seventy-five, I had fifty pounds at the Post-office Savings Bank, and I might have had sixty, only I took a holiday in August, and went down with Susan for a week to * Margate, where we were rather free. And here I found out another advantage of this wonderful Post-office Bank. Susan and I went boating, and raffling, and driving in chaises, and ran short, and were likely to be in a fix, until I looked over the rules and regulations in my bankbook, when I learned that I might withdraw my money at any Post-office Savings Bank in the kingdom, by giving notice to that effect. So I sent up the usual notice of withdrawal to London-I keep a dozen of them stitched together in a cover, and call it my cheque-book-stating that I wanted to withdraw the money at the post-office at Margate; and, almost by return, back came the withdrawal paper, and I had nothing to do but go to the post-office and get it cashed. And the forms don't cost you a farthing-there's no postage to pay; and when the time comes for you to send up your book to the chief office in London for the interest at two and a half per cent. to be calculated and added to your account-which is the anniversary of the day on which the first deposit was made-the PostmasterGeneral sends you a big envelope for the purpose. Altogether, it's the best regulated thing I ever came across, and if it doesn't make people save, nothing will. But it does, I'm sure. Look at Bardsley's shop now, to what it was. Why, that little box with the pigeon-hole, where they used to do the post-office order business, has swollen into a great banking department, and there's Bardsley himself, with a clerk to help him, at it all day long, with piles of bank-notes and bowls full of sovereigns beside them just like *Twining's, or the Bank of England itself. Bardsley's proud of it, too; I know he is. He's never behind the counter now, serving tea and sugar; he leaves that to his young men ; he's a banker, bless you. I don't believe I should ever have saved anything if these Post-office Savings Banks hadn't come up; and I am sure if it was generally known how handy and convenient they are, thousands like myself would take advantage of them, and soon learn to be careful and provident. If there's a philanthropist that's hard up for an object, I don't know what he could do better than go about distributing tracts setting forth the rules and regulations and advantages of the Post-office Savings Banks. Odd Fellow. One of a Club Birmingham. A great manu- Clerkenwell. A district of London where there is a great Prison, and many watch makers carry on their trade Midsummer. The 24th of June Margate. A seaside town in Bank in the Strand, London. LIFE INSURANCE. representatives, those who stand facilities, things which make it disparaging, finding fault. THERE are other ways of saving wisely besides putting money into the Savings Bank. The plan of paying weekly, monthly, or yearly sums into an office which provides for a certain payment in case of death is an excellent way of providing for those that are dependent on a man-viz., his wife and children. No man can be sure how long he will live, and although he may save money, yet, if he die early, before he has had time to save much, his wife and family may be in distress. Life insurance, as it is called, is a means by which this danger is got over. A number of persons agree each to pay a small sum periodically, so that whenever one of them dies, be it the next week or in twenty years, his representatives may have a certain sum of money. The office which enables these persons to combine together is called an insurance office. Life being so uncertain, the sooner a man makes up his mind to insure his life in this sense the better. When he has done so, the next thing he must do is to decide in what office, and in what way, he will do it. There is a striking passage written by the poet *Addison, in his "Vision of Mirza," in which life is pictured as a passage over a bridge of about a hundred arches. A black cloud hangs over each end of the bridge. At the entrance to it there are hidden pitfalls very thickly set, through which throngs disappear so soon as they have placed their feet upon the bridge. They grow thinner towards the centre; they gradually disappear; until at length only a few persons reach the further side, and these also having dropped through the pitfalls, the bridge at its further extremity becomes entirely clear. The description of Addison corresponds with the results of the observations made as to the duration of human life. Of a hundred thousand persons born in this country a fourth of them die before they have reached their fifth year, and one half before they have reached their fiftieth year. One thousand one hundred will reach their ninetieth year. Sixteen will live to a hundred. And only two persons out of the hundred thousand will reach the advanced and helpless age of one hundred and five years. Acting on this knowledge, Life Assurance or Insurance Societies are able to undertake to pay a certain sum at death to all who keep up regular payments to them of small sums at fixed dates; for those who live long and pay regularly enable the society to provide for those who die early, and no one knows who may thus have the benefit of the forethought and prudence of all. The same principle is applied to insurances which are made to secure a pension or a sum of money on attaining a certain age. Thus a man may begin at the age of twenty to insure that at the age of sixty, if he live so long, he may receive £100, or if he die before that his relations should receive £50. The ways which now exist to encourage providence, prudence, and thrift are many and various, and only need inquiry and a little thought to be adapted to all circumstances. There are private and public companies that undertake to carry on this sort of business, some more reliable than others. The Post Office provides facilities of this kind. But care should be taken in selecting an Insurance Company. In choosing one other than the Post Office, ascertain that it is of known respectability, and of long standing. As a rule, an office should rather be avoided which holds out very great advantages to insurers, and charges much lower premiums than others. Without disparaging his intelligence, scarcely any man can be supposed to understand the long strings of figures which are presented to the public in the published accounts of most companies. Consequently, an ordinary person, whether workman or not, must, in making his selection, depend to a great extent on the reputation and standing of a company. Length of establishment is a very important point, for it must be remembered that a Life Insurance Company does not begin to be severely tried until it has been established some years, and principally when from twenty-five to thirty years old. At first it chiefly receives money from the yearly payments |