Virgil M. Harris

“ Gentlemen of the jury, a man’s dog stands by him in prosperity and in poverty, in health and in sickness. He will sleep on the cold ground, where the wintry winds blow and the snow drives fiercely, if only he may be near his master’s side. He will kiss the hand that has no food to offer, and he will lick the wounds and sores that come in encounter with the roughness of the world. ”

“ I will go a step further, and affirm that we have something to be grateful for even in the weaknesses of men.... We grope blindly along the catacombs of the world, we climb the dark ladder of life, we feel our way to futurity, but we can scarcely see an inch around or before us; we stumble and falter and fall, our hands and knees are bruised and sore, and we look up for light and guidance.... ”

“ Those who are nearest and dearest to us, those whom we trust with our happiness and our good name, may become traitors to their faith.
“The money that a man has, he may lose. It flies away from him, perhaps when he needs it most.
“A man’s reputation may be sacrificed in a moment of ill-considered action. The people who are prone to fall on their knees to do us honor, when success is with us, may be the first to throw the stone of malice, when failure settles its cloud upon our heads. ”

“ The art of will-making chiefly consists in baffling the importunity of expectation. I do not so much find fault with this when it is done as a punishment and oblique satire on servility and selfishness. It is in that case Diamond cut Diamond—a trial of skill between the legacy-hunter and the legacy-maker, which shall fool the other. The cringing toad-eater, the officious tale-bearer, is perhaps well paid for years of obsequious attendance with a bare mention and a mourning-ring; nor can I think that Gil Blas’ library was not quite as much as the coxcombry of his pretensions deserved. ”

“ There is a story that on her deathbed she called to her side General la Rochejacquelein and whispered:
“General, I have a fact, a very solemn fact, to reveal to you. It is the testament of a dying woman. My brother is not dead; it has been the nightmare of my life. Promise me to take the necessary steps to trace him. France will not be happy nor at peace till he is on the throne of his fathers.” ”

“ And, at the end, man is reaped—the product, not of good alone, but of evil; not of joy alone, but of sorrow—perhaps mellowed and ripened, perhaps stricken and withered and sour. How, then, shall we judge any one?”
Can we not judge a man by his will? Does not such an instrument reflect his character, his nature, and his eccentricities? ”

“ The words a man desires to have read when he lies dumb, the gifts he leaves, the grace with which he gives, all these lay bare the spirit, the heart of disposition, as few other things can. For a will is that which is to live after one, and it is written knowing that no wound inflicted can be remedied, no neglect repaired. How egotism, or miserliness, or conceit, or self-satisfaction can shine out in a will! ”

“ My infant graces and little embryo virtues are, I trust, gone before me into heaven, and will, I hope, prove successful messengers to prepare my way. Thither, O Lord, let them mount up with unremitting constancy, while my soul in the meantime feasts itself with ecstatic reflections on that ravishing change when, from the nonsense and folly of an impertinent, vain, and wicked world, it shall be summoned to meet its kindred spirits, and admitted into the blissful society of angels and men made perfect ”

“ The late Rufus Hatch, of New York, in his will gave this advice to his children: “I do not wish my boys to go to college, but to receive a commercial education. Should any of them, however, wish to become lawyer, doctor or clergyman, then he may go to college. I most strongly warn my children not to use tobacco in any shape, or form: nor to touch, taste or use wine or liquor in any way. I earnestly desire that my children shall not gamble in any way for money, as their father has had experience sufficient to serve for all posterity.” ”

“ The Green Bag says:
“Where would the novelist of the period be without the disinheriting will, the manipulated will, the secreted will, and all kinds of wills in every style of obliteration and in every stage of destruction? Why, he would be nearly as bereft of staple stock in trade as if he had lost the lovelorn maiden, the tender-hearted soldier, or the grand old hall of our ancestors. Even writers of a higher grade find it convenient to make use of such machinery to help make the story go.” ”

“ These books as well as his will were approved and indorsed by the Senate. They then decreed him a costly and magnificent funeral; his corpse, or rather its image in wax, was laid upon an ivory bed, incrusted with massive gold and draped with a tissue of purple silk woven with gold; the procession, of the same extent as a triumphal progress, traversed the streets of Rome with great pomp. It halted twice; on the first occasion Drusus pronounced the funeral oration over the body; on the second Tiberius spoke another, which has been preserved, and may be considered a model of eloquence. ”

“ The North American Review in a recent editorial said, ‘The writing of a will is a serious and formal matter, and into one a man puts his deliberate and well-reflected intentions. This makes a will stupendously revealing, and to read one over is to come very close to the spirit of the man who wrote: to know his treasures, to understand his feeling toward men, and to measure his fitness for adventures among seraphic and angelic beings. ”

