Read Ebook: The Girl's Own Paper Vol. VIII No. 372 February 12 1887 by Various

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Before a postal order is paid, the blank spaces must be filled in, and the receiver of the money must sign her name at the foot. Should a postal order be "crossed" like a cheque, payment will only be made through a banker.

Insurance of houses and goods against fire began in London in 1667, the year after the Great Fire, in which the citizens had so terrible an experience of the character of the all-devouring element. The business has now attained gigantic proportions, the insurance companies of our own day being as a rule very wealthy and profitable concerns.

The rates charged for insurance are calculated at so much per cent.--or so much for every hundred pounds--of the sum insured. They vary in amount according to the nature of the risk. If there is little danger under ordinary circumstances--as in a dwelling-house--of the property being destroyed by fire, the sum to be paid is low; if, on the other hand, the danger is considerable--as in a sugar refinery--the charge is high.

Risks may be divided into three classes--common, hazardous, and doubly hazardous. Common insurances are charged 1s. 6d. to 2s. per cent. per annum, with certain exceptions; hazardous insurances are charged 2s. 6d. to 3s. 6d. per cent. per annum, with certain exceptions; and doubly hazardous insurances are charged 4s. 6d. to 5s. per cent. per annum, with certain exceptions; and in the case of the exceptions the rate may run to 10s., 15s., or even more per cent.

In describing the property to be insured, you must be careful to tell the whole truth about it, so that the company may know what risk they are running in insuring it. Suppose, too, after the insurance has been effected the risk should become greater--say by the erection of a stove--you must not fail to keep yourself safe by communicating with the company. There are some kinds of property, such as ready money, books of accounts , bank-notes, stamps, bills, bonds, and other written securities, which insurance companies will not undertake to insure on any terms.

If one has any property to speak of, it is always well to insure, for accidents will happen. Perhaps, after paying for many years without a disaster, one may be inclined to lament having insured at all, and wish that all the money paid in premiums were in her own pocket; but this is not the right way of looking at it. The money sunk in premiums is well spent in buying ease of mind. A person insured can sleep in comfort, knowing that if fire should overtake her property she will recover full value; whilst one uninsured may pass many sleepless hours thinking, If I am burned out, what will become of me?

In insuring one's life the applicant is required to furnish information as to her own health and habits of life, and some particulars as to her family history. If the application should be rejected on the ground of ill-health or a tendency to hereditary disease, you must just try elsewhere: offices are to be found that will insure unsound lives, the charge being, of course, proportioned to the risk.

The cost of life insurance is based on the expectation of life at different ages. The expectation of life, for example, of a girl of ten years of age is about 48 years; at fifteen about 44 years; at twenty about 40 years, and so on, decreasing year by year, till at last it dwindles down to nothing at all.

A period of grace, most commonly thirty days, is allowed after each life premium falls due. If it is not paid within that time, the conclusion is come to that the policy-holder intends to drop the contract.

It is a matter of great importance to be insured in a good office, and the most careful inquiry should be made on the subject before taking out a policy. "Safety," says one writer, "ought to be the first consideration, and economy the second; but really, economy ought to be put first, for there is no economy in insuring in an unsound office, however low its premium may be."

Life insurances on a small scale can be effected better, perhaps, through the Post Office than through any other channel. The Postmaster-General is authorised by an Act of Parliament to insure the lives of persons of either sex. The lives of children under eight years of age cannot be insured; from eight to fourteen they can be insured for not more than ?5; and from fourteen to sixty-five they can be insured for any amount not less than ?5 or more than ?100. The security for the payment of the money at the proper time is the best in the world.

Forms of proposal for the insurance of lives are to be obtained at any Post Office Savings Bank, and anyone can see there the tables of the premiums to be charged, and obtain all other necessary particulars. As examples of the various ways in which insurance through the Post Office can be effected, take the following:--The life of a girl between fifteen and sixteen years old may be insured for ?10 by an annual payment through life of 3s. 10d., or by an annual payment to the age of sixty of 4s., or by a single payment of ?3 17s. Or she can assure ?10 at the age of sixty years, after the payment of the final premium, or at death, should death occur before that age, by an annual payment of 4s. 6d., or by a single payment of ?4 7s.

There are some companies which insure lives by the payment of a small sum weekly or fortnightly, a collector calling for the payments when they become due. This is a dear system; no more profitable than the purchase of tea half an ounce at a time. In these days of savings banks it is no excuse that it suits scantily filled purses. Instead of adopting it, it would be far better for their own interest if people of small means would lodge the sums they would otherwise have paid the collector in the Post Office Savings Bank, and at the end of the year direct that the amount be applied to the payment of an insurance premium.

Besides the two forms we have mentioned there are other varieties of insurance. You can insure plate glass against breakage, boilers against bursting, and crops against hailstorms. The lives of horses and cattle can be insured, and pig insurance companies are not unknown.

Insurance against accidents is another useful variety. It dates back from 1849, when a company was started to insure against the consequences of railway accidents. In return for a payment of 3d., 2d. or 1d. made by first, second, or third class passengers respectively, for insurance during a single journey, it undertook to pay ?1,000, ?500 or ?200 in case of death by such an accident, or a certain weekly allowance in respect of personal injury not resulting in death. A few years later the business was extended, and people can now insure against accidents of all kinds by a yearly payment proportioned to the degree of risk supposed to attach to various occupations or other conditions of life.

