We use Optical Character Recognition (OCR) during our scanning and processing workflow to make the content of each page searchable. You can view the automatically generated text below as well as copy and paste individual pieces of text to quote in your own work.
Text recognition is never 100% accurate. Many parts of the scanned page may not be reflected in the OCR text output, including: images, page layout, certain fonts or handwriting.
BenevDlent Bequest
<CT CHARLES LOUNSBERRY, being of sound and disposing memory, do Ij hereby make and publish this my last will and testcunent, in order, as justly as may be, to distribute my interests in the world among the succeeding men:
"That part of my interest 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 flower of the fields and the blossoms of the woods, with the right to play among them freely according to the customs of the 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 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, in a thousand ways, and the night and the trail 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 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 hold the same for the period of their boyhood. And all the meadows, with the cloverblossoms and the butterflies thereof; the woods with their appurtenances; the squirrels and the birds and 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 in his own place at the fireside at night, with all pictures that may be seen in the burning wood, to enjoy without let or hindrance, or without any encumbrance or care.
"ITEM: To lovers I devise their imaginary world, with the stars of the sky, the red roses by the wall, the bloom of the hawthorne, the sweet strains of music, and aught else that they may desire to figure to each other, the lastingness and the beauty of their love.
"ITEM: To those who are no longer children or youths, or lovers, I bequeath the power to have lasting friendships, the capacity for courage, and undaunted faith.
"ITEM: To our loved ones with snowy crowns, I leave memory, the peace and happiness of old age, the love and gratitude of their children until they fall asleep."
This is the unusual and heartwarming legal document that came to light in the Probate Court of Chicago. It was a will drawn up by the late Charles Lounsberry, a Chicago attorney, while he was an inmate of an insane asylum. Perhaps he was insane, as the courts ruled, but his sublime bequest is a gem of literature that warms the heart of all who read it — particularly at this time.
— Stephen ]. Schmiedl.