JUNE 28 
MOORE’S RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
AU 
insurance department. 
INSURANCE NOTES AND NEWS. 
The Price of Exemption. —A leading daily 
states that the defeat of the bill to tax in¬ 
surance capital in the same way as batik 
stocks “ was brought about, in a great 
measure at least, by means of $10,000 in 
cash raised by certain companies in this city 
and sent up to Albany ’’ for the purpose of 
preventing the enactment. If this is true, 
and the journal in question is not reckless of 
such charges, it explains why so little in the 
shape of protective legislation is done for the 
benefit of the policy holders, and why so 
much is left undone that, has no job in it. 
There is not a single reason for taxing capi¬ 
tal at all that does not apply as well to the 
taxation, not only of insurance capital, but 
of accumulations. Insurance is not a char¬ 
ity but a business, and the capital embarked 
in it differs in no wise from that employed 
in other branches of business or specula¬ 
tions. As the law now stands, an individual 
may pub by hundreds of thousands in life 
insurance, either as capital or deposit, with 
the certainty that it will bear none of the 
burdens that fall so heavily upon all other I 
property, and that it will bo forever beyond 
the remorseless grasp of the tax-gatherer. 
There is nothing in insurance that merits 
such exceptional preference over other busi¬ 
ness, though it enjoys it at the price paid 
for it. 
Coming Hack Again. —Next after com¬ 
paring its assets, ratios, plans and assumed 
advantages with the Mutual Life, there is 
nothing that so afflicts an aspiring young 
life company as does the itching to go to 
Europe and tender its unequaled blessings to 
the benighted heathen of London. Several 
have emigrated, and nearly all have immi¬ 
grated again with their caudul continuations 
tucked in with humiliating snugness. The 
Germania does some business abroad. The 
North America, the Continental and Globe 
have tried it with, so far as the first two are 
concerned, perfect satisfaction. Whether 
these escapades arc intended to promote 
business or to saddle the expenses of official 
junketing upon the American policy holders, 
we think that the experiment has been tried 
too often. There is no bag of gold at the end 
of the rainbow, either for farmers or life 
insurance companies. 
City Mortality. —The percentage of deaths 
to total population of the two largest cities 
in the United Slates is not far from two and 
a half per cent., yeurl}', for the last eight or 
nine years. New Orleans heads the list with 
an average of 115 in a thousand ; New York 
and Brooklyn, the latter a trifle smaller, fol¬ 
low with 28* Philadelphia foots up only 22, 
and San Francisco shows the smallest figure, 
having lost but 21 per thousand. During the 
past year St. Louis exhibited the best rate, 
less than I P*. These figures are obtained 
from the entire population, including the 
especially mortal element of infancy, and do 
not necessarily indicate the mortality at in¬ 
surable ages. It is possible that San Fran¬ 
cisco owes its favorable figures to a prepon¬ 
derance of adult population, as New York 
does its unfavorable exhibit to the infant 
mortality in its tenement-house quarters. 
The Courts Again. —It has been for years 
the custom of the life companies to mark off 
as lapsed all policies on which the overdue 
interest of premium notes remained unpaid. 
A vast number of insurances have been lost 
iu this way; hut it appears that a plucky 
party iu Cincinnati lias appealed to the law 
for protection, and that the Superior Court 
of that city has decided in his favor. This 
Court,following the example of the Appellate 
Court of Kentucky, held that the note was 
evidence of a loan made by the company to 
the policy holder, a lien upon anil secured by 
the value of the policy, but none the less a 
loan, and though the note was given for pre¬ 
miums, the interest upon the note wa 3 not 
premium, and that failure to pay such inter¬ 
est did not legally vitiate the policy or cause 
its lapse. 
Hasten Slowly. —A meeting of the Patrons 
of Husbandry was to have been held at 
Janesville, Wis,, to organize a mutual life 
insurance system within the Order. We are 
not hopeful of any enterprise of the kind that 
is proposed to be invented or managed by 
inexpert parties, however honest. Life in¬ 
surance is a science that cannot be acquired 
readily, ami unless our friends of the Order 
propose to consult and employ some actuary 
"ho is capable of originating an equitable 
system, we fear that the end may be fore¬ 
seen. If the proposed plan has any affilia¬ 
tion with that of assessing a dollar or so 
after the. death of a member, the project is 
already foregone. 