For young people, with all the chances of life before them, the purchase of an annuity is seldom wise. The sum, observe, sunk in this way can never be had back again, even though an opportunity should occur for making a much more profitable use of it. But when people grow up, it is often the best way to make the most of a small capital, and to prevent their becoming, perhaps, a little later in life, a burden on their friends. The great thing, in settling whether to invest money thus, is to discuss the matter with common sense, and to ask, "What should I do, so as to be most useful to myself and to others?"

Annuities, both immediate and deferred, are granted by the Post Office for any amount not less than ?1 or more than ?100 to any person not under the age of five years. Forms of proposal for purchasing them are to be had at any Post Office Savings Bank. The sum charged varies with the age and sex of the person on whose life the annuity is to depend, and, in the case of deferred annuities, with the number of years which are to elapse before the commencement of the annuity.

The payment of a deferred annuity may be made in one sum, or it may be broken up into a number of small payments at regular intervals. You can, by a slight increase on the payment for a deferred annuity, secure the return of the purchase-money to your representatives in the event of your death before the commencement of the annuity, or to yourself, should you for any reason wish to be out of the bargain.

Fire insurance, life insurance, and the purchase of annuities are amongst the sensible transactions of prudent and saving people. But sometimes the prudent and saving, quite through innocent misfortune, come down in the world, and have a difficulty in making both ends meet for the present, let alone providing for the future. Under these circumstances people without much experience, and especially women who are not business women, are very apt to fall a prey to the wiles of the professional money-lender. To the artful ways of the money-lending fraternity we shall devote what remains of this article.

If anyone is in want of a little ready money she has only to turn over the morning papers, and she will there see a score of advertisements headed "Money," and all offering "loans on easy terms." How is she to know, unless she has been told, that these petty money-lenders are one of the most serious evils of our present state of society, and that there are hundreds of them preying on the ignorance, the impulsiveness, and the necessities of their fellow-creatures?

"But of course there must be securities of some sort. Well, the borrower's 'note of hand' is sufficient, with deposit of deeds, leases, life policies, or, if preferred, a bill of sale on furniture or other goods 'without removal' . Then the repayment may be by 'easy instalments.'" How accommodating!

Many of these assertions the needy borrower will find abundant reason to doubt before the loan is completed. On application she will be puzzled to reconcile the terms named to her with those in the alluring advertisement, and will find the rate of interest to be truly "five per cent. and upwards," fifty per cent. being no uncommon demand, in addition to expenses connected with and deducted from the loan. Should she complain about the expenses, she is usually told that they are rendered necessary by the existence of some special risk in her particular case.

The writer whom we have just quoted tells a sad story of a poor widow lady, who, being pressed for her rent, saw a money-lender's advertisement and answered it. The money-lender came, and obtained the lease of the house as a security, "only a form, you know." He was such a polite, kind man; and interest, she understood, was to be only ?5 per cent.

Soon after the widow had an offer for her house and furniture, so she went to redeem the lease held in security by the money-lender. The poor woman, who had signed the papers presented to her, either without reading them or without thoroughly understanding them, then learned for the first time that "?5 per cent." did not mean ?5 a year for the loan of a hundred pounds. The money-lender's advertisement did not say "?5 per cent. per annum." He lent his money at ?5 per cent. per month, or ?60 for a year for ?100, besides various fees and charges. The moral of the story is that it is very foolish to have anything to do with money-lenders, and that it is still more foolish to go into any transaction without making perfectly certain as to the exact amount for which one is liable.

There are some money-lenders who only pretend to lend: as a matter of fact, they never do. Their profits are derived solely from booking fees, office expenses, and charges for the sham "inquiry," which always is of so unsatisfactory a nature that the loan cannot be granted. It is true the advertisements of these gentry often state that no preliminary fees or office expenses of any kind are charged. The borrower, however, is in such cases informed that these payments are dispensed with only in the cases of certain classes, in none of which, we need hardly say is she fortunate enough to find herself.

THE SHEPHERD'S FAIRY.

A PASTORALE.

One evening, in the middle of August, John and Charlie got home before Mr. de Courcy had left. The epidemic among the sheep was nearly over now, and consequently they were not detained so late as they had been for the last month. Both the shepherd and his son were astonished to see this grand French gentleman seated on a little wooden stool at Fairy's feet, quite at home, and apparently on intimate terms with her and Mrs. Shelley, for they were all three laughing merrily at Mrs. Shelley's attempts at French when the shepherds arrived.

"Why, here is John! This is my friend, Mr. de Courcy--Mr. de Courcy, this is John, and this is my foster-brother," said Fairy, inwardly feeling very much ashamed of the latter, who, to her annoyance, only pulled his forelock, and was too shy to say a word.

Rex jumped up, no less astonished at the apparition of these two shepherds in their smock frocks, with their crooks in their hands, than they were at the sight of him, and then, having executed one or two of his French bows, he entered into a conversation with John Shelley about his sheep as easily as he would have discussed art or literature with people in his own rank of life.

