CONSIDERATIONS 3 1 15 ) ’> 3 3 ’)) 3 33° 3 O 3 3 3 ’ ° 3 3 55 , ^ ^ O ’ ’ 1 ’ O § ** » c • f ’ ? * V 3 ■»’ 3 > >3 , * > , , , > ' ■* » » » * , • ** LIFE INSURANCE. BY A LADY. NEW-YORK: PUBLISHED BY 0O)e Jtlutnal Cife Insurance Compang, TRINITY BUILDING, 111 BROADWAY. 1855. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, By Frederick S. Winston, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New-York. II. Anstice & Co., Stationers, 5 Nassau-street, N. Y. ones THE MUTUAL Jiff Jitmaittf ©urnpaug OF NEW-YORK. OFFICE, 111 BROADWAY, TRINITY BUILDING. jr* INCORPORATED APRIL 13tli, 1843. ACCUMULATED ASSETS, $3,000,000. Amount of Claims by Death paid since Organization, over $ 1,50®,®©©! BOARD OF TRUSTEES. Frederick S. Winston, Robert H. M’Curdy, Gouverneur M. Wilkins. John V. L. Pruyn, William Betts, Isaac G. Pearson, William Moore, Joseph B. Collins, Eugene Dutilh, John H. Swift, George R. Clark, M. H. Grinnell, Wm. J. Bunker, John Wadsworth, Jonathan Miller, Abraham Bininger, Nathaniel Hayden, Joseph Blunt, John P. Yelyerton, Sam’l M. Cornell, John M. Stuart, Hamlin Blake, Alfred Edwards, Lucius Robinson, Richard Patrick, Samuel D. Babcock, Rodman G. Moulton, Charles J. Stedman, Lycurgus Edgerton, Lewis F. Battelle, Samuel E. Sproulls, Cephas H. Norton, John P. Treadwell, Ezra Wheeler, William H. Popham, W. Smith Brown. FREDERICK S. WINSTON, President. Actuary , Charles Gill. Secretary , Isaac Abbatt. Medical Examiner , Minturn Post, M. D. General Agent , Henry H. Hyde. IpZ.G'&tS iv [gF~ This Company is conducted on the strictly mutual principle, insuring for life or short terms , at fair cash rates , and with or without participation in profits, at the option of the insured. The Company grants En¬ dowment Policies and Annuities, at the most approved rates; and also embraces the new and important feature of “Accumulative or Deposit Policies,” whereby a fixed sum is secured absolutely by one payment, with power to increase the amount from time to time, and permission to withdraw a proportion of the deposit on any emergency. FINANCIAL VALUE OF POLICIES. On each Policy for the full term of life, which has run two years or more, this Company will issue, on ap¬ plication, a certificate of its cash value, thus rendering the Policy perfect security for a loan, or will purchase the same. Tables of rates, and all necessary information supplied, on application to the chief office, or to any of the Agents of the Company. FREDERICK S. WHsTSTOK, President. CONTENTS. PAGE Introductory. 1 Origin of Life Insurance. 2 General principles. 4 Tables of Calculation. 4 Manner of calculating Premiums, and their Value and Sale 5 How are the Company benefited. 7 Payment of future Policies. 8 Mode of effecting a Policy. 8 System most practical. 9 The problem of Life Insurance. 11 Woman’s Agency. 12 Considerations. 14 Financial View of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New-York. 19 Educational View. 22 Church Influence. 23 Further Examples. 27 Facts and Eesults. 32 Conclusion. 34 INTRODUCTORY. - • Solomon has fixed theafter^w^dom as the greatest glory of man. One of the mightiest streamlets which flow from the great reservoir of wis¬ dom and knowledge, to fit man for his high vocation, is the institution of Life Insurance. It presents con-' siderations of more palpable practical utility to man¬ kind, of more perpetual interest, and of more deep and vast import to the welfare of humanity, than has arisen from the mere discovery of any empire, sect, or star; and had we a clarion voice we would sound it long and loud throughout this broad land, until its knowledge and its influence were appreciated and felt by every interest everywhere. Standing upon the platform of Truth, and survey¬ ing man in his progress and destiny, we feel an espe¬ cial interest in our own beloved country ! The land of the free, the home of the Bible; and because the home of the Bible, the land of the free! What a spectacle do we present! The broad segis of the Constitution, unfurling its beautiful banner over such an immense area of territory, and such a bright 2 LIFE INSURANCE. galaxy of confederated States, giving to us in the view of all nations a charm, which, whilst familiarity can never remove, the most penetrating scrutiny must indubitably enhance. And that we may run our race with an increasing celerity and success, it behooves us, as a Christian people, to cast into the bosom of this Increasing population, the fundamental principles of Our happiness and safety, which are or¬ dained, settled, and established upon the great truths of revelation. II. ORIGIN OF LIFE INSURANCE. The science known as Life Insurance had its advent in the Old World one hundred and fifty-six years since. It was devised especially for the widows of clergymen, and for the settlement of annuities. Its principles went into operation by the u Mercer Com¬ pany,” and settled an amount upon the widow propor¬ tioned to that paid by her husband. The succeeding year another, including an assu¬ rance for orphans, was established. But the first gen¬ eral office for perpetual assurance was in seventeen hundred and six by a charter from Queen Anne. LIFE INSURANCE. 