Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-11-08

CTRANGELY enough the wills made by
- some men belle the whole tenor Of
their lives. no more striking example Of
which are the names of Johns Hopkins
and James Lick. Neither was noted for
generosity, both were eccentric solitary and
avaricious. Yet one founded Johns Hopkins
University, while the other gave his entire
estate of 100000 to various institutions
and endowments, chief Of which was the
famous Lick Observatory, on Mount Hamilton.
Another man was John Cecil Rhodes Of
Cape Town, South Africa, commonly regarded
as selfish and greedy, but who after death left
his entire fortune to scholarships that excited
the admiration of the world Similarly.
washington, Webster Marshall, Clay. and
General Lee all utilized the institution Of
slavery while living. but all of whose wills
freed slaves.
Another peculiar win is that Of a French
lawyer, who pithily expressed his opinion Of
his clients in the following paragraph: II
give one hundred thousand francs to the local
mad house I got this money out of those
who pass their lives In litigation; in bequeath-
ing it for the use Of lmatics only make
restitution" while another individual, Charles
Hastings Of Massachusetts,. bequeaths an estate
valued as $4,000 to the Lord Jesus with the
explanation that he was the rightful owner
of lands according to the Bible. the first book
of laws. It may be safely surmised. however,
that in due course Of time this property
passed to the rightflh heirs
TWO other remarkabae wills are the VIII or
Peter the Great Of Russia and Obed Gardner.
master mariner Of the Island Of Nantucket.
One of the clauses OF the Peter the Greats
will follows and Is sek-explanatory. when
Sweden Is ours, Persia vanquished, Poland
subjugated. Turkey conquered: when our
armies united and the Black Sea and the
Baltic are in possession Of our ships. then we
must make separate and secret overtures, first
to the Court Of Versailles, and to that Of
Vienna, to share with them the dominion Of
the world. If either of them accept our
propositions. which Is certain to happen, If
their ambitio nand self interest are properly
worked upon we must make use Of one to ami
hilate the other; this done. we have only to
destroy the remaining one by finding pretext
for quarrel, the issue Of which can not be
doubtful, as Russia viii then be in the abso-
lutte possession Of the East. togsther with all
Of Europe" It is fortunate for the world at
large, perhaps that subsequent events have not
enabled Russians to carry out the last be-
queath of Peter the Great
The win Of the master mariner from Nan
tucket Island Is not 50 Waxiike In spirit nor IL
his domain quite rs large as that Of Peter
the Great, but It Is nevertheless most inter-
verbiage that smacks Of the salt air, it Is well
worth quoting at length:
"I, Obed Gardner. Master Mariner, now
living at Sconset write down this will. .
Item. I have cruised with my wife, Hubby
Jane, since 1911 We signed articles In town,
before the preacher on Independence Day. I
want her and my oldest son. Jothem, to be
captain and mate IN bringing to port what
ever leave and TO see that everyone Of the
crew gets the lay Is writ down on this
paper. put mother In command I know
sheel be captain anyway. for six months after