THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF CHARLES LOUNSBURY

I have searched for years to find a copy of the will purported to be that of a destitute Chicago attorney, found in his pocket when he died in a mental institution. Today I found it on the Internet and wish to share it with each of you. This will (the part in quotes) I heard read to the ADTA members at the annual meeting at the Palmer House Hotel in Chicago about 1970. The parts in bold arial were not read, but were discovered by me just today and are added for clarity and good knowledge. It touched me deeply at the time and does even more so now. To wit:

THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT EVER WRITTEN

A Last Will

He was stronger and cleverer, no doubt, than other men, and in many broad lines of business he had grown rich, until his wealth exceeded exaggeration. One morning, in his office, he directed a request to his confidential lawyer to come to him in the afternoon--he intended to have his will drawn. A will is a solemn matter, even with men whose life is given up to business and who are by habit mindful of the future. After giving this direction he took up no other matter, but sat at his desk alone and in silence.

It was a day when summer was first new. The pale leaves upon the trees were starting forth upon the yet unbending branches. The grass in the parks had a freshness in its green like the freshness of the blue in the sky and of the yellow of the sun--a freshness to make one wish that life might renew its youth. The clear breezes from the south wantoned about, and then were still, as if loath to go finally away. Half idly, half thoughtfully, the rich man wrote upon the white paper before him, beginning what he wrote with capital letters, such as he had not made since, as a boy in school, he had taken pride in his skill with the pen:

IN THE NAME OF GOD, AMEN

“I, Charles Lounsbury, being of sound and disposing mind and memory, do hereby make and publish this, my last will and testament in order, as justly as may be, to distribute my interests in the world among 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 none account, I make no disposition 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 and 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 judiciously or generously as the deeds of their children shall require.

“ITEM: I leave to children inclusively, but only for the duration of their childhood, all and every flower of the fields and the blossoms of the woods. And I devise to children the banks of the brooks and the golden sands beneath the water thereof and the odors of the willows that dip therein and the white clouds that float on high above the giant trees. And I leave the children the long, long days to be merry 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, and all snow-clad hills where one may coast, and all streams and ponds where one may skate, to have and to hold the same for the period of their boyhood. And all meadows, with the clover blooms and butterflies thereof; and all woods, with their appurtenances of squirrels and whirring birds and echoes and strange noises; and all distant places which may be visited, together with the adventures there found, I do give to said boys to be theirs. And I give to said boys each his own place at the fireside at night, with all pictures that may be seen In the burning wood or coal, to enjoy without let or hindrance and without any incumbrance of cares.

“ITEM: To lovers I devise their imaginary world filled with the stars of the skies and the red roses by the walks, the bloom of the hawthorne and the sweet strains of music and ought else that they may desire to figure to each other the lastingness and the beauty of their love.

“ITEM: To young men jointly, being joined in a brave, mad crowd, I devise and bequeath all boisterous, inspiring sports of rivalry. I give to them the disdain of weakness and undaunted confidence in their own strength. Though they are rude and rough, I leave to them alone the power of making lasting friendships and of possessing companions and to them exclusively I shall give all merry songs and brave choruses to sing, with smooth voices to troll them forth.

“ITEM: And to those who are no longer children or youths or lovers I leave Memory, and I leave to them the volumes of the poems of Burns and Shakespeare, and of other poets, if there are others, to the end that they may live the old days over again freely and fully, without tithe or diminution; and to those who are no longer children or youths or lovers I leave, too, the knowledge of what a rare, rare world it is.

“ITEM: To our loved ones with snowy crowns, I leave the peace and happiness of old age, and the love and gratitude of their children before they fall asleep.”

It was then reported and suggested, “This sublime request, my friends, was made by the late Charles Lounsbury, Chicago attorney at law, while confined in a mental institution. So you see, in this world filled with hate and greed and bigotry, this world filled with fear of total annihilation, which of us is to say who is the sanest?”

A little more Internet research on the subject brought up the following which I did not know until this moment:

About the most beautiful last will and testament in history written for Charles Lounsbury by Williston Fish.

— THE MOST BEAUTIFUL LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT EVER WRITTEN ---

When a person sits down with his or her attorney to prepare a last will and testament, one would expect the document produced by this meeting to be legalistic, dry, morbid. Certainly, one would not expect inspired prose verging on poetry.

Yet when Williston Fish, an attorney in Chicago, Ill., sat down in 1897 to draft a will for one
Charles Lounsbury, what Fish produced as a testament proved to be sheer prose poetry.

In its time, Lounsbury's will was printed and reprinted around the world. To generations of
attorneys, it became a classic.

However, if a will is defined as "a written instrument legally executed by which a man makes
disposition of his estate to take effect after his death," then the Lounsbury will was no legal will
at all. It was, in fact, a literary article. There was only an attorney-businessman, and part-time
author, in Chicago named Williston Fish who created the fictional will as a literary effort.

Williston Fish was born on January 15, 1858, in Berlin Heights, O., the eldest son in a family of
8 children. Self-taught in Greek and Latin, he briefly attended Oberlin College, then won
appointment in 1877 to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. In 1881, the year of his
graduation, he married, and subsequently had 3 children. He remained in the Army for 6 years,
studying law on the side. After resigning from the Army, he was admitted to the Illinois Bar in
1887, then chose to enter into a business career. But his heart was always in writing, and he
published at least 3 books and 500 articles, stories, poems for periodicals.

In 1897, he hit upon the idea of a perfect will and upon a wealthy, nonexistent client named
Charles Lounsbury.

As Fish recalled it later: "The name, Charles Lounsbury, of the divisor in the will, is a name in my family of 3 generations ago--back in York State where the real owner of it was a big, strong, all-around good kind of a man. I had an uncle, a lawyer, in Cleveland named after him, Charles Lounsbury Fish, who was a most burly and affectionate giant himself and who took delight in keeping the original Charles Lounsbury's memory green. He used to tell us of his feats of strength. . . . His brain, my uncle always added, was equal to his brawn, and he had a way of winning friends and admirers as easy and comprehensive as taking a census. So I took the name of Charles Lounsbury to add strength and goodwill to my story."

The will that Williston Fish had written found its way into print for the 1st time the year after it
was created. It appeared in Harper's Weekly on September 3, 1898. It was picked up and
reprinted widely. But in recent years, it has been forgotten.

Aftermath

Speaking of the numerous reprintings of "A Last Will," Fish wrote good-naturedly: "Whenever a newspaper did not have at hand what it really wanted . . . it would run in this piece of mine. In return for the free use of the piece, the paper, not to be outdone in liberality, would generally correct and change it. . . . Some writers can boast that their works have been translated into all foreign languages, but when I look pathetically about for some little boast, I can only say that this one of my pieces has been translated into all the idiot tongues of English."

Although a lawyer, Williston Fish devoted 35 years of his life working as a realtor and as an executive in many railroad companies. He retired in 1923, concentrated fully on his writing career, and died in Western Springs, Ill., on December 19, 1939, at the age of 81.

Blessings and love to you all, Ho