The Rccentricities of Testators. As far as I have been able to ascertain such eccentricities as I have described are much more common in England than in this country. Of other countries, I am unable to speak, but there are more wealthy people in Great Britain than in continental Europe, and eccentric bequests are usually confined to rich persons. An English maiden lady, who was far from insane, left seventy pounds a year for the maintenance of three goldfish, which were 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 be of this description, the money is to be paid; if not, it is to be ex pended on flowers, which are to be placed on the graves of the goldfish after death." In 1892, a French lady left ten thousand francs to her cat. On its death the money was to be spent upon elementary schools of the kindergarten order. The death of the cat in 1897—this animal, like all pensioners, lived long—caused the money to revert to the district governing body for educational purposes. To dispose of one's property in poetry is certainly unusual, if not incongruous. Never theless, quite a number of rhymed wills are in existence. An English lawyer (solicitor), who made his own will, wrote: "As to all my worldly goods, now or to be in store, I give them to .my beloved wife, and hers forevermore. I give all freely, I no limit fix; this is my will, and she is executrix." An old bachelor, on dying, left the whole of his estate to three ladies to whom he had proposed, and all of whom had refused him. The reason of this bequest was that by their refusal, "to them I owe all my earthly happi ness." One of the most curious wills of which the writer has heard was that of Mr. Lalesky, a Polish land-owner, who died in 1889, leaving property valued at one hundred thousand,
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roubles. His will was enclosed in an en velope bearing the following words: "To be opened after my death." Inside this was another envelope, upon which was written, "To be opened six weeks after my death." Whpn this time had elapsed, the second en velope was opened and a third uncovered. Upon it the. following words were found: "To be opened one year after my death." At the end of the year a fourth envelope was dis covered, to be opened two years after the testator's death; and so the play proceeded until 1894, when the will was both uncovered and discovered. It was quite as remarkable in its provisions as in the process of hiding its contents for a number of years. The testator bequeathed half his property to such of his heirs as had the largest number of chil dren; the rest of his estate was to be turned into cash, deposited in a bank, and a hundred years after his death was to be divided, with the accumulated interest, among the testa tor's descendants, so that, by 1989, at five per cent, compound interest, the fifty thou sand roubles will have swelled into six mil lion roubles; but the probability is that the descendants will be so numerous that each iwill receive only a small sum. That many attempts should be made to "break" wills is not surprising, although the claimant who brings the action must know that litigation is costly, and that, even if he should be successful, the value of the estate will be diminished. It is surprising, how ever, that any person of average intelligence should make a will without legal assistance. A case is on record in which a gentleman be queathed $2,500 "to that amiable young lady, Miss Blank, who smiles so sweetly on the street when we meet." In the Blank family there were six sisters, each of whom naturally supposed that she must be the "amiable young lady" referred to. The diffi culty never reached the courts, and it must be assumed that the sisters arrived at some arrangement, satisfactory to all of them.
