1888 
THE RURAL WEW-YORKER. 
851 
Cato. 
“ Every Man is presumed to know the Law. 
Nine-tenths of all Litigation arises from 
Ignorance of Law." 
DEEDS OF LAND FOH SUPPORT. 
Constant Reader, Raleigh, N. C. —I wish 
to deed my homestead farm to my son-in-law, 
I to keep possession and to have full control 
of it during my life and my wife the same 
during her life, should she survive me. Can 
the reservation be in the one deed, or must 
we take a life lease? 
Ans.—A deed granting an estate in fee and 
reserving a life estate to the grantor is good in 
North Carolina. In the case of Ravage vs. Lee, 
in 1883,the Supreme Court of the State decided 
that “an estate of freehold to commence in 
futuro can be conveyed by a deed of bargain 
and sale operating under the Statute of Uses as 
by executory device,” and therefore “an 
estate to a daughter for life and at her death 
to her children in fee, reserving a life estate to 
the grantor, is good.” The deed in question 
convoyed the land to the daughter for life and 
at her death to her three children in con¬ 
sideration of their kind attention to the gran¬ 
tor in sickness, and for the further considera¬ 
tion of $5, reserving to the grantor during 
life a right in the premises. There are many 
other decisions in the same line. For instance, 
in the case of Hodges vs. Spicer the words of 
the decision were:—'A reservation in a deed 
that the grantor is to retain possession of the 
lands during his natural life, or so long as he 
may desire it for his own use and benefit, con¬ 
fers a life estate in the grantor.” In some 
cases the courts intimated that the deed is 
rendered stronger by stating a money consid¬ 
eration in addition to that of love and affec¬ 
tion. The law on this subject varies somewhat 
in some of the States, and “deeds for sup¬ 
port” should never be made, even to one’s own 
favorite child, without sound legal advice. 
It is a matter of frequent occurrence that the 
favored offspring soon proves ungrateful 
and tries every means to get rid of the bother 
of supporting his parents after they have 
deeded their land to him ; and if this 
oaunot be done, the aged parent or parents 
are treated with neglect or harshness. 
CAUSING BACKWATER BY OBSTRUCTING A 
STREAM. 
Subscriber, Orleans Co., N. Y., —A lot of 
timber belonging to a farmer who lives below 
me has been blown down into a stream which 
crosses through my land, blocking it up and 
backing up the water on my place, doing a 
good deal of damage. Have I any redress? 
Ans. If any farmer shall make any change 
in the natural flow of a stream to the material 
injury of any other owner situated upon it, 
or by interference shall prevent the stream 
from flowing as it has wont to flow, he is re¬ 
sponsible for the resulting damages. No one 
is permitted to so clog a stream as to flood 
the land of another owner through whose 
premises it passes, unless under authority of 
some mill act or like statutory provision, and 
even then not without payment of damages, 
and to permit the obstruction of a stream by 
fallen trees beyond a reasonable term, is to 
render one’s self liable for the damages due to 
such obstruction. Should the injured party 
wish to remove the obstructing matter, he has 
a legal right to goon his neighbor’s land to do 
so, and to deposit the obstructing matter on 
the bank. From these general principles ap¬ 
plicable every where, our friend can see that 
he has means of redress. 
AN EXECUTOR MAY SELL HIS OWN INTEREST 
IN REAL ESTATE. 
‘‘ Anxious," Plattsburg, N.Y. —A, B and C 
are brothers. A farm in this State and a 
good deal of “wild” Western land were left 
to them, A and B being named as executors. 
The will provides that the property cannot be 
divided among them until C has attained his 
majority; but in the meantime B is desirous 
of selling his share of the property to A, after 
a valuation of the same has been agreed upon. 
A is ready to buy B’s share, and C is quite 
willing that he should do so. A and B being 
executors, is there any law to prevent A 
from buying B’s share? Would such a 
transaction be legal in this and the Western 
States in which much of the property is 
situated? 
