750 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
sheep-bound volumes as my property, being inconsiderable and of no ac¬ 
count, I make no disposal of it in this my will. 
“My right to live being but a life estate, is not at my disposal, but, 
these things accepted all else in the world I now proceed to devise and 
bequeath: 
“Item: I give to good fathers and mothers, in trust for 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 justly 
and generously, as the needs of their children may require. 
“Item: I leave to children inclusively, but only for the term of their 
childhood, all and every, the flowers of the fields and the blossoms of the 
woods, with the right to play among them freely according to the cus¬ 
toms of children, warning them at the same time against thistles and 
thorns. And I devise to children the banks of the brooks and the golden 
sands beneath the waters thereof, and the odors of the willows that dip 
therein, and the white clouds that float high over the giant trees. And I 
leave the children the long, long days to be merry in, in a thousand ways, 
and the night and the moon and the train 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; all pleassnt waters where one may swim; all 
snowclad hills where one may coast, and all streams and ponds where 
one may fish, or where, when grim winter comes, one may skate; to have 
and to hold the same for the period of their boyhood. And all meadows 
with the clover blossoms and butterflies thereof, the woods and their ap¬ 
purtenances, the squirrels and birds, and echoes of the strange noises, and 
all distant places which may be visited, together with the adventures 
there found. 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, to enjoy 
without let or hinderance and without any incumberance or care. 
“Item: To lovers I devise their imaginary world, with whatever they 
may need, as the stars of the sky, the red roses by the wall, the bloom of 
the hawthorn, the sweet strains of music, and aught else by which they 
may desire to figure to each other the lastingness and beauty of their 
love. 
“Item: To young men jointly I devise and bequeath all boisterous, in¬ 
spiring sports of rivalry, and give to them the disdain of weakness and 
undaunted confidence in their own strength, though they are rude; I give 
them the power to make lasting friendships, and of possessing com¬ 
panions, and to them exclusively I give all merry songs and brave chor¬ 
uses, to sing with lusty voices. 
“Item: And to those who are no longer children or youths or lovers, I 
leave memory, and I bequeath to them the volumes of the poems of Burns 
and Shakespeare and of other poets, if there be others, to the end that 
they may live over the old days again, freely and fully, without tithe or 
diminution. 
“Item: To our loved ones with snowy crowns I bequeath the happiness 
of old age, the love and gratitude of their children until they fall asleep.” 