And if Fairy felt ashamed of Charlie with his clump shoes, his dirty hands, his Sussex brogue, and his uncouth, clownish manners, she was rather proud than otherwise of John Shelley, who, with his hat in his hand, stood there with a gentle dignity all his own, talking simply of his sheep, with an honest pride in his position as head shepherd of the largest sheep-farmer in the district that was as naive as it was touching.

But as Rex walked back to Oafham that evening it was with a weight on his mind that he saw no chance of removing. Hitherto he had only pictured to himself an ideal pastoral shepherd as Fairy's foster-father, and though John Shelley might have sat to an artist as a patriarchal shepherd, there was nothing ideal or poetical about Charlie: a more realistic clod-hopping youth it would be hard to meet with, even in the South Downs. And this was Fairy's foster-brother! Just imagine his mother's face or Lady Oafham's if they were introduced to Charlie as the foster-brother of Rex's future wife. Such a thought was so appalling that it actually prevented Rex from paying his accustomed visit the next day, though he was miserable, and so afraid he might have offended Fairy by his absence, that after a sleepless night and a very impatient morning, he presented himself at the shepherd's house the next day as usual.

"Why didn't you come yesterday?" were Fairy's first words.

"My dear Fairy, we can't expect Mr. de Courcy to honour us with a visit every day," said Mrs. Shelley, reprovingly.

"Did you miss me? If I only dared to think you did!" said Rex, in French.

"Never mind that; I want to know why you did not come yesterday. Come, confess my foster-brother frightened you away now, didn't he?" said Fairy, in the same language.

And Rex, bargaining first for absolution, made a full confession of his fault, and, in spite of Mrs. Shelley's presence, would have gone on, under cover of a foreign language, to confess his love too, if the arrival of John Shelley had not stopped him. The shepherd looked grave when he saw Mr. de Courcy, but Rex made himself so pleasant and agreeable that the frown vanished from his face, and it was only after Rex had left that he resumed his grave look.

The shepherd was very silent during supper, and Mrs. Shelley was not wrong in her conjecture that there was a marital lecture in store for her when Fairy was gone to bed and they were alone.

"Polly," said the shepherd, suddenly, as Fairy's door closed, "how long has this been going on?"

"Has what been going on?" returned Mrs. Shelley, knowing well enough all the while what her husband meant.

"How long have you been deceiving me and allowing that young gentleman to steal my poor little Fairy's heart?" said John, sternly.

"I never deceived you in my life, John Shelley. How dare you say such a thing?" retorted Mrs. Shelley, warmly.

"And pray why should you want to put a stop to it? Why should not Fairy marry Mr. de Courcy if they care for each other?" asked Mrs. Shelley, anxious to divert John's attention from her offence.

"For two excellent reasons. First, we know nothing at all about him; pleasant as he appears, he may be a scamp for aught we know; and in the next place, supposing he is all he appears, it is quite certain neither Lady Oafham nor his own parents would hear of his marrying the foster-child of a poor shepherd."

"Mr. de Courcy a scamp! I am as certain he is all he seems to be as I am that you are an honest man, and for all we know Fairy may be as well-born as he is; and as for your stopping it, you will have a hard task to do that, I am sure."

"Hard or not, I shall do it, and at once," said John, decidedly, and Mrs. Shelley saw he was too vexed to be persuaded not to take the matter in his own hands, and, conscious as she was that he was right and that she had acted foolishly, though she was too proud to acknowledge it, she now thought it wiser to say no more about it, though she was intensely curious to know what he would do.

The next morning, when Fairy came back from the rectory to dinner, which these two generally ate alone, John and Charlie taking theirs with them, for they went as far as five or six miles from home with their flocks, Mrs. Shelley thought it better to warn Fairy of what was in store for her before Mr. de Courcy made his appearance that afternoon, as in the ordinary course of things he was sure to do; so, waiting till Fairy had finished her dinner, lest her news should destroy the girl's appetite, small enough at all times in Mrs. Shelley's opinion, she said, "Fairy, John is very angry with me for letting Mr. de Courcy come here so often. He told me of it last night after you were gone to bed, and he has not opened his lips to me since."

"John angry! Why should he be angry, mother? I thought he liked Mr. de Courcy. Perhaps some more sheep have died, and he is only grieving for them. You have made a mistake; he can't be angry about me."

"But he is, though. What is more, he is going to put a stop to Mr. de Courcy coming here."

"Oh, but mother, he can't do that. I shall tell Rex--I mean Mr. de Courcy--I wish him to come, and he just won't pay any attention to John. He will come all the same, I am sure," said Fairy, not at all alarmed by John's threat.

"I doubt it, Fairy. You have always done as you liked with John up to now, but now he has taken it into his head it is his duty to stop these visits, he will do it; even you won't be able to stop him. And if Mr. de Courcy should come this afternoon, you had better tell him John won't allow him to come to this house, because he is certain his relations would not approve of it if they knew. And, Fairy, take my advice, and tell him to-day, for I am half afraid it will be the last time you will see him."

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