614 
EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
embarked in her, and were there no other feeling, there is at 
least that of self-interest to actuate us. But we trust we 
have something higher and nobler than this — a philanthropic 
spirit — which animates us and urges us onwards. 
LIFE ASSURANCE. 
We return to this subject, and extract from a popular 
journal of high repute the following appropriate ob- 
servations : 
“The man of twenty-five years of age, young, strong, full 
of hope, and health, and vigour, thinks, perhaps, that he 
need not concern himself about life-assurance at present, as 
he has a long lease of life before him. Let us see if this is a 
sound view which he takes of his own position. According 
to the now well-known laws of the value of life at different 
ages, he may expect to live about thirty-seven years. Now, 
how many chances are there against his continuing regularly 
to set aside the annual sum he designs as a provision for his 
family, in the event of his decease, when he is not impelled 
by the fear of loss in failing in his engagement with another 
party, by the formality of the contract between them, by the 
periodical demand of the company? If he hoards his 
savings, they will amount to little compared with what an 
insurance-company would give, and are liable to be con- 
tinually encroached upon for trifling objects. His grand 
aim is to improve these savings as much as he can, with 
perfect security. Is he likely to be able to invest them from 
time to time so readily, or so securely, as a company which 
receives them from him in small annual — or even quarterly — 
payments, and, without trouble to him, invests them safely 
and profitably? And what bright prospect, what fair chance 
of health, long life, or good-fortune, can be set against the 
moral certainty he acquires that those for whom he is anxious 
to provide are assured beyond all accidents or risks of the 
