EXTRAORDINARY WILLS. SOME one has said that great living makes great dying. But it is not only in dying that men reveal their true character; they reveal it perhaps even more strongly in mak ing their wills. It is true that there is nothing especially noteworthy about an average will, but that is because there is nothing especially noteworthy about the average man; and even in such wills, therefore, there is an uncon scious revelation of character. . But an immense number of wills indicate much more than this. In them may be read, sometimes in black and white, and sometimes between the lines, rarely interesting life stories, sometimes tragical, sometimes comi cal, and sometimes suggestive of nothing more than vanity, eccentricity or caprice. Wills belonging to the latter class are by far the most picturesque. Story writers have made an abundant use of such wills. Every body has read of the old lady and the old gentleman who keep a string of relatives dancing attendance on them for years, and who in their wills devise all their property to the Home for the Indigent and Disabled Black Cats. Or the old curmudgeon whose relatives pamper him for years, and who in his will declares that he has nothing to leave them but his blessing; or the old lady who is treated with contumely by all her relatives but the angel heroine, because she declares herself to be a pauper, and who in her will leaves a large hoarded fortune to the afore said angel heroine. Or the queer old party who leaves to his heir nothing but the family Bible, which is finally discovered to contain a number of marked passages that when put togethertell where an immense hidden fortune may be found. All these and scores of other variations of the story may be found in the current novels of the day, testifying to the prominent place of the will in literature. Newspapers are constantly chronicling
stories of wills just as surprising and eccen tric. Years ago there died a wealthy Eng lish gentleman who directed that the five drawers in his desk be opened on the five consecutive anniversaries of his death. That was all; not a word about the disposition of his large fortune. When four drawers were opened there was found in them nothing but a sealed letter containing this message: "Have faith and hope, and you will attain unto the fruition of all your desires." When on the fifth anniversary the last drawer was opened, a properly executed will was found, leaving the property to those who had ex pected it. A London theatrical man named W. D. Foster directed that no woman should be present at his funeral, and gave orders that if his wife survived him he should be cre mated. In France, not long ago, died an eccentric Frenchman, whose will declared the French to be " a nation of dastards and fools." For that reason he devised his whole fortune to the poor of London, and directed that his body be thrown into the sea a mile from the English coast. An attempt was made to have him adjudged insane when he made this will, but it failed. Another French man directed that a new cooking recipe should be pasted on his tomb every day; and still another Frenchman, a lawyer, left $50,000 to a local lunatic asylum, declaring that it was simply an act of restitution to the clients who were insane enough to employ his services. Cremation clauses are becoming quite common in English and Continental wills; but many of them are ignored by the rela tives. Many testators now make some pro vision in their wills to ensure their not being buried alive. For instance, the late John Blount Price, of Islington, directed that four days after his death two skillful surgeons