A Timely Check. —After the great fires at 
Chicago and Boston the companies raised 
their rates and maintained them until they 
had accumulated a large surplus. When 
they had obtained “indemnity for the past 
aud security for the future,” competition for 
business brought about a considerable re¬ 
duction and a cutting of rates that threat¬ 
ened disintegration of boards and a geueral 
dissolution of tlie recuperative niachinerv. 
The recent prevalence of fires iu Pennsyl¬ 
vania, and especially in New England, has 
checked uuder-cuttiug, and may lead to a re¬ 
sumption of remunerative prices. 
A Crucial Remedy— Rutland, Vt., appears 
to be subject to a periodical recurrence of 
great fires. Recently the Opera House was 
burned under circumstances that induced the 
suspicion of incendiarism, aud an over-in- 
sured but not very prosperous tradesman 
who was the principal sufferer has been ar¬ 
rested and is being tried for the alleged of¬ 
fense. We hope he will be satumarily pun¬ 
ished if guilty, for this sort of treatment is 
the only method of dealing with fire-hugs. 
Meanwhile let the companies look more 
Closely into the matter of over-insurance 
and blanket policies. 
Industrial insurance.— The Toledo Life 
Insurance Company has adopted a plan of 
monthly payments as low us one dollar, so 
as to suit the finances of everybody. The 
insurances may be for a term or for the 
whole of life, as desired. These industrial 
policies, like every other policy of the com¬ 
pany, may be sold to the company for their 
full value in money at any time the holder 
desires to cancel the equities and retire. 
Change of Name.— After the first of July 
the Black River Insurance Company will be 
known as the Northern insurance Company 
of New York. 
I burrows out its abode according to its pre¬ 
conceived architecture. By investigating 
a great number of these burrows, the doctor 
succeeded in getting an egg, ns well as a pair 
of the birds which he shot while they were 
in the act of making their abode. 
<§amestu( d^ottomg. 
flqt folio. 
NEW JERSEY GAME LAWS. 
The following classification of the game 
laws of New Jersey, showing the periods in 
which it is unlawful to kill various kinds of 
game, and the penalties attached, will be 
of interest to sportsmen :—Under a penalty 
Of $1.1 for each bird, it is not lawful to kill 
quail from January 1st to November 1st; 
pheasant from December 15th to October 
1st, penalty #l-> each bird ; woodcock from 
January 1st to July 4th, penalty $lu ; gray 
snipe from May 1st to October 1st, penally 
$10 ; and reed birds from December 1st to 
September 1st, penalty $$; upland plover 
from January 1st to August 1st, penalty $10 ; 
prairie chicken not to kill until 1880, 
penalty $50 ; deer from December 1st to Oc¬ 
tober 15, penalty $10 ; gray squirrel from 
December 1st to October 15th, penalty $5 ; 
fox and black squirrel same period and fine ; 
rabbit from January 1st to November 1st, 
penalty $5 ; salmon trout from October 1st, 
to March 1st, penalty $10; brook trout 
same ; black bass from March 1st, to May 
1st, penalty #25, for each offence ; pike or 
pickerel the same. 
■■ 
SPORTSMEN’S NATIONAL CONVENTION. 
The National Sportsmen’s Association 
held its convention at Cleveland, Ohio, re¬ 
cently. There was a discussion as to the 
expediency of some changes in the constitu¬ 
tion of the association, so as to enable it to 
co-operate with the British provinces in 
their endeavors to protect game. The 
desirableness of such co-operation was 
generally admitted, and the mutter left in 
the hands of the executive committee to re¬ 
port to the convention at its ensuing meet¬ 
ing. The value of the association to the 
whole country was briefly explained and 
forcibly urged by Dr. Gurlie, one of the 
earliest advocates of fish culture. Col. 
Whittlesey addressed the convention briefly 
on the subject of timber preservation aud 
renewal, on the ground of economy, and al¬ 
so on the preservation of animals. 
-»■»» 
BURROWING OWL IN FLORIDA. 
Dr. Velik of the Chicago Academy of 
Science has discovered the presence of the 
Burrowing Owl in Florida, which up to the 
present time was not seen north of the pam¬ 
pas. This owl bears some resemblance to 
the owl which inhabits forsaken prairie dogs’ 
holes in California but differs in this respect, 
that it is more independent and industrious. 
It is not like the California Owl, content to 
take the deserted dwellings of dogs, but 
ABOUT FLIES. 
