§ 274 The Deceased Had Been Forehanded
Reading edition
A few months after the Eighteenth Amendment went into effect a Texan passed from this life.
While the funeral services were in progress at the late home of the deceased, two of the men mourners stood on the front porch of the house lamenting the passing of their friend and praising his virtues.
Said one of them:
“There wasn’t no finer feller anywhere than what Bill was, but the main trouble with him was he wasn’t forehanded. He had a wife and a whole passel of children and he should a-been more saving than what he was. He might a-knowed he couldn’t live on forever. But no, he lived up to everything he made. And here now, right in the very prime of life, with a family on his hands, he gets sick and dies without leaving no estate as I knows of.”
“The hell he didn’t leave no estate!” exclaimed the other. “He left mighty nigh a gallon!”