A PRUDENT YOUNG LADY.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3159, 12 August 1881, Page 3

A PRUDENT YOUNG LADY.

A beautiful and bashful young woman, of about nineteen summers, called at the office of a life insurance agent last week and asked him timidly if he could tell her how long people of a certain age would lire. ' Madam,' replied the agent coughing respectfully behind a prospectus, and drawing his chair a little nearer to her, ' here are our tables of expectation and average mortality, which contain all the information on that subject that you can desire.' ' Well,' she said, ' how long will a man of 67, and that eats peas with a knife, lire ?' 'According to our table, madam,'replied the agent, ' he should on an average, survive eleven years, three months, and sixteen days.' ' That,' said the visitor, ' would be till the Ist of August, 1891 ?' 'Precisely, madam, on the average expectation mortality, for we must all die, and it is therefore, well to insure against loss to the loved ones in a company whose character— , ' And how much could I insure his life for? , 'Oh, for any amount, say £1000,' he answered, taking up a blank form of application j ' let me recommend the unexampled advantages offered by our non-forfeitable endowment policy.' 1 Well,' said the young woman, ' I think then, that I'll marry him.' ' Insure him, you mean ?' replied the agent. ' No, marry him ; you insure him. You see,' she added, with a burst of confidence, ' I love Herbert, and Mr Dawkins is old enough to be my grandfather. But Herbert is poor, and I just worship the corner lots that Mr Dawkins builds on. And Herbert is very patient, and says that if I will only name a day, no matter how long he may have to wait, he will be happy. Now, you say that Mr Dawkins will die by the Ist of August, 1891, and it wouldn't be decent to marry again till I've been a year in mourning. I'll arrange to marry Herbert on the 2nd August, 1892, and if Mr Dawkins doesn't f die by then you'll give me £1000. Oh,, thank you,' and with a deep bow she swept out of the office.