Ans. —The'fact that A and B are executors 
and bound 'to protect the intorest of the 
minor heir would prevent either from buying 
any portion of that interest. But B is owner 
of a vested interest in the estate in his own 
right, and he may sell that to A. So far as 
we know, there is no law in any State which 
would render such a transaction illegal. 
R. M.'T.f Coming, N. Y. —An unmarried 
man bought a farm not 100 miles from here, in 
his State. He has since married and would 
now like to^dispose of his property. Can he 
legallj do so without his wife’s consent? 
Ans. If the husband should make a deed 
of the property without his wife joining and 
thereby releasing her dower right, she would 
still retain, in the event of her husband’s 
death before hers, the right to the income, 
during her life, of one-third of the real pro¬ 
perty. No prudent purchaser, knowing of 
the marriage, would take title under such 
circumstances. 
M. L., Westjield, Conn. —A brother of mine 
died rather suddenly, leaving a wife and three 
children. In his will, after satisfying the 
wife’s claims, he left his property—mostly 
land—to his children, share and share alike. 
Seven months after his death a posthumous 
son was born. No provision having been made 
inthewill for such an unexpected arrival, has 
the newcomer any interest in the property? 
Ans.—Y es; just the same as that possessed 
by the other children. 
Woman s WatrK. 
CONDUCTED BY EMILY LOUISE TAPLIN. 
A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 
THE'meanest and poorest gifts of all are 
what may be called “fishing gifts”—those 
that are given in the hope of receiving some¬ 
thing better in return. Nothing could be 
more utterly opposed to the Christmas spirit; 
let us hope none of us will be guilty of giving 
one. 
At any rate we wish a bright and happy 
Christmas to all our friends, far and near, 
and may the real Yule-tide spirit brighten 
every hearth. “God bless us, every one.” 
CHRISTIE’S MERRY-THOUGHT. 
It came upon the midnight clear, 
That wondrous song of old, 
From angels bending near the earth, 
To touch their harps of gold. 
1 Peace on the earth, good will to men, 
From Heaven’s all-graclous King; ” 
The world In solemn stillness lay 
To hear the angels sing. 
Still through ;the cloven skies they come, 
With peaceful wings unfurl’d; 
And still their heavenly music floats 
O’er all',the .weary world : 
Above its'sad and lowly plains 
They bend on hovering wing, 
And ever o’er Its Babel sounds 
The blessed angels sing. 
O ve, beneath life’s crushing'load, 
Whoso forms are bending low, 
Who toll along the climbing way. 
With painful steps and slow! 
Look now, for glad and golden hours 
Come swiftly on the wing: 
O, rest beside the weary road, 
And hear the angels sing. 
For, lo! the days are hastening on, 
By prophets seen of old, 
When, with the ever-circling years, 
Shall come the time foretold, 
When the new heaven and earth shall own 
The Prince of Peace their King, 
And the whole ou rth send back the song 
Which now the angels sing. 
Somehow, we never cared much for the 
idea of the mythical Santa Claus, though, 
truth to tell, we never learned to associate 
that jolly figure with the festival of the Na¬ 
tivity until we were too old to be credulous. 
We learned to give presents and good wishes 
in commemoration of tne Divine Infant and the 
gifts of the Magi, and thus it became, in our 
eyes, chiefly a great religious festival. Joyous 
it always was, but solemn too. 
* * * 
Christmas is what we make it. We know 
many homes where the gifts would seem poor 
enough if it were not for the love that 
goes with them. Trifling toys would seem 
almost valueless; but look at the love and 
sacrifice they represent, and all Gould’s ill- 
gotten wealth could not buy them. The 
poorer the giver, the greater the gift—have 
we 'not read how the widow’s mite out¬ 
weighed the.whole treasury? 
“ Alas ! my poor Dodo,” observed Christie, 
gazing with mock pathos at the somewhat 
dispersed fragments of a roast duck which 
graced the platter before her. “It goes 
against me to serve up as a burnt-offering 
my oue pet: but at any rate we have indulged 
in one more Christmas dinner, even if we 
don’t know where the next dinner is to 
come from.” 
