"HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH DEAD"

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 84, 3 January 1919, Page 5

"HOW TO BE HAPPY THOUGH DEAD"

WILI.S AND .THEIR MAKERS/' ' : "The -. - papers \ ' the , other day printed 'particulars of. the will, of. 'a Hastings . (England) innkeeper ; who set apart.;'tho' interest on ~£3BO for an annual supper to sixty Hastings newsboys,"- writes .Mr. E. V. Lucas, in the "Sphere."' "And a 'little while'ago I cut'from''The Times' another will, in ■ which"the testator, a .fellmonger and a Runner, killed during the .war,.left '.£IOOO in trust during the life of his wife to ' apply the income for a treats for the : children of, the Chelsea and District . Schools, Banstead, such treat to consist of sweets,'strawberries,., or a visit .to the '...pantomime, and to bo in- tho nature of n surprise.' > "Now, is not, that charming/?—particu- . larly are not the last-nine words charm-' ' ing? "On what principle that section of the papers entitled, 'Wills and' Bequests'- 'is edited I have never understood;' for whereas people are dying all day . long, for ever, and many of them rich, and it is very. difficult to be allowed to die without having, first'made a .will, yet only half a dozen estates are mentioned day by day, and the particulars of, only very few wills ever j got-into print at r all, and these rarely contain:any novel provisions. The imprfesion therefore conveyed is that novel provisions are an ■ exception; and, thinking upon this cir- . cumstance, and the case with which almost anybody when making a will could reserve small sums for such ameliorating purposes and rob no one—if only he had the mind—it has occurred to me that a email handbook should at once be com- ... piled under some such title as 'Philan.'thropic Hints to Those about to Make their Wills,', or .The Inspired Testator,' ov 'First. Aid to Imaginative Bequost,' or 'The. Prudent Lawyer Confounded,' or 'How to be Happy though Dead,' in which a list could be given of the less fortunate ones of the earth, and suggestions offered'as to what, a little money 'could do towards a pcriodiciil gilding of their "existence;' "All the ordinary objects of traditional philanthropy having been mentioned—A of course including Almshouses— ■ the compiler's .serious task, would be»in, and really he should have great fun. If he found any difficulty ho need but to go" among.his friends with the question, TVhat olasa worker doyou feel most sorry for?'"