Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 May 1877 — A Sensible Will. [ARTICLE]

A Sensible Will.

The will of Rowland H. Macy, the rich New York merchant just deceased, is so novel, and withal so sensible, as to be worthy of more extended mention. It divides the entire property of the testator, some $500,000, between his widow and a married daughter, cutting off his only son with an income of SI,OOO a year, and a provision that he shall forfeit that if he contests the will. The ground of this action, ac the testator explicitly states, is that the son, although twenty-nine years of age, has never done anything for his own support, and is furthermore adronken and worthless fellow. Casesof disinheritance of this sort are common enough in novels, but occur, in this country at least, very rarely in real life. However the American parent may rage at the worthlessness or unfilial conduct of his children, he rarely has tho nerve to punish them by even a partial disinheritance. The bad children and the good inherit alike. It is a * question worthy consideration whether a good part of the unfilial conduct and contempt of parental authority which so deplorably distinguish American sons is not owing to their comfortable assurance that whatever they do will ’not affect their chances of inheritance, and whether a most desirable reform might not be effected by a little more discrimination in testamentary disposition of properly. If Mr. Macy’a prodigal son had anticipated the disinheritance he has suflered, he would very likely have thought it adviseble to hold up a little in his wayward courses. American youth are generally well endowed with a keen perception of the main chance, and it is a question for parents whether this perception might not be advantageously used to bolster up their deficient filial or moral principle. SprinqfieU [Hass.) Union. ■ r-“ Put out your tongue a little further,” said a physician to a fair invalid “A little further still, if you please.” "Why, doctor, do you think a woman's tongue has-no end 7” said the gentle sufferer. “An end, perhaps, madam,” replied the doctor, “ but no cessation.”