PROVIDING FOR THE FUTURE.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2191, 21 September 1907, Page 1 (Supplement)

PROVIDING FOR THE FUTURE.

A LITTLE PROBLEM OF MARRIED LIFE. (By William George Jordan in the “Delineator.”) There is one problem that dominates ■the home, an obtrusive, pervasive problem, that ofit-times fills the whole horizon of life, one that, like Banquo’s ghost “will not down”; it is tho ever-present question of homo financing. When we have mastered the . “to. have,” the problem of the “■to ‘ hold” confronts us. It is the question of providing for the home, •which can never he properly answer ed until we realise that “provide” is a verb that should ever be conjugated in two tenses —present and future. There is in our modern life, too often a blind optimism, in living up to an income, in assumiing that because the sun of prosperity shines warmly to-day there is no need -.f providing umbrellas for a possible rainy to-morrow. Those who wisely

live within an income rarely have to face the problem of trying to live without one. There are two simple guarantees against future poverty and dependence upon others, two great safeguards for home and family—a bank-book and an insurance policy.

Providing for those nearest and dearest to tis is no special virtue for which we should receive a gold medal and a halo; it should not be construed as just a duty ; it is greater and bigger and sweeter than duty—it is ■a privilege that is ours alone. Financial independence can he secured by most men only by liard, careful saving; it means preparing in times of peace for the hour when fate may wage war against us, being ready for any 6ildden storm of sorrow, trial, affliction, accident or adversity, and ■holding poverty for a time at bay in trying hours when the individual is unable to stand bravely between bis loved ones and the world.

.Savting means wise economy, carefid planning, thoughtful managemmt and prudent forethought in handling the home funds, be they large or small. If met in the i> roper spirit, it brings husband and wife into

closer harmony, more loving co-op-eration and deeper recognition. of

■mutual helpfulness. The wife, too :

them becomes a money-earner, but it is in the mveet atmosphere of lior 'home, where she belongs; she is practically earning money by her wise economy and her wise saving. The savings 1 -tic is tho best and most practical v of keeping together small am its of money, for it is safe, cons : mtive, paye interest, and is available when it becomes necessary to call on this reserve. Systematic thrift will accomplish more than spurts and spasms of saving. If the members of the home finance committee decide that they can afford to set aside monthly or weekly a regular stated sum from the family income, it should bo -reserved religiously, and this surplus should not ho considered a» really belonging to them at the time, lint merely as part of a little fortune they are preparing to come into at a later date. Saving does not imply pemiriousness in the home info, but just wise Watchfulness against the invasion of the unnecessary, guarding agpinst the little leakages in the home expenses, in pitching the key of living in proper harmony with the incoming funds. There are times when tho needs of tho home aro so pressing and the income so small that it requires most careful straining merely to keep tho ship afloat, and saving seems impossible, but oven liero the true spirit of :i iving may serve to keep at the lowest possible point tho creeping invasion of debt that must somehow he paid later.

Tho savings bank is an excellent reserve in hours of sudden need, but when tho bread-winner of tiio homo is called forever from his defence of the family, an insurance policy often proves of inspiring helpfulness in the dark hour of loneliness and need. Tho very host wedding-gift that a young husband cun make his bride is an insurance policy. It carries wiitli it- a conviction of starting out right; it is a guarantee that living or dead hiis protection still will be the- constant atmosphere of her life. 'No amount of money spent on the little luxuries for the wife, no graceful attentions- or easy-going, libeiulity in household expenses, can ever compensate for the treason to love implied in forsaking the duty of insurance. The husband’s square, inevitable duty is to insure his life if he can possibly meet Iris premiums. The amount of his policy should be as large as he can afford with due recognition of his resources . and his other responsibilities. ■lnsurance should not he untQrink-

ingly be classified in the luxuries class; it should be faced as one of the stern, inevitable necessities of life that have an irritating way of rising superior to argument, like rent, food, fuel, tuxes, light, clothing and other unsuppressible and omnipresent elements of home life. Men whose hearts are in the right place on the insurance issue, bothered in the day-by-day battle with the seemingly immediate problems, often through mere thoughtlessness defer their manifest duty. But mere intentions to insure, no matter how

good and generous and genuine, amount to nothing unless translated into actual deeds. Tradesmen will not be likely to aceept- his good intentions as collateral when dealing with Jus heirs. - Wives are often infected with a strange hesitancy, an over-sensitive delicacy, in broaching, the subject cjf insurance to their unspeuking husbands. They fear that the suggestion 'might be misinterpreted, that they might be deemed mercenary or some other wildly improbable thing; so in a really cowardly way, that throws into eclipse tlieir own rights and their duty to their children, they suffer in- silence w'liat they feel is a slight of love’s consideration. Their simplest expression on the subject might have acted as an alarm clock on tho sleeping conscience of the husband, wakened him to his duty and stirred him to instant action. Tile result of this would li-ave been greater pence of mind to all concerned, and a hardly noticeable increase of present expenditure. In the future protection of the family, insurance for a given sum of money yields a greater return than almost anything. Until the provisions of saving and insurance, the two great provisions for the future of the family, are fully melt-ju the home, one of the great problems of married life remains unsolved.