Year: 1878

| CURlUUS WILLIS


Legacies of Eccentric People.-Wills In


RHYME.


Peoples eccentricities will manifest
themselves, despite strenuous efforts
made to conceal them. Peculiarities
rise to the surface, and are palpable
facts to all around, although their own
ers may hatter themselves that they pass
unnoticed. Possibly there are people
so fearful of being thought odd that
they suppress all outward manifestation
of eccentricity during life, and only
allow it to crop out in their last wills
and testaments. However this may be,
it is certainly an excellent opportunity
to be sharp, caustic, sarcastic or witty
at the expense of relatives or friends, as
there is no possible chance of their ever
replying, and either wounding or de-
feating the aggressor in verbal con-
fict. Clauses in wills which are highly
calculated to grieve or enrage those
whom they concern afford much amuse-
ment, and perhaps little instruction,
to others not interested or acquainted
with the injured parties at all events,
they give an insight into the workings
of that wonderful and complicated con-
struction called the human mind. Not
knowing how much the testators have
suffered during their lives from their
relatives, it is quite impossible to decide
where sympathy is to be expended, or
if it be less CALLING to receive q reproach
without q bequest than it is to receive o
bequest with a reproach. The extracts
from the two following wills are cases
in point:


In1772, John &c. Esq, OF Surrey,
died, leaving a will containing this
clause Whereas. it was my misfor-
tune to be made very uneasy by -,
my wife, for many years from our mar
riage, by her turbulent behavior for
she was not content with despising my
admonition, but she contrived every
method to make me unhappy she was
30 perverse to her nature that she would
not be reclaimed, but seemed only to be
born to be a plague to me !; the strength
of Samson, the knowledge of Homer,
the prudence o. Augustus, the cunning
of Pyrrhus, the patience Of Job, the
subtlety of Hannibal, and the watchfnl-
ness of Hermogenes could not have been
sufficient to subdue her for no skill or
force in the world would make her good;
and as we had lived separate and apart
from each other eight years, and she
having perverted her son to leave and
totally abandon me, therefore I give her
one shilling only"


To be furnished with such charac.
ter, and then cut off with shilling, is
really too cruel. It is not wives alone
who suffer, as will be seen from the next
extract, but sisters both married and
single receive their share of reproach
and sarcasm. In this will of DR.. Dun
lop's, however, there is some compensa-
ton for the wounds inflicted. He was
of Scotch origin, and 6 member of Con-
gress. His will contained this amusing
clause: Il leave my property of Gair-
bread and all the property I may be
possessed Of to my sisters -- and -
the former because she is married to
minister whon-may God help him =
she hen. pecks; the latter because she is
married to nobody, nor is she likely to
be, for she is an old maid. and not mar
ket rife. T leave my silver tankard to
the eldst son OF old John, as the repre-
sentative of the family. I would have
left it to old John himself, but be would
have melted it down to make medals,
and that would have been O sacrilege.
However, I leave him my big horn
snuff box; he can only make horn
spoons out of that. Ileave my brother
in-law Allan my punch-bowl, as he is a
big, gauchy man, and likely 20 do credit
to it. I leave to Parson Chevassie my
big silver snuff. box, as small token Of
gratitude to him for taking my sister
Maggie, whom no man of taste would
have taken. I leave to John Caddell
silver teapot, to the end that he may
drink tea therefrom to comfort him
under the affliction of slatternly wife.
leave my silver cup, with the sover-
eign in the bottom of it, to my sister
-, because she is an old maid and
pious, and therefore necessarily given to
boarding; and also my grandmother's
snuff box, as it looks decent to see an
old maid taking snuff"


Fifty years ago an EngIishman left o
will containing the following provisos:
"I bequeath to my monkey, my dear
and amusing Jacko, the sum of s10 ster-
ling per annum, to be employed for his
sole and exclusive use and benefit; to
my faithful dog Shock and my we'll
beloved cat lib pension of G6 pounds
sterling; and I desire that, in case Of the
death of either of the three, the lapsed
pension shall pass to the other two, be-
tween whom it is to be equally divided.
On the death of all three, the sum ap-
propriated to this purpose shall become
the property of my daughter Gertrude,
to whom I give this preference among
my children because of the large family
she has, and the difficulty she finds in
bringing them up"


Itmust have been exceedingly fatter
ing to the daughter to have ranked
fourth in her fathers affections q
monkey, then a dog. then a cat, then
herself; after all, she outranked the
other children, but only because OF her
numerous progeny.


When Monsieur Columbies, Partisan
merchant, died, he left about $6, 900 to
lady of Rouen for having twenty years
before refused to marry him, Through
which," states the will, "I was enabled
to live Independently and happily as
a bachelor.


It is recorded of rich old farmer that
in giving instructions for his will he
directed a legacy of 9100 to be given to
his wife. Being informed that some
distinction was made usually in case the
widow married again, he doubled the
sum; and when told that this was quite
contrary to custom, he said, with heart
felt sympathy for his possible successor,
GAY, but him as gets her'll desarve it. |"


The following verse from an old num-
Der OF Blackwood' Magazine warns all
women against making their own wills:
s"Testators are good; but feeling more tender
Springs up when think Of the feminine gen.
der;


The testatrix for me, who, like Telemaque's 8
Unweaves at one time what she wove at
another;


She bequeaths, she repents, she recalls do
And she ends byrevoking her own revocation;
Still scribbling or scratching some new codicil--
Oh, SUCCESS to the woman who makes her own


will"


Wills in rhyme are rare. In q case
decided in tho Probate Court in 1875
the testator made O. codicil to his will