he could be terse and pointed in his expres sions. Perhaps this article could not be brought to a more appropriate close than by quoting his will in full. Not more than three or four words could be omitted, and yet it expresses plainly his intention. It should be added that the first clause is made necessary by a statute of New Hampshire. "I, Charles Doe of Rollinsford, N. H., make this my last will and testament. I. I give and bequeath to each of my
children and grandchildren, living at the time of my decease, the sum of one dollar. 2. I give, bequeath and devise to my wife, Edith H. Doe, all the rest and residue of my estate, real and personal. 3. I appoint my said wife, Edith H. Doe, executrix of this will and direct that she shall be exempt from giving a bond as such executrix. Witness my hand and seal this sixteenth day of February, 1892."
A MODERNIZED MYTH IN COURT. BY WILLIAM BARBER. IN the year 1857 it became necessary to take my deposition de bene csse in the city of New York as a witness in the Parish will case. I knew nothing of the matter in issue, but my testimony was required for the purpose of impeaching, on a collateral point, one of the witnesses for the proponents of the disputed codicils. Mr. O'Conor, the leading counsel, on behalf of the contestants, desired to see me prior to my examination, and in order that our interview might be free from interruption, it was arranged that Mr. Robert J. Dillon, with whom I had been pre viously in communication respecting the case, should join me at Mr. O'Conor's house, and that we should dine there together. During dinner the conversation naturally turned on the subject matter of the litigation. It ap peared from Mr. O'Conor's statement, that Mr. Parish, the testator, a wealthy retired merchant, was, in the year 1849, stricken with paralysis, which deranged his intellect and reduced him to a condition of utter de mentia from which he never recovered, though he survived the attack for six years. That after this attack he never uttered a distinguishable word, never wrote a syllable, and, though a dictionary was placed at his service that he might, by referring to it, util
ize it as a substitute for vocal language, he never used it. That alphabetical letter blocks provided for the same purpose, proved equally unavailing. That his only vocabulary, if such it could be called, con sisted of two inarticulate sounds, accom panied at times by incomprehensible ges tures, and that his whole demeanor indicated a total absence of intelligence, yet that while in this condition two codicils had been added to his will giving to his wife a much larger interest in his property than the very gener ous provision he had made for her in that instrument which was executed when he was unquestionably of sound and disposing mind. That she was the only authoritative inter preter of the sounds and signs which he was in the habit of making, and her inter pretation of these supposed symbols of his thoughts and wishes was always such as to create a favorable impression of his intelli gence on the minds of various highly re spectable and influential visitors who were permitted to see Mr. Parish and to receive his alleged communications through the medium of her interpretation, and who subsequently appeared as witnesses for the proponent. Thus, if the president of the Bible Society, having been presented to Mr.
