WILLS AND WIDOWS.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 24, Issue 18, 7 March 1913, Page 2

WILLS AND WIDOWS.

PENALTIES ON RE-MARRIAGE. ■ America is discussing with no considerations of / reticence the provision of Colonel Astor’s will, under which his young, widow stands ■to forfeit £1,000,000, an well as the house in Fifth Avenue, New York, with all iits fine furniture and valuable appointments, should she marry again. It would appear that opinions differ materially as to the right and justice manifested towards the girlwife, for, on the one hand, there are those who. contend that the fortune settled upon her at the time of her marriage will safeguard her against even comparative poverty, and that the sacrifice of property will be a check to anyone seeking her band for the sake of her money. On the other, it is urged that no man ought to seek to deprive a woman of the support and comfort that a second marriage might bring her. Those who take the first point of view recall that the late husband was particularly opposed to the idea of his countrywomen being sought by titled but Impoverished foreigners; thosel who take the latter regard It as against public policy that young widows should be tied down by ‘‘■preposterous and humiliating conditions.” PERVERSE BESTOWALS. / ; ’ Human nature reveals itself perhaps more unaccountably in wills than in any other way. Who 'will ever be able to say definitely what is implied in the bequest of best bedstead” of Shakespeare to his wife? Is it not a commonplace that the most; perplexing and difficult problems as to the real Intentions of a testator arise over the wills of eminent lawyers and counsel, who have known the practice of the Probate, Divorce, and Admiralty Division of the High Court ? And everyone, within his or her personal experience, can tell of some strange and unexpected bestowals of property to the detriment of some and the advantage of others in a way that was never anticipated. The nephew Cut off with a shilling and the home for necessitous poodles endowed is not a figment of imagination, but a fact that occurs. It la not everyone, indeed, who brings so kindly a sense of giving pleasure to others to bear upon a will as the late Mrs. Sam Lewis, who not only remembered all those who had added to her happiness by their musical skill, but left nice sums to the road-sweepers and menders whose humble tanks had been performed near her doors. More people appear to manifest a kind of sardonic humonr at the disappointments and the heart-burnings that their perverse bestowal of their money, or their effects, will cause when their wills are read. MOTIVES GOOD AND MEAN. It is, of course, with the best intentions sometimes that a man arranges that his widow shall lose what ho has left her in the event of a second marriage. He may honestly fear that she will be sought merely for her money, or knowing any peculiarities of her temperament, he may dread her being made unhappy or miserable by someone who would not understand her. If there are young children at the time he makes his will he may think it better for them to have the undivided love and attention of their mother. Whatever may be hfs line of argument, it may at least be sincere in the belief that what he is doing Is for the beat.

There can he, however, the less worthy motive ®f a kind of jealousy. "Why,” thinks he, "should money that I have gathered by my toil and Industry go to keep some other man, who may bo quite idle, and incapable of doing anything for himself ? My wife shall have all the enjoyment she can from it for herself, but she shall not share it with another, even though it would add to her future peace and happiness to do so.’’ That to a kind of dog-in-the-man-ger attitude, and yet not quite an inexplicable one.THE PROBLEM PROM THE OPPOSITE ASPECT. ' ■ Seine day perhaps a wealthy woman will present the problem from the'opposite aspect. Under the Married Woman’s Property Act, she had the right of disposal of her own, possessions in money or otherwise. What 'lf she; ’.predeceasing her husband, were to leave him such and such a share of her fortune; conditionally upon his not. entering a second time into wedlock ? Then man would grasp the situation in *a new light.— ‘‘Telegraph.’’ _