The Will

This is the story of a will found in the pocket of an old ragged coat belonging to one of the insane patients of the Chicago poorhouse. According to the Washington Law Reporter, the man had been a lawyer and the will was written in a firm, clear hand on a few scraps of paper. So unusual, it was sent to another attorney: and so impressed was he with its 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!  That part of my interests which is known in law and recognized in the sheep-bond volumes as my property, being inconsiderable and of none 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 know proceed to devise and bequeath.

Item: I give to good fathers and mothers, in trust, for 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 their term of childhood, all and every the flower of the fields and the blossoms of the woods, and the right to play among them freely according to the customs of children, warning them at the same time against thistles and thorns. And I devise to children the banks of the brooks and the golden sands beneath the waters thereof, and the odors of the willows dip therein, and the white clouds that float high over the giant trees. And I leave the children the long, long days of merry in, in a thousand ways, and the night and the rain 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 useful, idle fields and commons where ball may be played, all pleasant waters where one may swim, all snowclad hills where one may coast, and all streams and ponds where one may fish, or where, when grim Winter come, on may skate, 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 the birds and the echoes and strange noises, and all distant places, which may be visited, together with the adventures there 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, and to enjoy without let or hindrance, or without any encumbrance or 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 ought 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 the 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 to them the power to make lasting friendships, and of possessing companions, and to them exclusively, I give all merry songs and grave 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 others, to the end that they may live the old days over again, freely and fully without title or diminution. 

Item: To our loved ones with snowy crowns, I bequeath the happiness of old age, the love and gratitude of their children until they fall asleep.

After all, was he so poorer insane? If that was the world in which he lived, was he not richer than are some who go about freely and who have money in the bank? At any rate, to each of us he bequeathed something. Let us not fail to get our legacy.