3 These in time were succeeded by the Royal Exchange and the London Assurance Companies. But until sev¬ enteen hundred and sixty-two there was no especial interest awakened by the subject, and then under the ; specious pretext of benefiting “ old age.’’ It was, however, not until the dawn of the nine¬ teenth century that the science of Life Insurance had any distinct hold on the popular mind. Since then upwards of one hundred well-organized companies have sprung into existence in the Old World. In the establishment of political rights which stamp¬ ed its impress on our early national history, and gave individuality to character, the love of name rather than gold retarded the introduction of this science within our limits ; and the Hospital Insurance Com¬ pany of Boston, established thirty years since, was the first practical demonstration of the system in the Uni¬ ted States; the New York Life and Trust Company followed four years latter ; but until eighteen hundred and forty-three few had availed themselves of its ad¬ vantages, when the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, the first mutual company in the coun¬ try, laid the foundation for its career of usefulness and influence, which, thus far, is without parallel in the annals of Life Insurance in this country or Europe. 4 LIFE INSURANCE. III. GENERAL PRINCIPLES. Life Insurance is de facto an agreement by a com¬ pany to consider the good of the individual mem¬ bers, so that those who are seeking their own are ac¬ tively securing the happiness and comfort of others. The brevity of life, and the mutability of its condition, seems to have been the design by which Providence has brought out, through the instrumentality of his creatures, such counteracting influences as by pru¬ dence and ingenuity will confer the highest moral benefits on all conditions of society. This Life Insu- j ranee not only purposes, but demonstrably performs. The exhibit of that branch of science and associ¬ ation, which secures a safe termination to an uncer- j tain event, is thus secured ; and when the principles on which it is founded are rightly estimated, too high i an appreciation cannot be placed upon it, nor can its application be too widely extended. IV. TABLES OF CALCULATION. Observations upon large masses of society, as to the duration of human life, constitute the data LIFE INSURANCE. 5 which are technically termed “ tables of mortality.” The first of these commanding attention for accu¬ racy and utility, was framed by Dr. Newman, of Breslau, Silesia, why gave the subject unremitting attention for five years. This, though incomplete, furnished a foundation to Dr. E. Halley, and has formed the basis of subsequent calculation, which the progress of science and the advancement of learning have still further perfected. The Northampton tables, by Dr. Price, in seventeen hundred and sixty-nine, and the Carlisle tables of Dr. Heysham, of England, seventeen hundred and eighty-seven, have been the standard guides in the business. The most skilful actuaries in this country and in England have, how¬ ever, given decided preference to those of Carlisle; and as they are generally conceded to afford a more reliable estimation of longevity in this country, are adopted, after some emendations, as the criterion of this Company. y. MANNER OF CALCULATING PREMIUMS, AND THEIR VALUE AND SALE. The premiums required to purchase a given amount of insurance are derived from the tables of mortality 6 LIFE INSURANCE. by strict mathematical calculation. If the premium for a certain age be known, it is easy to compute the premium for the age one year younger. Thus, take the given premium from ,the amount insured thereby, multiply the remainder by the number living at that age in the Life Table, and divide by the num¬ ber living at the age one year younger; subtract the result from the amount insured, and the remainder, discounted for one year, will be the single premium for the next younger age. Now the premium at the oldest age in the table is known, for it is the sum in¬ sured, discounted for one year; and thus the premi¬ ums for all ages can be derived. It is, however, sometimes more advisable to pay the insurer an annual sum. Hence, a table of rates is made by dividing the single premium for each age by the value of an annuity of one dollar at that age increased by unity ; the result is the premium to be paid at the beginning of every year during life. A Policy yearly becomes more valuable, and is as¬ signable property, by which money can be raised by sale or by assignment. In the event of sale, the pur¬ chaser becomes responsible for the future premiums. But his advantage lies in paying a less premium than would have been required at the age of sale. For ex¬ ample : a man of fifty sells a policy effected at thirty- eight ; he pays only that of the latter age, and thus avoids the larger premium. In lieu of two hundred ____ LIFE INSURANCE. 