TESTATOR’S LAST JOKE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22100, 2 November 1933, Page 16

TESTATOR’S LAST JOKE

Travellers In the country near Bordeaux, in France, must be prepared to see .an astonishing spectacle if they pass near the farm of ,the late Rufus Barlow, an American, who loved practical joking, and who made cne of the best jokes in his will (says the Daily Telegraph). On the estate there are 18 peasants working in costumes from almost every corner of the earth. An American wh.o knew Barlow well, and who has just visited his widow, the daughter of a Bordeaux notary,: writes: —“Two ox teams were ploughing the vineyard, conducted by a Hawaiian dancer wearing a grass skirt, and accompanied by a Spanish bullfighter. A Gordon Highlander was sweeping out the courtyard of the stables. An Indian was looking after the cows. A Cossack was minding the sheep. A Chinese, looking like a mandarin, was watering the tomatoes.” The explanation is that the late Mr Barlow, who began life as a stable boy, and was in turn jockey, trainer, bookmaker and owner, left a will in which he bequeathed £125 to each of his servants on condition that during working hours for a whole year they wore the costumes which he bestowed upon them. These costumes had been collected by the eccentric testator in the course of his travels —and he had travelled widely. The peasants named in the will were torn between anxiety to receive the legacy and fear of ridicule. But in the end the traditional French fondness of a little capital won. The legatees are earning their little fortunes, but 'he whole of the Gironde is laughing at them.