This will
was written in the earlier part of the 20th Century. It has a very interesting
history.
In the pocket of
an old ragged coat belonging to one of the insane patients at the Chicago
poorhouse, there was found, after his death, a will. According to
Barbara Boyd, in the Washington Law Reporter, the man had been an lawyer,
and the will was written in a firm clear hand on a few scraps of paper.
So unusual was it, that it was sent to another attorney; and so impressed
was he with it's contents, that he read it before the Chicago Bar Association
and a resolution was passed ordering it probated. It is now on records
of Cook County Illinois.
I, Charles Lounsberry,
being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do hereby make and publish
this my Last Will and Testament, in order, as justly as may be, to distribute
my interests in the world among succeeding men.
That part of my interests which is
known in law and recognized in the sheep-bound volumes as my property,
being inconsiderable and of no account, I make no disposition of in this,
my Will. My right to live, being but a life estate, is not at my
disposal, but, these things excepted, all else in the world I now proceed
to devise and bequeath.
ITEM: I give to
good fathers and mothers, in trust to their children, all good little words
of praise and encouragement, and all quaint pet names and endearments;
and I charge said parents to use them justly, but generously, as the deeds
of their children shall require.
ITEM: I leave to
children inclusively, but only for the term of their childhood, all, and
every, the flowers of the field, and the blossoms of the woods, with the
right to play among them freely according to the custom of children, warning
them at the same time against the thistles and the thorns. And I
devise to the children the banks of the brooks and the golden sands beneath
the waters thereof, and the odors of the willows that dip therein, and
the white clouds that float high over the giant trees.
And I leave the children the long,
long days to be merry in a thousand ways, and the night and the moon and
the train of the Milky Way to wonder at, but subject, nevertheless, to
the rights hereinafter given to lovers.
ITEM: I devise to
boys jointly all the idle fields and commons where ball may be played,
all pleasant waters where one may swim, all snow-clad hills where one may
coast, and all streams and ponds where one may fish, or where, when grim
winter comes, one may skate, to have and to hold the same for the period
of their boyhood. And all meadows, with the clover-blossoms and butterflies
thereof; the woods with their appurtenances; the squirrels and birds and
echoes and strange noises, and all distant places, which may be visited,
together with the adventures there to be found. And I give to said
boys, each his own place at the fireside at night, with all pictures that
may be seen in the burning wood, to enjoy without hindrance and without
any incumbrance of care.
ITEM: To lovers,
I devise their imaginary world, with whatever they may need, as the stars
of the sky, the red roses by the wall, the bloom of the hawthorn, the sweet
strains of music, and aught else they may desire to figure to each other
the lastingness and beauty of their love.
ITEM: To young men
jointly, I devise and bequeath all boisterous inspiring sports of rivalry,
and I give to them the disdain of weakness and undaunted confidence in
their own strength. Though they are rude, I leave them to the powers
to make lasting friendships, and of possessing companions, and to them
exclusively I give all merry songs and brave choruses to sing with lusty
voices.
ITEM: And
to those who are no longer children, or youths, or lovers, I leave memory,
and bequeath to them the volumes of the poems of Burns and Shakespeare,
and of other poets, if there be any, to the end that they may live the
old days over again, freely and fully without tithe or diminution.
ITEM: To the
loved ones with snowy crowns, I bequeath the happiness of old age, the
love and gratitude of their children until they fall asleep.
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