ce
in the two institutions is that the former dispenses with the investment
element, while the latter exacts it in connection with all their
contracts. Hence the price to be paid is greater. But is not the
_guarantee_ also greater?

The beneficiary under a death claim in an assessment company has for her
security the _hope_, or promise if you please, that one thousand
men will pay ten dollars each for her account. The beneficiary under a
death claim in a regular life insurance company has for her security not
only the actual payments of ten dollars each by one thousand men, but
the definite promise to pay in full by an institution which has ample
capital, assets, and surplus to back its contracts.

Assessment insurance is yet on trial, and its only hope of permanent
business lies in a rigid compliance with the laws of mortality and of
sound business experience.

* * * * *

THE OLD STATE HOUSE.

BY SIDNEY MAXWELL.

The Old State House! Within these antique walls
The early fathers of the hamlet met
And gravely argued of the town's affairs.
Another generation came; and in
This hall the Tory Council sat in state
While from the burning lips of Otis, or
The stem, defiant tongue of Adams sprang
That eloquence whose echoes thundered back
From Concord, Lexington, and Bunker's Hill!
Between those years and ours a century lies;
Those patriot's graves are deep with moss and mould,
And yet these walls--the same whose shadows fell
Athwart the crimson snow where Preston charged[3]--
Still cast their shadows; not on troops, nor mob
Exasperated by their wrongs, but on
A jostling, hurrying throng--freeman each one,
Unless in bondage to himself. O Man:
Pass not all heedless by, nor imprecate
This aged relic of the past because
It lies across thy path! From avarice
Redeemed; restored unto its former self,--
We hail thee, noble Sentry of the years,
And greet thee with a thousand loving cheers!

[Footnote 3: The "Boston Massacre," March 5th, 1770.]

* * * * *

THE PRECIOUS METALS.

BY DAVID N. BALFOUR.

From the earliest times to the commencement of the Christian Era, the
amount of the gold and silver obtained from the surface and mines of the
earth is estimated to be $5,084,000,000; from the latter event to the
epoch of the discovery of America, $4,363,374,000 were obtained; from
the date of th