-
Articles/Ads
Article ON THE PROPRIETY OF MAKING A WILL. ← Page 4 of 5 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Propriety Of Making A Will.
monster , as to calculate the possibility of taking it with him , but I . knoAv that he is often fool enough to lament that he must leave it > behind him-If the making of a will is not to be deferred to a late period , at Avhat - time is it to be performed ? This question is not necessary to . be an- ; swered , after what I have already presumed to advance on the sub- ; ject . . If any man knoAVs exactly when he is to die , he may defer it to
that period ; but as ' of that day and hour knoweth no man , ' we must be content to prepare for Avhatever may happen . Sickness has its pangs , its - . alienations of mind ; and old age has its cares and its forgetfulness . These are not the times when a man of sense would hazard blunders and errors . in a matter that concerns his dearest relatives and his reputation . I will not enquire . IIOAV far death-bed repentance is accepted ; but I hope
it is less matter of dispute than death-bed testaments . If indeed making of a Avill be deferred until that period , it had better be done then ,. but it will rarely be done satisfactorily ; it will rarely include or exclude : what it ought ; . very little indeed ought to be left to that awful crisis . Our intellects are not perfect in ¦ ' the time of tribulation . ' We cannot , think of the world at ' the hour of death . '
¦ The confusion and . unhappiness . which arise to survivors from the neg-. lect ot * a will , or from the making of one when the testator cannot ; possibly , recollect his obligations or his engagements , need not demand many Avords . We observe something of the kind every day . " One thing , " i however , it is . worth while to . dwell upon more particularly . It has often : been a custom Avith persons of Ave . ilth and substance to adopt , and-
consider as their OAvn child , some poor orphan or friendless young person , Avhom they , educate in a manner suitable to their own fortune . " These adopted children naturally adopt the ideas of the situation in ' which they . are brought up ; they look upon themselves as the heirs . of : those who have adopted them , and are considered in . the same light by-, the . world . At length ,, the patron or patroness , dies , 'without a nxill ! .
and the heirs at law take possession of all . The orphan , if not imme-. diately turned out of doors , finds his or her situation too irksome to remain longer in a place , where they are degraded to the rank perhapsof a menial servant ; and Av . ith . the education , accomplishments , and ' ideas of genteel life , they sink into the helpless lot of those . ' who can--not Avorkand to beg they are ashamed ' . ' ¦¦ - . - '
, This is one bad effect of intestate property , and in my opinion that which , of all others , blackens the memory of the deceased . I know no crime greater than that of him , who promotes an orphan to a rankof independence , takes him from where he might have been trainedup to industry and usefulness , and yet-does not , from the first , provide that no accident shall . deprive , him of the rank to which . he has been
raised . It is in fact , though perhaps without the evil intention , strewing the : path to a . precip ice Avith roses . Such dependents , educated in hig h , life , only to be consigned to poverty which they cannot avere , and shame Avhich they cannot . encounter , have reason , it is 10 be feared , to curse that mistaken benevolence whiendrew them . from the . happy mansions of industry and frugality , where they might have been useful VOL . II . - - ' O . . ; "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
On The Propriety Of Making A Will.
monster , as to calculate the possibility of taking it with him , but I . knoAv that he is often fool enough to lament that he must leave it > behind him-If the making of a will is not to be deferred to a late period , at Avhat - time is it to be performed ? This question is not necessary to . be an- ; swered , after what I have already presumed to advance on the sub- ; ject . . If any man knoAVs exactly when he is to die , he may defer it to
that period ; but as ' of that day and hour knoweth no man , ' we must be content to prepare for Avhatever may happen . Sickness has its pangs , its - . alienations of mind ; and old age has its cares and its forgetfulness . These are not the times when a man of sense would hazard blunders and errors . in a matter that concerns his dearest relatives and his reputation . I will not enquire . IIOAV far death-bed repentance is accepted ; but I hope
it is less matter of dispute than death-bed testaments . If indeed making of a Avill be deferred until that period , it had better be done then ,. but it will rarely be done satisfactorily ; it will rarely include or exclude : what it ought ; . very little indeed ought to be left to that awful crisis . Our intellects are not perfect in ¦ ' the time of tribulation . ' We cannot , think of the world at ' the hour of death . '
¦ The confusion and . unhappiness . which arise to survivors from the neg-. lect ot * a will , or from the making of one when the testator cannot ; possibly , recollect his obligations or his engagements , need not demand many Avords . We observe something of the kind every day . " One thing , " i however , it is . worth while to . dwell upon more particularly . It has often : been a custom Avith persons of Ave . ilth and substance to adopt , and-
consider as their OAvn child , some poor orphan or friendless young person , Avhom they , educate in a manner suitable to their own fortune . " These adopted children naturally adopt the ideas of the situation in ' which they . are brought up ; they look upon themselves as the heirs . of : those who have adopted them , and are considered in . the same light by-, the . world . At length ,, the patron or patroness , dies , 'without a nxill ! .
and the heirs at law take possession of all . The orphan , if not imme-. diately turned out of doors , finds his or her situation too irksome to remain longer in a place , where they are degraded to the rank perhapsof a menial servant ; and Av . ith . the education , accomplishments , and ' ideas of genteel life , they sink into the helpless lot of those . ' who can--not Avorkand to beg they are ashamed ' . ' ¦¦ - . - '
, This is one bad effect of intestate property , and in my opinion that which , of all others , blackens the memory of the deceased . I know no crime greater than that of him , who promotes an orphan to a rankof independence , takes him from where he might have been trainedup to industry and usefulness , and yet-does not , from the first , provide that no accident shall . deprive , him of the rank to which . he has been
raised . It is in fact , though perhaps without the evil intention , strewing the : path to a . precip ice Avith roses . Such dependents , educated in hig h , life , only to be consigned to poverty which they cannot avere , and shame Avhich they cannot . encounter , have reason , it is 10 be feared , to curse that mistaken benevolence whiendrew them . from the . happy mansions of industry and frugality , where they might have been useful VOL . II . - - ' O . . ; "