7 and thirty dollars, the premium at fifty, he pays but one hundred and fifty-two, a difference of seventy- eight dollars. This Company will also purchase their policies after two annual payments are made, thus redeeming from the insured the responsibility of the contract, and this is termed a surrender of the policy. VI. HOW ARE THE COMPANY BENEFITED. From the most delicate investigation of* the value of life and money, there is no way by which the Com¬ pany insuring avoids loss, but by due regard to the fundamental laws of chance, and the most perfect sys¬ tem of generalization. Taking the tables of Carlisle, the insurer assumes the man of thirty to have thirty- four more years to live. The premium is thus ar¬ ranged. If the death occurs earlier, the Company suf¬ fers loss ; but if the business be so extended as to allow the full effect of average, the loss by premature death will always be counterbalanced by those whose lon¬ gevity is prolonged beyond the average of the calcu¬ lating tables; and the large percentage arising from accumulations of interest, and the forfeiture and sur¬ render of time policies, are also auxiliary to this end. 8 LIFE INSURANCE. VII. PAYMENT OF FUTURE POLICIES. Policies are, by the rules of this Company, vitiated by any delay of payment. This neglect, unless un¬ der very extenuating circumstances, would subject the insured to a re-examination, when, if found unsound in health, would be a forfeiture forever. A person, for example, is insured at forty, and pays $150 ; an omission at fifty causes a re-examination, when an additional amount of $70 would be added, making a premium of $220, in lieu of that required by ordina¬ ry promptness. VIII. MODE OF EFFECTING- A POLICY. In order to effect an insurance upon life, it is re¬ quisite that the age, date of birth, residence, occupa¬ tion, constitution, health, and habits of the applicant be stated. This is ascertained, not only by the testi¬ mony of the family physician, and of some friend, whose intimate knowledge of the party entitle them to make the representation, but also by some respon¬ sible member of the medical faculty, who is the ex- LIFE INSURANCE. 9 amining physician of this Company ; and these requi¬ sitions are a sine qua non . IX. SYSTEM MOST PRACTICAL. The purely mutual cash Life Insurance system commends itself as superior in all respects. Its leading feature is accumulation , which enables it to sustain and perpetuate itself, and pay large sums in future to each contributor. It is composed wholly of persons interested in its legitimate benefits, which equally predominate in every department, as regards its premiums, privileges, and profits. Its first resource is from the premiums of its first policy issues. The party insuring in this Company is responsible for the amount of his annual premium, and for that only, so long as he may choose to be a member, provision be¬ ing made for withdrawal, on equitable terms, when so proposed. At stated periods this Company makes a mathemat¬ ical valuation of all policies, and the surplus is divided among all the members, who participate in mathe¬ matical ratio. This accumulation is added in this Company to the original amount of policy, to he paid LIFE INSURANCE. 10 when the policy takes effect , or it can go to partici¬ pate in payment of future premiums, as the parties shall agree. The premiums in this Company are received only in Cash, and the funds are invested in bonds and mortgages on real estate, worth in all cases double the amount loaned. It preserves in its charter the great vital prin¬ ciples, to which the success of the best English com¬ panies is attributable, viz., the cash principle, and the retaining of dividends until the death of the assured. Thus the compounding of profit upon profit is se¬ cured. For example : a person at twenty-five years of age takes a policy in this office for $5000, for which he pays the annual premium of one hundred dollars. In thirty years he will have paid at this rate three thousand dollars. Now these one hundred dol¬ lars have been accumulating to his credit at the rate of six and a half or seven per cent., compound inter¬ est, and in many cases will very greatly enhance the amount of the Policy. Stock companies, on the contrary, are confessedly designed for the paramount benefit of the stockholder , and guarantee only the amount of policy, without participating in its profits. ! LIFE INSURANCE. 