LIFE ASSURANCE. 
3 
for the benefit of their families. The poet Burns, writing to a friend, was so 
touched with the belief that he would leave his children portionless, that he 
penned, in bitterness and sorrow, “ Enough of this ; it is but a woman’s 
tear ; yet it is half my disease.” Inasmuch as a comforted mind promotes 
longevity, how great and important must be the influence upon weak and 
sensitive minds, of the touching fact that, even whilst labouring under the 
desponding influence of indisposition, yet our lives can be assured for 
the benefit of those, bereft of our aid, who otherwise would be poor and 
wretched indeed ! So that there is now no bar between a good intention on 
the part of fathers of families and others to assure their lives and its con- 
summation. But we strongly advise our friends to assure their lives in the 
season of full health and prosperity. The practical advantages of these 
modes of assurance must, we think, be self-evident. Let us point out 
more fully the excellence of a few of them. A young man with a young 
family, enters into business and sinks £200, his all, in the venture. He 
assures his life for that amount, at a cost of £4 a year at the outset, 
which will be reduced in the course of a few years to one half the amount, 
on account of the bonuses he will periodically receive, which he can either 
apply to increase the amount secured, or, if his means be straitened, to the 
reduction of the premium he had heretofore paid. The business fails ; 
being disspirited, *his health is affected ; his energies are deadened, and 
death is the result. His family, who otherwise would have been left por- 
tionless, have thus the means of absolute salvation, and possibly of redeem- 
ing the errors of the past. Again, two persons enter into partnership, and 
each deposit £500. Both assure their lives for £500, on the understand- 
ing that the amount of the policy will .become the property of the longest 
liver. Thus the firm is saved from injury by the unexpected subtraction of 
capital, and the relatives and friends of the deceased partner get the full 
amount of his interest either in hard cash, or an equal interest in a thriving 
firm. A man owes his creditors £1000, and is anxious to do his best to 
pay them to the utmost farthing. He agrees to do so by periodical instal- 
ments extending over a given period. His creditors, fearful that he might 
die long before the expiration of the term, and that their debts would be 
lost altogether, assure the debtor’s life for their gross amount. The man 
dies within the first year of his covenant, and the creditors are reimbursed 
the full amount of their claims. Again a young lady will be entitled to 
£5000 should she reach her twenty-fifth year. The fate of her family, 
and perhaps the success of her husband in life, are staked upon this die. 
Money may have been obtained on the security of friends for her past 
necessities, payable when she reaches the hoped-for age. She is two-and- 
twenty years of age, and should she not survive the specified term by a 
day, those dependent on her will be beggared and portionless. Should she 
survive the term, they, one and all, will be rendered independent for the 
rest of their existence. A simple remedy is at hand ; she assures her life 
for the amount, and thus the receipt of the money is rendered certain, and 
the meeting of all liabilities provided for, by the payment of an insignificant 
sum, compared with the risk of losing the amount mentioned. And the 
conveniences held out by insurance companies to assurers are so great that 
it is surprising it should be necessary to enlarge upon them. For instance, 
the payments may be made in the manner most convenient to the assured, 
either increasing as he expects his means to expand, or decreasing as he 
expects them to fall off. Or he may assure £1000, and pay only the rates 
for half the amount, and the other half may remain a charge upon the 
policy at moderate interest until it becomes a claim. A father, by a small 
payment from the birth of every child, may provide a fortune for them, on 
their attaining the age of maturity, as an endowment, or a marriage portion.” 
