cipal; and now, being too old to go anew
into a life assurance company, a paltry sum is all I can look forward to
to leave my family on my decease. It is really very ludicrous the little
games played by some of these insurance companies. It is not every one
who raises the cry of thrift who is anxious to promote that saving
virtue. It is too often the case that even the professed philanthropist,
feeling how true it is that charity begins at home, never troubles
himself to let it go any further. We have Scriptural authority for
saying that one who neglects to provide for his own house has denied the
faith, and is worse than an infidel. We are abundantly justified, then,
in looking after the cash. A great philosopher remarked that there are
times when a man without money in his pocket may find himself in a
peculiarly unpleasant position. It was, I think, Hazlitt who said it,
and he was right. Be that as it may, it is a melancholy truth many of us
have learned by experience. I can send to gaol the poor wretch who in
the street picks my pocket, but the company promoter who offers me a
premium for thrift, and then robs me of my all, or as much of it as he
can lay hold of, gets off scot free. Friendly societies, as they are
called, are on this account often to be much suspected. The story of one
that smashed up is interesting and amusing. The chief promoter early in
life displayed his abilities as a rogue. He became a letter-carrier,
only to lose his situation and undergo a severe term of imprisonment for
stealing letters. Subsequently, he entered the service of an Assurance
Company, but had eventually to be dismissed. Then he got a new
character, and started afresh as a Methodist preacher. Afterwards he
founded a friendly society, by means of which he raised large funds for
the benefit of himself, and apparently no one else.

Let me give another case out of my own personal experience. Last year I
received a prospectus of a company that was formed to purchase the
business of a firm which had an immense number of shops engaged in
carrying on a business in various parts of the metropolis. A firm of
accountants reported that the gross returns of the firm in 1894 amounted
to over 103,000 pounds, and it was added that the profit of the company
would admit of annual dividends at the rate of nine per cent., and allow
of 1,300 pounds for the expenses of management and reserve. It was
further shown that a considerable