11 X. THE PROBLEM OF LIFE ASSURANCE. Ignorance and superstition have receded as science advanced in its conquests, until what is termed chance 10 longer looks capricious or wicked. Inorganic mat- :er has laws imposed by the All-Ruling Spirit of the Universe, and equally unalterable with those enun¬ ciated by Holy Writ. Organic matter, also has its aws—to investigate which is the province of human ’eason. Man in his individual life is uncertain and enigmat- cal, but in the mass he is a mathematical problem. This is true of actions as of life. Mental phenomena ire on this same principle mysterious in the segregate mature; in the aggregate, as regular as natural phe- lomena. No one can determine the atmosphere of to-mor- ■ow; but the quantity of rain in any given place in en or twenty years is that of the same preceding pe- i°d, and so on from the creation to our day. So vhat to us looks like chance is subject to as unalter¬ able laws as those which govern the material world. Fire and Marine Insurance are founded on this prin- ;iple. After an extended observation over immensely >opulated districts, for more than two centuries, it is 12 LIFE INSURANCE. easy to compute, by mathematical reasoning, how many of each given age will die in any one year; though of the life or health of the individual man, no human being has ever assumed to know. Human life has been distinguished, by Divine au¬ thority, for several epochs in longevity. From the creation to the flood, the extremest age in the race of human existence was seen; it then materially dimin¬ ished for two centuries, when another change per¬ ceptibly began, which has since been the average: duration of man’s probationary state, and to which! God has aflixed this limit until time shall be no more. Life Assurance, then, rests on Divine law, as its only true basis; and the assured, in so doing, at once places: himself under the protection of this law. Hence it banishes speculation from society, and brings all things] in subjection to Divine government and will. XL woman’s agency. To woman, who in the main is the especial benefit ciary of Life Insurance, we would say, if you are soli citous for its increasing diffusion, show it in you, words and by your works. This is a work on whicl, you may gladly smile. LIFE INSURANCE. 13 Woman’s influence lies in the power of properly jultivated affections. Her empire is the heart. Seek- ng no authority, insisting on no right, she for this •eason is successful when the question is right. And wherever the human mind has been regenerated, and mman character elevated, in each and all the true noral reforms of the world, Providence has chosen ler as a powerful auxiliary. It is the wife, the moth¬ er, the daughter, and the sister, who need to be pro- ected when their natural protector is taken away, t is to these Life Insurance makes its appeal; and or these may not man be taught to practise prudence, sobriety, and economy, and become the possessor of a ife policy ? What a crush and ruin to these would t not save ! What oceans of lamentation and wail- Qg would give place to their rejoicing and perma- tent joy for a “ heritable habitation,” secured to them hrougli this institution ! We are compelled to urge female influence and agency in this great work of the age, and ashamed o confess that she who is most interested has hith- rto done nothing. Nothing! We appeal to her by -11 the claims of virtue, by all the sufferings of hu- oanity, to delay no longer. The American mind is | wakening to the benign influences of Life Insurance, nd needs but her active persuasions to melt it on his subject into one flow of emotion. 2 LIFE INSURANCE. 14 XII. CONSIDERATIONS. Life Insurance increases l^he happiness, the dignity, the wisdom, and tli q power of all men. Happiness, in the fact that life and health are often prolonged by being provided against the consequences of death. Unrestrained freedom to the mind infuses vigor and spring, which lead to the largest intellec¬ tual development. Dignity, in the consciousness that the whole man is ennobled, in the proper performance of a duty, which i he covenanted before God when he assumed the ob- ligations of the husband and father. Wisdom, in adopting all the appliances the case may demand, whether from a limited or extended re¬ source, looking equally to the future, and securing, beyond all possible contingency, not only alimony I and education for his children, but position, which always follows virtuous exertion. And, lastly, Power, which as naturally succeeds to; man’s influence, when he feels the responsibility of; moral obligation, and will not neglect it, as that the! earth turns upon its axis, or water seeks its level. Other property may be subject to incumbrance, and the widow and orphan find their expectations giving place to the creditor. But to the honor of the Legis- LIFE INSURANCE. 