“We’re not quite reduced to that strait 
yet,” said Cousin Hetty, “and I know we 
shall be provided for, but-” 
“A household consisting of one useless 
typewriter who can’t use her eyes for six 
months at least.” 
“ And one useless cripple,” said Dick, with 
a lump in his boyish throat as he looked at 
his crutch. 
“To say nothing of a useless old maid who 
can’t do anything in particular,” said Cousin 
Hetty. 
“The general outlook is not promising 
certainly,” observed Christie. “ We’ve got to 
find some means of increasing an almost in' 
visible income, and we can’t do art needle" 
work, or paint plaques, or take in boarders-—’’ 
“ I should think not, in a little band-box of 
a cottage,” said Cousin Hetty indignantly. 
“If only I could grow up straight and 
strong,” said Dick wistfully. He was a deli¬ 
cate lad of fifteen, with the look of suppressed 
pain wo so ofton see in patient sufferers. A 
crutch at his side told the story, though Cousin 
Hetty Graham would declare that he had 
beetUlier blessing from the first day the 
doubly- orphaned sister and brother had come 
under her care. But she had grown poorer 
year by year; there was the little cottage, and 
a few acres of ground,|but Miss Hetty’s fading 
sight compelled her to give up the fine needle 
work in which she excelled, and here was 
Christie invalided home from her desk and 
her typewriter, with an awkwardly named 
ailment, which, after all, meant nothing but 
over-taxed nerves and over-strained sight. 
“ I read the other day about a useful 
manual which might throw some light upon 
the subject,” remarked Christie “It was 
called ‘How to make 1500 a'year with twelve 
hens’. Why not raise poultry on that plan?’’ 
“Because it’s just nonsense,” answered Dick 
tersely. 
“Well” began his sister, “Oh I’ve got the 
merry-thought, the wish-bone. I think I’ll try 
divining with it, after the style of a Roman 
augur. I’ve got an idea floating in my useless 
head, and here, Dick, you take one end of the 
bone and I’ll take the other. You must make 
a wish, too, and if I get mine—Well, here goes.’’ 
The queer little horse-shoe of bone, interest¬ 
ing relic of the departed Dodo, was tightly 
clasped by the brother and sister; there was 
a sudden crack, and'Christie flourished her 
divining bone with great triumph. 
“I’ve got my wish and now, cousin Hetty. 
I’ll tell you what we will do: we’ll open a laun¬ 
dry !” 
“Christie Malcolm!” exclaimed Miss Hetty 
in horror, as there passed through her mind 
a confused vision of stout-armed women who 
go out by the day, and pig-tailed heathens 
who multilate collars at so much a dozen. 
“Yes, ma’am,” responded Christie with per¬ 
fect coolness. “Now, you know there’s only 
one laundry in'town, and that’s Chinese—peo¬ 
ple send cuffs and collars and such thiugs 
there, because they can’t help it, but there 
isn’t a place where'a regular family wash is 
done properly, ”— 
“But what will people say—to think how 
I’ve lived here so long and so respected and 
then to talk of taking in washing,” began 
Miss Hetty. 
“Pooh! we’re not going to demean’ourselves, 
as old Aunt Carson says, ” answered the law¬ 
less young woman. “I’ll tell you what I mean, 
afterwards ; in the meantime allow the butler 
to help you to our Christmas pudding.” 
Christie deftly changed the plates, and then 
entered the little dining-room, heralded by a 
most tantalizing odor. She bore on a pretty 
dish a speckled brown ball with a powdered 
head further decorated by a sprig of real holly. 
This was the pudding, and it was a viand to 
be proud of, even if it did’partially owe its rich 
complexion to the artful introduction of car¬ 
rots. It was cut in solemn silence, "befitting 
the dignity of such an Jionorable dish,] and it 
was not until the pudding bad been discussed, 
and the coffee handed round that, cousin 
Hetty ventured to ask for further suggestions 
on the subject of Christie’s daring proposition 
“Do you think I’m going to reveal my 
plans on Christmas Day? No, indeed, Cousin 
Hetty, I’m going to do nothing but build 
gorgeous castles in the air, with a foundation 
of soap-suds. Next Christmas I don’t intend 
to depend on oue poor little duck for the 
family dinner. Alas, poor Dodo! We shall 
have a turkey, with all the accompaniments, 
and you shall have a new gown. Madam 
Hetty, and you. Dick—What will you have?’ 
