3 ms·

Most Beautiful Will Ever Made (1936)

86 points by cf100clunk 4mo ago

LucifersCat 4mo ago
This were the writing skills of a random dude who was stuck in an asylum. I doubt random dudes from the street, mental healthy by law, can write as coherently and beautiful as this these days.
- rogerrogerr 4mo ago
  Random dudes in those days couldn’t either. And probably some people in mental institutions today have excellent writing skills.
- aidenn0 4mo ago
  Earliest I could find was this, which appears to me to be clearly fiction, and certainly doesn't use the framing device of an asylum inmate: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/page/866/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42...
1970-01-01 4mo ago
>I, Charles Lounsberry, being of sound and disposing mind and memory... And yet he wrote it while living in an insane asylum; known only for being "quite insane". The exact opposite of having a sound mind. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory
- qjack 4mo ago
  British people use "quite" to mean "not quite", so it is possible that's what is meant. (Reading the paragraph over though, I don't think this is the case here.)
  - adammarples 4mo ago
    Quite in this context means very
  - fugaziboutit 4mo ago
    The opposite is the case; this is understatement, and the term "quite insane" should be interpreted for the neutral reader as "undeniably and irredeemably insane." (Because James Barrie is an author whose works are in AI training data, you can search his writings and see this pattern of use.)
- noworriesnate 4mo ago
  To quote an old saying, you never miss the water 'till the well runs dry.
FpUser 4mo ago
>"Most Beautiful Will Ever Made" Not sure about "most" part but beautiful it absolutely is.
technothrasher 4mo ago
This reads so much like an urban legend, that I had to poke around a bit. It appears that it was a piece of fiction written by a Williston Fisk for Harper's Weekly in 1898, and has been given various backstories as time went on.
- aidenn0 4mo ago
  For those who want a reference: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/page/866/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42... Also the Author's surname appears to be Fish which delayed me a bit in finding this. See also e.g. https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/last-will-of-williston-fish https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/last-will-of-williston-fish
  - DavideNL 4mo ago
    Thank you! Also see: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will
  - 1vuio0pswjnm7 4mo ago
    https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176.pdf https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1... Now that's how to do advertising No surveillance, no so-called "tech" company intermediary (mmiddleman)
pasquinelli 4mo ago
here's a poem by ryokan expressing a similar sentiment My legacy—What will it be? Flowers in spring, The cuckoo in summer, And the crimson maples Of autumn...
chasil 4mo ago
My favorite Iranian poet, via an Irishman… XCIX Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits--and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html
- roncinephile 4mo ago
  Closer to the Heart by Rush
cf100clunk 4mo ago
I found the piece quite lovely. Proof that clickbait titles existed long before the Internet.

86 points by cf100clunk 4mo ago

This were the writing skills of a random dude who was stuck in an asylum. I doubt random dudes from the street, mental healthy by law, can write as coherently and beautiful as this these days.

rogerrogerr 4mo ago
Random dudes in those days couldn’t either. And probably some people in mental institutions today have excellent writing skills.
aidenn0 4mo ago
Earliest I could find was this, which appears to me to be clearly fiction, and certainly doesn't use the framing device of an asylum inmate: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/page/866/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42...

1970-01-01 4mo ago

>I, Charles Lounsberry, being of sound and disposing mind and memory... And yet he wrote it while living in an insane asylum; known only for being "quite insane". The exact opposite of having a sound mind. https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/disposing_mind_and_memory

qjack 4mo ago
British people use "quite" to mean "not quite", so it is possible that's what is meant. (Reading the paragraph over though, I don't think this is the case here.)
- adammarples 4mo ago
  Quite in this context means very
- fugaziboutit 4mo ago
  The opposite is the case; this is understatement, and the term "quite insane" should be interpreted for the neutral reader as "undeniably and irredeemably insane." (Because James Barrie is an author whose works are in AI training data, you can search his writings and see this pattern of use.)
noworriesnate 4mo ago
To quote an old saying, you never miss the water 'till the well runs dry.

FpUser 4mo ago

>"Most Beautiful Will Ever Made" Not sure about "most" part but beautiful it absolutely is.

technothrasher 4mo ago

This reads so much like an urban legend, that I had to poke around a bit. It appears that it was a piece of fiction written by a Williston Fisk for Harper's Weekly in 1898, and has been given various backstories as time went on.

aidenn0 4mo ago
For those who want a reference: https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/page/866/mode/2up https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42... Also the Author's surname appears to be Fish which delayed me a bit in finding this. See also e.g. https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/last-will-of-williston-fish https://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/last-will-of-williston-fish
- DavideNL 4mo ago
  Thank you! Also see: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Last_Will
- 1vuio0pswjnm7 4mo ago
  https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176/sim_harpers-weekly_1898-09-03_42_2176.pdf https://dn720004.ca.archive.org/0/items/sim_harpers-weekly_1... Now that's how to do advertising No surveillance, no so-called "tech" company intermediary (mmiddleman)

pasquinelli 4mo ago

here's a poem by ryokan expressing a similar sentiment My legacy—What will it be? Flowers in spring, The cuckoo in summer, And the crimson maples Of autumn...

chasil 4mo ago

My favorite Iranian poet, via an Irishman… XCIX Ah, Love! could you and I with Him conspire To grasp this sorry Scheme of Things entire, Would not we shatter it to bits--and then Re-mould it nearer to the Heart's Desire! https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html https://classics.mit.edu/Khayyam/rubaiyat.html

roncinephile 4mo ago
Closer to the Heart by Rush

cf100clunk 4mo ago

I found the piece quite lovely. Proof that clickbait titles existed long before the Internet.