“ Upon the decease of my wife, it is my will and desire that all the Slaves which I hold in my own right shall receive their freedom. To emancipate them during her life, would, though earnestly wished by me, be attended with such insuferable difficulties on account of their intermixture by marriages with the dower Negroes, as to excite the most painful sensations, if not disagreeable consequences from the latter while both descriptions are in the occupancy of the same proprietor; it not being in my power, under the tenure by which the dower Negroes are held, to manumit them. ”

“ Concerning my worldly estate, my will must be anomalous and out of the common form, on account of the state of my affairs. I have two large real estates. By marriage settlement, Mrs. Webster is entitled to a life estate in each, and after her death they belong to my heirs. On the Franklin estate, so far as I know, there is no encumbrance except Mrs. Webster’s life-estate. On Marshfield, Mr. Samuel Frothingham has an unpaid balance of a mortgage, now amounting to twenty five hundred dollars. My great and leading wish is, to preserve Marshfield, if I can, in the blood and name of my own family. ”

“ To the worst of women, Claude Charlotte de Grammont, unfortunately my wife, guilty as she is of all crimes, I leave five-and-forty brass halfpence, which will buy a pullet for her supper. A better gift than her father can make her; for I have known when, having not the money, neither had he the credit for such a purchase; he being the worst of men, and his wife the worst of women, in all debaucheries. ”

“ To cancel old wills, and invent new ones, is at last the sole business of such a testator’s existence; and relations and friends (some of whom have been bred up distinctly to inherit a large share of the property and have been, from their cradles, especially disqualified from devoting themselves to any useful pursuit, on that account) are so often and so unexpectedly and summarily cut off, and reinstated, and cut off again, that the whole family, down to the remotest cousin, is kept in a perpetual fever. ”

“ It must not be forgotten that while all men may make wills, and should do so, yet all men have not done so. It is a remarkable trait in human character that wills are for the most part postponed, and that many men of wealth and distinction die without them. So great a man as Abraham Lincoln left no will, though he had a considerable estate. General Grant also died intestate, but his estate was small. ”

“ What it may be above, we do not pretend to know. One thing we know is this, that the simple preamble to his will must kindle into a generous flame every soul engaged in the great cause of education. ‘Louis Agassiz, teacher!’ but what a teacher! ”

“ Homesteads generally, estates of dower and curtesy frequently, as well as other portions of an estate, are not the subject of devise or bequest.
“There never was a fitter application of Pope’s line, ‘A little learning is a dangerous thing,’ than in the preparation of wills; and it is a most astounding fact that men who have lived prudently, who have been conservative and successful in business, who have accumulated large wealth, who have been buffeted by every wave of misfortune, will attempt, by their own hands or through incompetent agents, to write their wills. ”

“ How many are there, in this audience of a thousand bankers, who can tell me the manner in which, under the laws of descent and distribution, is to be divided an estate consisting of five thousand dollars in cash, and real estate of the value of five thousand dollars, the testator leaving a wife and two children?
“Unfortunately the idea prevails that a will is a very simple instrument to prepare. Nothing in business life can be further from the truth; on the contrary, a will may be, and usually is, the most intricate of all legal documents. ”

“ A deed or a contract may be changed; not so with a will, after the death of the maker. Therefore, foresight in its preparation is imperative.
“There is a well-marked legal distinction between the words, heirs, devisees, legatees, distributees, and legal representatives. Each of these terms has a clear and well-defined signification. One who has the preparation of wills must deal with the law against perpetuities. An estate cannot be tied up for a longer period than ‘a life or lives in being and twenty-one years thereafter.’ This is the general law of our country. ”

“ If one’s child is sick, a doctor is called; if a man’s roof is defective, a carpenter is sent for; if a horse throws a shoe, the animal goes to the blacksmith; yet, when it comes to the making of a will, perhaps the most solemn and consequential act of a man’s life, the testator takes his pen, and frequently without aid or counsel does that which experience and our court records fully demonstrate he is incompetent to do. ”

“ In the name of God, Amen, I, Mary Washington, of Fredericksburg, in the County of Spotsylvania, being in good health, but calling to mind the uncertainty of this life, and willing to dispose of what remains of my worldly estate, do make and publish this, my last will, recommending my soul into the hands of my Creator, hoping for a remission of all my sins through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind ”

“ No one can be sure of surviving anybody. I assumed that my husband had died, and I was very glad to learn what he thought of me while he was alive. Since the package was addressed to me, it was not dishonorable for me to open it.”
And so she opened it. It proved to be his will, but containing, as a preamble, his curses on her, expressions of contempt, and all the vulgar outpouring of an evil temper and angry passion. At once she formed the great decision of her life.
She went to her husband as he was opening a bottle, and flung the document upon the table. ”

