Evening star., 1924-01-06

~ agent, looking at me fixedly
across the table, suppose
- you die"
"All right" / said, suppose dc" 4
Suppose you are run over by q
train" he went on.
"All right" / answered.
"Or suppose you're badly mutilated,
but not killed" Z
VERY good" I said.
"Or suppose you're on a holiday
trip and get crushed in a motor acci-
dent"
First rate" I said.
Badly crushed in a motor acci-
dent
You mean killed."
We'll. either killed or mangled be-
yond all recognition. Or suppose you
get yellow fever"
Hold on" I said. "Stop. What's
the use Of wishing all these things
on to me? Suppose you die! Eh,
what! Suppose you get mangled up
| in something and crushed beyond all
recognition. Suppose you get run
over by a. train, heavy freight train.
Let's discuss that. Or. suppose I live?
Suppose 1 live for years and years?
How would that be? When I'm ready
| to die I'll send for you"
In this way I got rid of the man
and with him / dismissed the idea
of death.
Now. this happened some years ago.
All that time / was too poor to die.
I couldn't have stood the expense of
| it. Nevertheless, the insurance mans
| words sunk in. I suppose that many
| a man has had his life profoundly
altered by having an insurance agent
/ say to him in that impressive way
| they have, Suppose you die"
In my own case put aside the idea
| until, with advancing years and pros
| poets. the time has come when I can
| afford to die. 1t will no longer be
! the crushing financial blow that 1t
would have been So 1t comes about
| that I am able to spend quite bit
| of my spare time in the luxury OF
| getting ready for death.
Deep in the recesses Of a trust COM
I pany in a paneled room, where no
| sound from the street is heard, sits a
neat, cheerful man, my executor. Be-
/ fore him is little pile of papers. He
| is arranging my demise" For it
F.! appears that am not exactly to die;
| / am to have demise" 1t is more
/ expensive. but there is more 'class"
| to 1t. And even when I am gone /
! shall not precisely be dead. but
| merely deceased"
| 60 it comes about that we spend
~ many a quiet afternoon in prepara-
\ 80 dar ~ nd M fnr 4
Lately we have devoted especial at
tention-my executor and Ito draw
| ing up my will. Nearly everything
else has been attended to. He has
! had me so well insured that II a train
ran over me now I should laugh at
lit. My funeral is as completely set
| tied as a solar eclipse-it needs only
the date. My assets have been
| scheduled" and made ''liqufd"-in
! short, I have little reason to linger
| here except for getting my will into
| shape.
| People who have never made wills
| do not realize that doing SO becomes
| a pursuit in itself. Up to the present
| date we have made about thirteen
| complete wills and over fifty codicils
| As q literary exercise for the express
sion of noble sentiments there is
| nothing like it. I know Of nothing
more entertaining than to retire into
| the depths Of the trust company and
! write sentiments such as
ITO my brother John, in recognition
| Of the devoted affection which he has
| shown to me for fifty years, I leave
| the sum of one hundred and ten dol
| lars"
| Unfortunately it was the very week
1 after / wrote this that my brother
John refused to lend me his green
| heart fishing rod, merely on the
ground that might break II. which