“Make me well, Christie,” said Dick, “but 
don’t you think it sounds about as real as the 
Arabian Nights?” 
“Well, I don’t see why a powerful genie 
should not rise out of a wash-boiler just as 
well as from a copper kettle. s f amped with 
the seal of Solomon,” laughed Christie. 
By the beginning of the new year, Christie 
had not only persuaded Miss Hetty to her 
own way of thinking, but had expended her 
little savings in the enlargement and re¬ 
furnishing of their little laundry, and a 
model of its kind it certainly was. Before 
her illness, Christie had held th" position of 
type-writer in a shirt factory, and while 
there had acquired a practical knowledge of 
the appliances of a model laundry. She was 
a clear-headed girl, of the type men are apt to 
consider “strong-minded,” until they learn 
that a domestic angel is all the more angelic 
when she possesses a good portion of 
brains. And she was bound to succeed. She 
advertised her project thoroughly, both per¬ 
sonally and through printer’s ink. Christie 
sail! that her social standing was totally 
wrecked until people learned that she hired 
someone to do the rough part of the work, the 
actual nibbing and wringing, and a good 
many looked upon the projector of the “Home 
Laundry” as rather a daring and unconven¬ 
tional young woman; but it paid. You see 
the moving force of the laundry was, as Dick 
proudly said, “applied intellect,” and Christie 
gave as much thought and study to her little 
laundry as would be required in any other 
branch of skilled labor. The situation was 
favorable—a small town, where people were 
well-to-do, but unpretentious. I wish I could 
say that Christie soon retired on a fortune, 
but a regard for facts restrains me—she is 
still working, but her next Christmas dinner 
was more pretentious than on the occasion 
when poor Dodo graced the festive board, and 
her future looks brighter still. Christie’s merry¬ 
thought brought good luck, she still avers, 
even if it did take the prosaic form of a wash- 
tub. CHRISTIE. 
POINTS ABOUT LETTER PAPER. 
I have a friend—a very good friend, one 
who is “leal and true,”—whose letters I abso¬ 
lutely dread to receive, for the sole reason 
that she writes on cross-barred paper each 
way of the page. This is a strain on a friend¬ 
ship, that it is not safe always to apply. The 
accepted method of letter writing is to cover 
first, the firstTpage, then the last, then the 
second, and lastly the third. The only objec¬ 
tion to writing on the last page is that the 
contents may be read through most envelops, 
but except in the case of lovers, one is hardly 
likely to be troubled by this consideration. 
Another important point is to date your 
letters, and to affix or prefix your address. 
It is strange how often this important matter 
is overlooked. The pastor of a large New 
York church once read a postal from his 
pulpit. It ran as follows: “Dear Pastor: 
will you please call and see my wife who is 
very ill.” It bore neither date, address nor 
signature. 
A3 for the style of your letter paper, linen 
paper of a good quality is always good form, 
while the extreme of any fashion should be 
avoided. When long, narrow envelops were 
in vogue, very expensive qualities were to be 
had twelve incheslong. Anything so bizarre 
will of course always be avoided by persons of 
taste. 
Lastly, “If you are ever likely to become 
famous,” says an authority, “write only on 
one side of the paper.” 
Our forefathers wore particularly neglect¬ 
ful in this. One who owns a large collection 
of autograph letters of Revolutionary heroes, 
in showing them, bemoaned the fact that 
both sides of the paper were written upon, as 
it prevented the letters being glued upon the 
page of a scrap book. Valuable letters were 
almost in shreds, because there was no suitable 
way of securing them.” m. b. 
“FOP WEAL OR FOR WOE.” 
Philosophers, and statesmen, editors, and 
syndicate writers, are discussing the question 
“Is’ matrimony a success?” with.’ as much 
