A Heaven for Beasts
Bishop Butler and Theodore Parker offered the suggestion that there is a future for beasts, and a poem has been dedicated “To my Pony in Heaven,” by Mr. Sewell of Exeter College.
Goldfish and Flowers
A certain lady left seventy pounds a year for the maintenance of three goldfish, which were to be identified as follows: “one is bigger than the other two, and these latter are to be easily recognized, as one is fat and the other lean.” She also made provision for flowers to be placed upon the graves of the gold fish.
Bequest to a Fish
We have heard of lucky dogs often enough—instances of lucky fish are more rare, yet we can tell of two carps who have been testamentarily benefited. One is, or rather was, too well known to the tourist who has seen Fontainebleau, to need more than a passing mention, as he only paid the debt of nature a few years ago, having occupied the royal pond, it is said, more than a century, probably in order to bear out the proverb which gives long lives to annuitants; the other was the mute but valued friend of the Count of Mirandola, who had been in his intimacy since 1805, dwelling in an elegant antique piscina, shaded by tropical plants, in an oriel of his salon at Lucca, where he was still living as late as 1835, and may be there still. The count, dying in 1825, left him a handsome annuity, with special directions for his treatment.
Bequest to a Parrot
A rich and eccentric widow, whose will was proved in London some years ago, left at her death a parrot, whom, “having been her faithful companion for 24 years,” she left in charge of an appointee, with an annuity of one hundred guineas, the existence and identity of the bird to be proved twice a year, and all payments to be withheld from the moment the feathered pensioner ceased to be produced.
Polly wants a Contest
In July last, at Washington, D.C., a will contest was commenced, which involves the life or death of a parrot.