15 lature of the State of New York, and a few other States of this Union, be it said, a life policy in a re¬ sponsible Company is raised above all doubt and cavil; and under all circumstances or conditions, its benefits instantly inure to the family of the deceased, without any legal formality, but the testimony which shows the policy to be effective. By this wise legisla¬ tion a sufficient amount is guarantied, against all the claims of a creditor, to insure to the wife the privilege of a life policy upon her husband. Does she object that it becomes available by his death ? Then she should object to any testamentary devise. By his labor or earnings he reared the tenement she has been left to occupy ; by the same prudent investment of savings or earnings, he obtained a life policy. Seeing what Life Assurance is destined, under our free institutions, to accomplish, we hold it up to the American people as a great germ of civilization, a great sinew of education, a great stimulant to exer¬ tion, a great instrument of our moral elevation. And man should leave his fellows, and seek some passive Hindoo or stupid Hottentot tribe, if in view of all his obligations, he wilfully shuts out the light, that, like a Roman emperor, he may think he thus shuts out justice. How many now, occupants of our almshouses, houses of refuge, asylums of the indigent, and other humane and charitable institutions of the age, might 16 LIFE INSURANCE. have been useful and influential members of society, had their fathers, their husbands, and their brothers saved them this degradation, by the avails of a life policy ! If the annunciation were made to-day, “ Ihou shalt die, and not live !” how many of our business men, living in affluence, would not feel the immense importance of a life policy to their families! How many families, trusting to their fathers solicitude and care, and perhaps thinking he needs no life policy, would find themselves without money, in all the afflic¬ tions of poverty! In all good resolves, the purpose formed should be the plan executed. In Life Insurance it is an impera¬ tive duty. Decision, resolution, energy, action, would have brought hosts into the ranks of the assiued, and saved the crush and ruin to an infinite number in our land, which its absence has ruined forever. LIFE INSURANCE. 17 XIII. FINANCIAL VIEW OF THE NEW YOF.K ,MUTTJAI, ,LXFF INSURANCE COvIPA^NY. ' * ' -1 B ) » n ’ 1 , O V C I Financial Header, reflect that youj Who ire® expending $o6'0*, $1000, or $2000 per annum, are afe^drang' ad inter¬ est upon the respective sums of° $7000,’ $15,*000, oV $30,000, as the case may be. Then would it not be wise to secure against all doubt at least a portion of this income to those for whom you are bound to pro¬ vide, when you are taken away ? A life policy in this Company wdll attain the end—other trusts may fail. “ I cannot afford it” is your reply. Then if you are unable with your present income to make such pro¬ vision , how will your wife and children endure the double bereavement uithout you , and without your income ? At the cost of present self-denial, is it not wise to obtain a life policy for even a small amount ? Cost of securing a Home. A friend guarantees to you at the age of twenty- five a dwelling for your family, at your decease, worth $5000, upon the payment of $25 quarterly, or $100 per annum, and not only so, but that probably a large share of each of these annual payments may be added 2 * 18 LIFE INSURANCE. in the way of accumulation : can you hesitate to ac¬ cept such an offer ? This reliable Life Insurance Company make just such a one. 1 , - 4 i eneficial effects of Life Insurance; they are scattered >roadcast over the length and breadth of the land, udge ye for yourselves. XVI. FURTHER EXAMPLES. Capt. Harrington, of the Charles Belcher, at New Orleans, made his last voyage to St. Louis, in 1853. le announced to the crew that he held a policy of >5000 on his life, and urged its claims upon their ac- eptance. He soon unexpectedly found a watery jrave. Mrs. H. in due time received from our office he amount of this policy, the most undoubted evi- ience he had given of his love, to shield her in the larkest period of her history. The congregation of the Rev. Dr. Adams, of Syra- use, N. Y., presented him with a life policy of insu- ance in this company