Wherever (lies abound, there cleanliness 
is in a greater or less degree wanting. These 
are the scavengers of the air, gathering upon 
their wings and their bodies, as they move 
about, the germs of disease and the particles 
of filth that float in the air. When they ure 
quite surcharged with those, which they live 
upon, they alight and remove the cargo to 
their mouths. When they are rubbing their 
legs and wings, as we often see them doing, 
they are enjoying a savory meal. Some¬ 
times they partake directly of solid and 
liquid foods, but their dependence is upon 
what is invisible to us. The horror of flies 
possessed by the tidy housekeeper is thus 
seen to he well founded, and the only way to 
be clear of them is to have nothing about 
the house or grounds that will attract them. 
We may put nettings iu at our windows and 
doors to keep them away, and in that case 
we need to be more particular than over 
about ventilating and cleanliness, so that 
there will be no scavenger work for the flies 
to do, else by excluding them we shall ouly 
injure our own health. 
--. 
ECONOMICAL YOUNG WOMEN. 
Thirty-one young ladies in Warsaw, 
Kentucky, have signed a new kind of pledge, 
which reads; 
We, t.iie undersigned ladies of Warsaw, 
desiring by our example to promote economy 
and to discountenance extravagance, and 
thereby lighten in some measure the burdens 
of our husbands, fathers, sons aud brothers, 
by prudent retrenchment in our household 
expenses therefore, pledge our words of 
honor, each to the other, that we will not, 
during a period of one year from the 1st of 
May 1875, purchase any material for wear¬ 
ing apparel, the cost of which shall exceed 
twenty-five cents per yard. And shall 
further promise to observe a strict economy 
iu all our household purlinunces, and cheer¬ 
fully add by those delicate sacrifices to the 
general stock of home comforts—too often 
dispensed with for the frivolous outside 
adornment of the body alone. 
ogl0rh[ultiu[itl. 
NOVELTIES IN FLORICULTURE. 
A Qiant Pelargonium, —A short time pre¬ 
vious to the death of Mr. F. Butler of 
Brooklyn, (Fob. 12, ’74,) we noted one of the 
old red double Pelargoniums growing from 
the earth of his greenhouse, that was ten 
feet high and measured between five and six 
inches in circumference at its base. It was 
five years old, perfectly healthy and vigor¬ 
ous, full of buds and blossoms, aud seemed 
to aspire to rank ultimately umoug trees of 
the second class. 
Freeshi LeichHinii. —“A beautiful and 
sweet-scented bulbous plant,” says the 
Gardeners’ Chronicle, “with crowded lan¬ 
ceolate, glabrous leaves, sheathing at the 
base and a central spathe bearing a one¬ 
sided curved spike. The flowers are funnel- 
shaped, white when they first open, buff- 
colored subsequently. It is said to be hardy. 
® hf fuller. 
PUZZLER ANSWERS-June 12 and 19. 
Sir Isaac Newton’s Biddle. — W. M. N., 
Princeton, N.J., sends the following answer: 
ONE evening four persons sat down to play ; 
It was not a game of skill or chance. 
Although they played till the dawn of next 
day, 
A guinea to each was liberal pay 
For pipers who played for others to dance. 
Cross-Word Enigma No. 7.—Longfellow. 
Transpositions No. 2.- 1, Charles, Larehos; 
2, Danes. Andes, Bedau. a, Horse, Bhoro. 4, 
Peach, Cheap, ft. Snipe, Pines. 
Anagrams 'or Atmions No. 1.—1, Bayard 
Taylor; 2, George Sand ; ’J. Charles Dickens; 4, 
Charles Huadu; 5, Pern Hyaolntbe; «, James 
Anthony Froude . 7, James Parton ; 8, Eliza 
Dupuy ; 8, Charles Lever ; 10, T. 8. Arthur. 
Charade No. 5.—Bed-fellow. 
Double Acrostic No. Initials, Memphre- 
magog; Finals, New Hampshire. 
THE GOLDEN SIDE. 
TnErtE Is many a mat on the road of life, 
If we only would atop to take It: 
And many a lone rrom the better land, 
If the querulous heart would wnko It. 
To the suuny soul that la full of hope, 
And whoso bountiful trust no’or falloth, 
The grass Is green and the flowers ure bright, 
Though the wlulry storm provalletb. 
Better to hope, though the clouds hang low, 
And to keep the oyos still lifted; 
For the sweet blue skv will soon peep through, 
When the omloous clouds uro rifted. 
There was never a night without a duy, 
Nor an evening without a morning; 
And the durkest hour, the proverb goes, 
Is the hour before tho dawning. 
