient practice. 9th
erwise, a certain Englishman IN the
eighteenth century would not have had
the temerity to sue the estate OF a
dead man for libel which was not to
be found in the Bible. One published
in the mans last will
He Knew the Irish.
In 1881, an Englishman, John Hylett
Stow, left a will wherein he directed
his executors to expend guineas in the
purchase of a picture Of viper biting
the benevolent hand Of the person who
saved 1t from perishing In the snow,
and he directed that it be presented to
certain individual, kings consul,
whereby he may have frequent op-
portunity to contemplate it, and, by
comparison between that and his own
virtue, be able to form a certain
judgment which Is best and most prof.
table, a grateful remembrance of past
friendship and almost parental regard,
or ingratitude and insolence. This L
direct to be presented to him In lieu OF
former legacy of 5000 had by
former will, now revoked and burned,
left him."
Another Englishman Of the same
century was possessed Of a similar
malevolence, but in this instance direct
at people as a whole, instead Of at
single individual. This Englishman
had a most violent prejudice against
the Irish. Late In life he .irherited
considerable property in the county OF
Tipperary, but under the express con-
dition that he should reside on the
land. His feelings towards the natives
grew only more bitter by association.
AT his death his executors found this
declaration in his will:
Il give and bequeath the annual sum
of 10 pounds to be paid in perpetuity
out of my estate for the following pur-
pose: 1t is my will and pleasure that
this sum shall be spent in the purchase
of a certain quantity of liquor yulgarly
called whisky, and it shall be publicly
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