for $2500, in lieu of some rivolous New-Year presents. Before the year ended, he policy had become available, and was paid to the vidow. A gentleman of unquestioned piety in one of our 3 26 LIFE INSURANCE. southern cities, speaks of his extraordinary tranquil- lity of mind, during a severe and protracted disease, | in which all hope of recovery had been abandoned by his friends. When unexpectedly restored, he at- j tributed this serenity to an entire absorption in the i Divine will. “My wife was protected by a life policyjt of insurance ; and I felt I had nothing to do but to die.” To this tranquillity of mind may be ascribed his recovery. Reader, have recourse to it, to meets you in the troubles of life ! The subject of Life Insurance was earnestly pre¬ sented at the house of T. G. & Co., of Pine-street, New York city. The principal clerk, Mr. W., re-| marked, “ It is a good work : I will consider, andi some day embrace it.” But a week had passed be¬ fore he had gone to that bourne from which no traveller returns. The family were left without pe¬ cuniary protection against the stern realities of life. A merchant of New England, convinced of the ne¬ cessity of Life Insurance, deferred the application from pressure of time, but resolved shortly to apply for a policy of $ 5000 . A fishing excursion led him from home, to which he never returned—a sunbeam extin¬ guished life ! A druggist in Providence, R. I., declined under the idea that early life and fulness of health left no ne¬ cessity for immediate action, and soon, too, he was numbered with the dead. LIFE INSURANCE. 27 Mr. H., of the town of Hannibal, Mo., immersed in successful business enterprises, was advised to take out a policy of $5000 to meet any mutation which might possibly occur. He died soon after doing so, and an insolvent estate soon showed that this policy alone remained for the widow. Mrs. H. was asked how Life Insurance seemed to her. u The most impor¬ tant object of a worldly character,” said she. “This amount has been safely invested ; it has saved me and my children : by economy and carefulness they have been educated, and the interest now gives us comparative independence. Oliver L., of Evansville, Indiana, was induced to make application for a life policy in this Company. “I am in fine health, however, and not goingto die,” said he. Before the writer reached New York, his death was announced from typhus fever; and the policy was paid within sixty days from the interview. Facts demonstrate that not five in one hundred business men ever reach the goal of their pursuit in the United States. In this institution not one ever failed to secure the desired object who paid the pre¬ mium. A gentleman of great legal ability and reputation, expressed amazement that so few of his profession had looked into this great scheme of philanthropy. “ I have,” said he, u insured my life, because I consider it the only real safe source of investment known 28 LIFE INSURANCE. among men. All other species of property may feel the caprice of fortune, or the mutations of time. But i where the State law is clear, as in New York, no mis¬ take can possibly arise ; and with my faith in the moneyed power and the incorruptible character of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York, I shall leave that institution as guardian to my orphan chil¬ dren, to pay out of my policy, when death makes it effectual, an annuity for their education and alimony, preferring it as a depository of money to all other in¬ stitutions ever devised.” A shipbuilder in the commercial metropolis of our country, reflecting upon the marine disasters of the past year, became sensible that something was needed more sure than that offered by a marine or fire insu¬ rance company to provide for a future which might be near at hand. His ships had all been fully in¬ sured, but the insurers had not all met their liabilities. Others floating upon oceans and lakes had been sold upon a credit equally hazardous. “ I am a father,” said he : “ shall I leave my offspring to the sport of the winds and the waves ? I may give them much, I will insure them a little ; I will secure them against want.” An application for a life policy of $5000 was effected, and soon met the case for which it was pro¬ vided. Fancied security is often present danger. Two eminently respectable Germans, brothers, on making this the country of their adoption, sought a LIFE INSURANCE. 