There is many u geiu lu the path of life, 
Which we puss In our Idle pleuaure, 
That is richer far than t.Ue Jeweled crown, 
Or the miser’s boarded treasure ; 
It may be Hie love ot a little child, 
Or a mother’s prayer to Heaven, 
Or only a beggar's grateful thanks 
For a cup of water given. 
Better to weave In tho web of life 
A bright and golden tilling. 
And to do God's will with u ready hourt, 
And hands that ure swift aud willing, 
Than to snap tho delicate sllvor threads 
Of our curious lives us under. 
And then Heuv'n blame for the tangled ends. 
And sit to grieve and wonder. 
- ♦♦♦- — 
MANNERS FOR THE YOUNG. 
Our esteemed friend the Editor of Apple- 
ton’s Journal indulges In the common lamenta¬ 
tion over the rough and boisterous manners of 
pupils in our public schools, and especially In 
tho lack of respect shown by young boys for 
tholr elders. That It is not from lack of school 
discipline the Editor admits, for a visit to tho 
rooms during school hours shows no lack In 
this particular; but In public the manners of 
the pupils are wholly find. They seem to re¬ 
spect neither places nor persons. Without 
doubt this is a serious evil, but It Is one not 
easily remedied. Tho lack of reverence la a 
defect in character which naught but associa¬ 
tion with high and truly noble persons and ob¬ 
jects can cure. This positive self-assertion of 
the young which makes them irreverent Is one 
of the marks or tholr Immaturity, and no more 
worthy or wonder or blame than the greenness 
of an apple In early June. 
A young man once came to the German phi¬ 
losopher Goethe with a question. He said, » l 
hear, O great man, that you are very wise. Will 
you toll me what Experience 1x7” The young 
man Lhoiigbt he might leuru the lesson of a 
lifetime lu a singlo sontence. The philosopher 
answered, “My young friend, Experience is 
that which a man experiences In experiencing 
hls experience.*’ “You are a fool I” said the 
young niau and went Ids way. Out years after¬ 
ward tho young man again visited Goethe and 
said, “ You were right in your answer. Expe¬ 
rience can only be known by those who have 
had experience.” Bo It Is with the Irreverence 
of the young. Only Time, Experience, Thought, 
and the Borrow and Buffering which inevitably 
come to all, mellow and soften the crudities of 
youth into the ripe wisdom of ago. The Editor 
of the Journal would cure tho evil by Incul¬ 
cating strict rules of deportment Tor tho young 
and make those a part of public school train¬ 
ing. The remedy would be wholly Ineffectual. 
At Its best it would only make solemn prigs of 
boys; though, with our national goaheadutlve- 
uess, Fpurth-of-July enthusiasm and general 
feeling of personal independence, It would be 
very doubtful if It did even this. The policy 
recommended may do for the social Ideas and 
manners of English and other European na¬ 
tions, but is not adapted to longitudes so far 
westward. 
What, then, must be done? If Ill-breeding 
and swaggering insolence toward others are the 
characteristics of American boys, howshall the 
evil be remedied? These questions are fair 
ones and deserve a fair answer. To know what 
Is the matter Is the first point lu setting out to 
remedy any evil. Lack or reverence is the pre¬ 
vailing American characteristic so dolorously 
and generally lamented. This arises in part 
from tho feeling of personal independence, and 
thus far is not a vice but one of the virtues— 
the foundation of a true, manly character. We 
only need to combine with this a recognition 
of and reverence for what is Intellectually and 
morally worthy of reverence, and character 
will be mellowed and rounded out lu the ripe¬ 
ness aud fullness of a true manhood. Some¬ 
thing of this can be done by presenting, for 
admiration and emulation, tho examples of our 
best and greatest uicn. By taking due care to 
select men who are safely dead und whom wo 
can Idealize somewhat, tho faoulty of rever¬ 
ence may be cultivated without danger of the 
rude shocks so often Imminent where uien still 
livlngare held up ms public examples. Appeal 
to the hero-worshiping faculty which all boys 
have to a greater or lesser extent; turn It, If 
possible, from JACK BnKri’Aiw and bis like to 
men truly great und good. Abrauam Lincoln, 
Bamuel ADA-MHand Chart,ks Sumner are types 
of men whom it is always safe to commend to 
young men for emulation. In the meantime 
let every old or middle-aged man who wants 
respect or contldenco do honest work In his 
sphere of duty. Let him aim to purify society 
of its shams and politics of its corruptions, and 
he will thereby accomplish greater good In the 
training of the young than any amount of sage 
advice or perfunctory admonitions. j,i 
