To the end that his intentions might be clearly understood, the deceased had compelled the unwilling lawyer to preface the will with the matter from which the information we have given is derived; and it was estimated that the word “Whereas” occurred two hundred and some odd number of times in the folios devoted to this preliminary statement. But this story, in spite of the legal verbiage with which it was encumbered, proved to be of the deepest interest to all present, even including the eminent merchants, whose ideas were generally expressed by figures. The reader turned the folios for an hour before he came to the pith and cream of the document, the masterpiece of John Hungerford’s labors. “Imprimis” gave to John Lester, Edward Baker, and Loring Greene, the eminent merchants, each the sum of fifty thousand dollars. These gentlemen were John’s best friends, and he made them his executors and trustees for the disposal of his property as “hereinafter mentioned.” To the widow of his late brother James he gave twenty thousand dollars. To Julia Hungerford and Thomas Lynch he gave a like sum. Then were mentioned twenty-eight literary, scientific, and charitable associations, to each of which the testator gave the sum of ten thousand dollars. John Hungerford must have been terribly puzzled to find all these names, and without the assistance of the eminent merchants he would certainly have neglected many of them. He was impartial in his bequests, for without regard to the objects or the magnitude of the enterprises to which he contributed, he gave to each the same sum. These bequests, with an allowance of ten thousand dollars for present expenses of probate--there were no stamps then--used up only the half million, which was but a kind of flourish on the end of John Hungerford’s fortune, and which had accumulated since he retired from active pursuits. The grand army of zeros, marshalled by its significant three, was yet in the field, and the three eminent merchants actually gasped with anxiety to hear the name of the residuary legatee. And now came John Hungerford’s dying crotchet; now came the notable scheme by which John Hungerford, dead and in his grave, was to be represented in the coming generation by a John Hungerford, alive and glorious in the possession of a princely fortune; or, failing the “John,” by which the name of Hungerford, simply, was to be honorably sent down to remote ages. The whole three millions was to be placed in the hands of the eminent merchants, as trustees, who for their valuable services were to receive a fixed sum per annum, the whole income of which, after deducting the expenses, was to be paid to his “beloved nephew,” Eugene Hungerford. Eugene did not faint when he heard that he was to be the recipient of one hundred and eighty thousand dollars a year, but his mother absolutely gasped for breath.