29 permanent home. The Mutual Life Insurance Com¬ pany of New York attracted their attention, and each at once became a policy-holder for $1000. Accident causing injury, and resulting in the death of one, placed the other in possession of a home, to which other members of his family have been invited to re¬ sort ; and which, from due attention to business, and his own life protected, he has no difficulty to pre¬ serve. An operative in one of our large manufactories was warned by an accident from the breaking of ma¬ chinery, to think of the momentary dangers belonging to this avocation in life. He remarked to his wife on her utter helplessness, afflicted as she was by disease, in the event of her protector being thus snatched away, “ I spend fifty cents per week for tobacco; with that I will cheerfully dispense, to save myself the constant anxiety I have, fearing you and my children may be thrown upon public charity.” After jointly determin¬ ing to observe a more rigid economy, a life policy was effected for the annual sum that $50, paid in quarterly instalments, would purchase. The revulsions in the financial and commercial world during the past year, have caused increased dil¬ igence and a thoughtful forecast, which has not hith¬ erto been seen in this country. A merchant in New England, prominent in the com¬ mercial world, in devising by will a life policy, made 3* 30 LIFE INSURANCE. this remark: “In justice to my family, I ten years ago insured my life. In justice to my creditors, I have since increased its amount. Its value is now such as to remove all anxiety for the one or the other. My creditor shall not jeopard his property on the con¬ tingency of human life, when it is so easy to render him secure by an insurance policy on my life. My fam¬ ily shall not be trusted to the precarious nature of my business fortune, when the payment of a small por¬ tion of my annual receipts can secure them independ- ence.” How many merchants have such a will pro¬ vided ? Have you ? He who has not embraced Life Insurance has a de¬ gree to win in the elevation of mind. A young man in New York city who had risen to high intellectual promise, and had become the idol and support of a widowed mother and sister, was suddenly removed by typhoid fever. They thought they saw in his de¬ parture dependence, privation, and want, when an examination in his cabinet-drawer made the discovery of a policy of $5000 on his life in full force. Verily this young man had taken the highest degree in life! “ Are you insured ?” said an intelligent advocate of this humane system to a retail merchant in Pennsyl¬ vania. “ I am not; but my assets exceed my liabili¬ ties. I have little to fear in a pecuniary revulsion. ,, Death ensued; these assets did not realize fifty per cent.—no life policy was found to make up the defi- LIFE INSURANCE. 31 \ ciency. The family resort to the humblest occupa¬ tions of life for their daily bread. Rev. Mr.-of the South insured his own life for $3000. His declining health unfitted him for the sacred duties of his vocation, and obliged him to leave his charge. The means of continuing the premium ended. His sorrowing congregation thought nothing of this, until the annunciation of his premature death, and the destitution of his family, reminded them what might have been done. Christians ! if you love your Master above, provide for his messengers, as he sends them to you, below. A person employed in a piano manufactory on Broadway, Hew York, had been, through the persua¬ sions of a friend in Brooklyn, induced to make appli¬ cation for a life policy. “ I have decided to perfect it,” said he to his friend, “ but having bought a piano for my wife, that has first to be paid for; then I will secure my policy.” He died within one month after this conversation. The piano has been paid for, but the life policy was thus lost forever. Where ignorance is most profound, there dogma¬ tism is most presumptuous. “ I wish to have my life insured in your Company,” said a gentleman to the General Agent in a city of Louisiana, “ but my wife interposes, and I cannot satisfy her of its propriety. Will you converse with her?” Its tendency to pro¬ long life at once arrested her attention ; and when its 32 LIFE INSURANCE. various advantages had been fully explained, “ Doc¬ tor,” said she to her husband, “ I am no longer op¬ posed; take out a policy on your life, but go the whole figure—nothing less than $10,000 !” Application for a policy in behalf of the wife was made by a gentleman who had wasted the fortune of one of the most gifted ladies of the country. His habits rendered the application nugatory. When this last hope for herself and children failed, and she saw the desolation of poverty before her, her imagination painted it in such colors as to consign her to an in¬ sane asylum. A lady, unacquainted with the system, induced her husband to take a policy for a term of years—she objected to insuring his life for the full continuance of it. The period has now expired, and disease prevents its renewal and extension. To our misguided friend we can only say, insure now your own life, that the objects of your maternal love shall not be wholly unprotected. XVII. FACTS AND RESULTS. Policy 243 was held by a medical gentleman for $1000. He made four payments of $25.70 each. It LIFE INSURANCE. 