“ This philosophical individual, who was extremely poor, was on terms of close and intimate friendship—friendship in the full and true acceptation of the term—with Arethæus and Charixenes of Sycion. Finding himself on his deathbed, he made a will, which, while exciting only the ridicule of the thoughtless or the worldly-wise, calls for respect and admiration in the breasts of those who know the value of real cordiality, and can appreciate his simple confidence in its sincerity. ”

“ As I have lived the make-game of a modern gentleman, being a butt for envy and a mark for malice, by acting a little out of the common road, though, thank God, never in a base way, I hope I may die in sincere love and charity to all men, forgiving all my persecutors, as I hope for forgiveness from my Creator. ”

“ The employers and approvers of hangmen, with the instinct of self-preservation, feel that this knowledge will make impossible the maintenance of the position which they occupy; hence not only will they themselves not adopt it, but by all means in their power, by violence, deceit, lies and cruelty, they will try to hide from the people this knowledge, distorting it and exposing its disseminators to all kinds of privations and suffering. ”

“ It has hitherto been believed that, in the infancy of the human race, wills were practically unknown. There probably never was a time when testaments, in some form or other, did not exist; but, in the earliest ages, it has so far been assumed that they were never written, but were nuncupatory, or delivered orally, probably at the deathbed of the testator. Among the Hindus to this day the law of succession hinges upon the due solemnization of fixed ceremonies at the dead man’s funeral, not upon any written will. ”

“ The Supreme Court of New York has decided that though one believe in all the abominations and wanton rites of ancient Greece and Rome, and in sincerity worship Egypt’s wandering gods, disguised in brutish form, or, like the Hindoo, stand for a lifetime on one leg to secure salvation, or be yet a howling dervish, and rave and gash his naked body, thinking he is doing God service, yet he may be able to transact the affairs of life or dispose suitably of his property. ”

“ A man might be a good carpenter and follow his calling, and yet his mind might be tainted with insanity to such an extent that he might be held irresponsible for a crime on the ground that he did not know the nature of the act he committed. Therefore, all the arguments addressed to the jury on the subject of the testator’s capacity to deal with complex subjects, to write pamphlets, and to make calculations, had nothing to do with the question whether he was of unsound mind or not. ”

“ The lawyer will tell you to have your will written and to have it well written; he will tell you that human nature is strongly marked in wills; he will tell you that his profession knows no more complicated and perplexing a document to prepare than a will; he will tell you that wills are frequently destroyed by unauthorized hands; he will tell you that when a provision is made by will which gives less than that which is allowed by law, that that provision will be attacked ”

“ When Commodore Vanderbilt was on his death-bed, he was visited by his nephew, Samuel Barton. “Sammy,” he said, “I’ve been thinking all day about Alexander Stewart’s will. I can’t explain it. I can’t understand how the greatest merchant in this country, who began with nothing and made a fortune of millions, who was always clear-headed in business matters—how was it possible for a man of that kind to make such an utter damn fool of himself when he came to write his will?” ”

“ The tenure of property is not always held, nor is it transmitted, according to legislative enactments or judicial law. Under the testamentary privilege secured by law the unenlightened mind often becomes the legislature which frames and promulgates the rule of descent which fixes the destiny of millions of property. The perfect freedom and untrammelled modes of expression, secured in the will-making privilege, results in the manifestation of the most normal and spontaneous spirit of the individual. ”

“ Positive law is evolved out of long periods of human phenomena. The general systems of law are the composite products of innumerable generations of men. These accepted codes are supposed to embody the survivals of an immemorial struggle between right and wrong, and the highest sentiments of justice, and the clearest perfection of reason of all ages. But it is a remarkable fact that one-half of all the property in the world, in the succession of generations, is transmitted and controlled by the supreme purpose and disposition of individual men and women. ”

“ I cannot too highly recommend trust provisions in wills, where it is sought to make allowances to children or others; the use of the income for a time or for life, instead of an absolute gift of the principal, has in many cases a most beneficial result. In the selection of an executor, my judgment is that it is better to have one than two, and unless that one is a corporation of high standing and ample capital, I would always require a bond. This works no hardship, for bonds are readily obtainable by reputable persons.
“A codicil is a supplemental will. ”

“ And it is some blemish or touch to a man well esteemed for his wisdom and discretion all his life, to leave a troubled estate behind him, amongst his wife, children or kindred, after his death.’
“A man may work out his religion from within and for himself, but when it comes to writing a will, the advice of a good, level-headed friend cannot be overestimated. ”

“ In speaking of my Friends to whom I owe so many obligations I ought to name specially Lord Fitzwilliam, the Duke of Portland and the Lord Cavendishes with the D. of Devonshire the worthy head of that Family. If the intimacy which I have had with others has been broken off by a Political Difference on great Questions concerning the State of things existing and impending, I hope they will forgive whatever of general human Infirmity or of my own particular Infirmity has entered into that contention. ”