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10 Conservative *
THE ECCENTRICITIES OF TES
TATORS.
A hundred years ago , English lawyers ,
when diuiug together , used to drink to
the health of "the schoolmaster , " for
schoolmasters at that period often made
wills for their friends , and by their
ignorance of legal technicalities gave
the legal profession a considerable
amount of remunerative business. At
a later date , a regular toast was "to our
best friend the man who makes his
own will. " Prosaic as most last wills
and testaments arc except to fortunate
legatees there are many amusing
instances of eccentric bequests and
curious disposals of property.
Curious Requests.
Some years since , a Mr. Sauboru
desired that in death , as in life , his body
should proclaim the glory of the
republic. He left five thousand dollars
to the late Professor Agassiz , in return
for which he was , by a scientific process ,
set forth in the will , to tan his the
testator's skin into leather , and from
it have a drum made. Two of the most
suitable bones of his body wore to bo
made into drumsticks , and with these a
Mr. Warren Simpson to whom Mr.
Sauborn left the bulk of his property
was "on every seventeenth of June to
repair to the foot of Bunker Hill , and at
sunrise , beat on the drum , the parch
ment of which had been made out of
the testator's skin , the stirring strains
of 'Yankee Doodle. ' "
A somewhat similar bequest was made
by a German gentleman in 1887. The
difference , however , consists in the fact
that no annual commemoration of the
deceased was required. The testator
died at Pittsburg , and by his will
directed that his body should be
cremated and the ashes forwarded to
the German consul at New York , who
was to hand them over to the captain of
the steamship "Elbe. " When in mid-
Atlnntic the captain was to request a
passenger to dress himself in nautical
costume , and , ascending with the funeral
urn to the top-mast , to scatter the ashes
to the four winds of Heaven. These
strange directions were faithfully carried
out. Quito as curious were the direc
tions for the funeral of an Englishman
named John Underwood. He willed
that ho was to bo buried in a green
coffin with a copy of Horace under his
feet , one of Milton under his head , a
Greek Testament in his right hand , and
a small Horace in his left. Six friends ,
who wore not to wear black clothes ,
were to follow him to the grave , and
there to sing a verso of the twentieth
ode of the second book of Horace. After
this they were to "take a cheerful 'glass
and think no more of John Under
wood. "
Bequests Upon Matrimonial Conditions.
Wills may also bo admitted as evidence
of the mixed blessings of the matrimonial
menial state. An English nobleman
said in his will : "I give and bequeath
to the worst of women , whom I un
fortunately married , forty-five brass
half-pence , which will buy her a pullet
for supper. " A physician , in Scotland ,
dying some twelve years ago , left the
whole of his estate to his two sisters ;
and then came the following extraordi
nary clause : "To my wife , as a
recompense for deserting mo and leaving
mo in peace , I expect the said sister
Elizabeth to make her a gift of ton shill
ings sterling , to buy her a pocket
handkerchief to weep on after my
decease. ' ' Another resident in Scotland
bequeathed to his wife the sum of sixty
thousand pounds , "on condition that she
undertakes to pass two hours a day at
my graveside , for the ten years follow
ing my decease , in company with her
sister , whom I have reason to know she
loathes worse than she does mo. "
Another husband , an Englishman , tliis
time , stated that ho would have left his
widow ton thousand pounds , had she
allowed him to read his evening news
paper in peace ; but as she always com
menced playing and singing when he
started to read , ho left her only one
thousand pounds. One other case of
this kind is worthy of note. A husband
left his wife twelve thousand pounds , to
be increased to twenty-four thousand
pounds provided she wore a widow's
cap after his death. She accepted the
larger amount , wore the cap for six
months , and then put it off. A law suit
followed ; but the court held that the
testator should have inserted the word
"always , " and gave judgment for the
widow , who , the following clay , reentered -
entered the state of matrimony. Thus ,
the husband's plan for preventing his
widow marrying again failed.
Malevolent Stipulations
The malevolence of some men is
manifested in their death , as well as
during their lifetime. It is difficult to
conceive anything more cruel than a
father who left his daughter thirty
thousand pounds under the following
conditions : "Should my daughter
marry , and be afflicted with children ,
the trustees are to pay out of the said
legacy two thousand poundson the birth
of "the first child , to the hospital ;
four thousand on the birth of the second ;
six thousand on the birth of the third ;
and an additional two thousand pounds
on the birth of each subsequent child ,
till the thirty thousand pounds is
oxliausted. Should any portion of this
sum bo left at the end of twenty years ,
the balance is to bo paid to her , to use
as she thinks fit. "
A certain Henry Budd died in 1863 ,
leaving considerable property. It waste
to bo divided equally among his sons ,
and held by them as long as they wore
no moustaches. Should one of them
cease to shave his upper lip , his share
would bo forfeited. This condition is
simplicity itself compared with that
laid down by an inhabitant of the
English town of Derby. He left all his
possessions to his eldest son , with the
proviso that ho must never use tobacco
in any shape or form. If ho broke this
regulation , the property was to bo
divided between his six brothers and
sisters.
A few years ago a Russian gentleman
living at Odessa left four million roubles
( one rpuble is worth about seventy
cents ) to his four nieces , but they were
to receive the money only after having
worked for a year as washerwomen ,
house-maids or farm servants. The
conditions were carried out , and while
occupying these positions they are said
to have received many offers of mar
riage.
Gifts to Animals.
Kindness to animals seems to be quite
common among testators , and hundreds
of people have left considerable sums for
the comfort of their pots. A certain
spinster named Charlotte Rosa Raine
bequeathed her "dear old white puss
Titiens and pusses tabby Rolla , tabby
Jennifeo and black and white Ursula to
Ann Elizabeth Matthews , " directing
her executors to pay her twelve pounds
a year for the maintenance of each cat ,
so long as it should live. Her long
haired white puss Louise , and her black
and white puss Doctor Olausman , she
gave to her housemaid , Elizabeth
Willoughby , and her black ebony and
white Oscar to Lavina Beck ; and her
executors were directed to pay these
persons twelve pounds per annum for the
maintenance of each cat. The remainder
of her cats how many Miss Raino had ,
is not recorded she left to the aforesaid
Ann Elizabeth Matthews , "to whom one
hundred and fifty pounds per annum
shall bo paid for their maintenance as
long as any do live , but such annuity
does not apply to kittens born of them. "
Another eccentric old lady left a few
trifling amounts to her relatives , but
five hundred pounds a year to bo held in
trust for her parrot , with five hundred
pounds for a new cage for the bird. Yet
another lady left a hundred pounds a
year for the maintenance of her parrot
which was to bo produced twice a year ,
"to prove that the person tending it had
not wrung its neck. "
As far as I have been able to ascertain
such eccentricities as the above are much
more common in Europe than in this
country. An English maiden lady , who
was by no means insane , loft seventy
pounds a year for the maintenance of
three goldfish , which wore to be identified
in the following manner : "One is
bigger than the other two , and these
latter are to be easily recognized , as one
is fat and the other lean. If the fish , on
quarter-day , are found to bo of this
description , the money is to bo paid ; if