33 had been issued in favor of his wife : her death oc¬ curred before his own, and the amount was paid to the guardian, who from its proceeds is now educating his little orphans of 9 and 11 years of age. Policies 2085 and 2086, for $500 each, became avail¬ able by the death of the holder the same year of their issue, and thus $18.60 secured $1000 to the widow. Policy 1197 was issued to a creditor in New York up¬ on a debtor in the West. Two payments of $17.50 were made, when death secured the hopeless debt of $700. # Policy 1799 was held for $1000. The holder in¬ quired when his next payment was due, and was in¬ formed, two weeks hence. “ I find from my pecuniary affairs I can enlarge that policy to $1000.’’ “ Better make application to-day.” “ No ; there will be time enough.” In forty-eight hours he was a dead man ! The widow received the value of the existing policy the day the premium would have been due. Policy 7302 was issued in August—a quarterly payment of $12.10 was made: death ensued in No¬ vember. From the proceeds of this policy a com¬ fortable dwelling for the widow is purchased, and she has secured a policy on her own life for the benefit of her children. Should not this Christian system be sustained by the inspiration of woman’s genius and the generous purity of her affections ? A volume might be filled with similar examples in this Company, but we pause. 34 LIFE INSURANCE. CONCLUSION Nature imprints the only indelible character, and nature has never bestowed vested rights in wealth, title, or nobility. Life Insurance fits man to brave the vicissitudes of fortune, and triumphs over them. It takes away the necessity of adventitious aid, and often saves him from annihilation. Its general acceptance would secure general educa¬ tion and freedom of thought, inspire vigorous exertion and self-reliance, and that thorough sense of individ¬ ual responsibility, which gives elasticity and caution in every path of life. The pedestal is no more included in the measure of the statue, than is fortune in the real worth of the man. When dependence weighs upon the spirit, the weal of the whole man is endangered. This is evidenced in its operation upon the noblest minds of statesmen and rulers in our own and other lands. Even Pitt, in the palmiest days of his influence, was not insensible to this embarrassment on finding an officer ready to lay hands on him for debt, whilst he was officially dining the highest dignitaries of the English nation. We see that Powers, the prince of American sculp¬ tors, has dignified woman by making her the repre¬ sentative of his America. What sublimity in the thought that expressive marble conveys ! With up- LIFE INSURANCE. 35 lifted hand, calm determination, and unshaken faith, she saved the colony of Virginia, and by the same sacred influences she becomes the hope of a whole continent. And it seems now to be the high destiny of the American woman, that she shall not disappoint, or be herself disappointed, in that hope which she in¬ spires, that she, whether in the capacity of wife, sister, or daughter, should give her active influence in diffu¬ sing the blessings of Life Insurance to every rank and condition of our people. Plead, ye- fair countrywo¬ men, with your natural protectors and guardians, upon this momentous subject. There is not a husband who would not listen to the entreaty of the wife, who has been the companion of his youth, in behalf of such a cause ; there is not a father who would not thrill with emotion at the sug¬ gestion of his daughter, who by labor and sacrifice he had made accomplished and happy, when loving and honoring him for all, she reminds him of what she might be called to suffer when the strong arm of his protection should be irrevocably taken away ; not a brother, who has the right estimate of woman, who would not sooner abridge the superfluities of his pres¬ ent expenses, than trust his defenceless sister, or per¬ haps his unprotected mother, to all the chances of ca¬ price or misfortune. Fathers, husbands, and brothers! will you not hearken? Young man, consider the magnitude of 36 LIFE INSURANCE. your position, and maintain it by adopting the salu¬ tary advantages which, directly and remotely, arise from the possession of a life policy. Let this tree of independence once take root in our soil, and its branches will soon extend to the remotest borders of our limits, its fruit will be present reward, and posterity will cherish and extend it for centuries to come.