"Why," continued the enthusiastic gentleman, "I shall in that case be
allowed from the company 6 pounds a week, until recovered, or, in the
event of my sinking under my injuries within three months after the
accident, the whole sum of 1000 pounds will be paid to my family."
Mrs Tipps smiled and nodded her head approvingly, but Mrs Marrot still
looked dubious.
"But, sir," she said, "supposin' you don't get either hurt or killed?"
"Why then," replied the elderly gentleman, "I'm all right of course, and
only 50 shillings out of pocket, which, you must admit, is but a
trifling addition to the expenses of a three months' tour. Besides,
have I not had three months of an easy mind, and of utter regardlessness
as to my life and limbs? Have not my wife and boys had three months of
easy minds and indifference to my life and limbs also! Is not all that
cheaply purchased at 30 shillings? while the sum itself, I have the
satisfaction of knowing, goes to increase the funds of that excellent
company which enables you and me and thousands of others to become so
easy-minded and reckless, and which, at the same time, pays its
fortunate shareholders a handsome dividend."
"Really, sir," said Mrs Tipps, laughing, "you talk so enthusiastically
of this Insurance Company that I almost suspect you to be a director of
it."
"Madam," replied the elderly gentleman with some severity, "if I _were_
a director of it, which I grieve to say I am not, I should only be doing
my simple duty to it and to you in thus urging it on your attention.
But I am altogether uninterested in it, except as a philanthropist. I
see and feel that it does good to myself and to my fellow-men,
_therefore_ I wish my fellow-men to appreciate it more highly than they
do, for it not only insures against accident by railway, but against all
kinds of accidents; while its arrangements are made to suit the
convenience of the public in every possible way."
"Why, madam," he continued, kindling up again and polishing his head
violently, "only think, for the small sum of 4 pounds paid annually, it
insures that you shall have paid to your family, if you chance to be
killed, the sum of 1000 pounds, or, if not killed, 6 pounds a week while
you are totally laid up, and 1 pound, 10 shillings a week while you are
only partially disabled. And yet, would you believe it, many persons
who see the value of this, and begin the wise course of insurance, go on
for only a few years and then foolishly give it up--disappointed, I
presume, that no accident has happened to them! See, here is one of
their pamphlets!"
He pulled a paper out of his pocket energetically, and put on a pair of
gold spectacles, _through_ which he looked when consulting the pamphlet,
and _over_ which he glanced when observing the effect of what he read on
Mrs Tipps.
"What do I find--eh? ha--yes--here it is--a Cornish auctioneer pushed
back a window shutter--these are the very words, madam--what more he did
to that shutter, or what it did to him, is not told, but he must have
come by _some_ damage, because he received 55 pounds. A London clerk
got his eye injured by a hair-pin in his daughter's hair--how suggestive
that is, madam! what a picture it calls up of a wearied toil-worn man
fondling his child of an evening--pressing his cheek to her fair head--
and what a commentary it is (he became very stern here) on the use of
such barbarous implements as hair-pins! I am not punning, madam; I am
much too serious to pun; I should have used the word savage instead of
barbarous.
"Now, what was the result? This company gave that clerk compensation to
the extent of 26 pounds. Again, a medical practitioner fell through the
floor of a room. It must have been a bad, as it certainly was a
strange, fall--probably he was heavy and the floor decayed--at all
events that fall procured him 120 pounds. A Cardiff agent was bathing
his feet--why, we are not told, but imagination is not slow to
comprehend the reason, when the severity of our climate is taken into
account; he broke the foot-pan--a much less comprehensible thing--and
the breaking of that foot-pan did him damage, for which he was
compensated with 52 pounds, 16 shillings. Again, a merchant of
Birkenhead was paid 20 pounds for playing with his children!"
"Dear me, sir!" exclaimed Mrs Marrot in surprise, "surely--"
"Of course, my good woman," said the elderly gentleman, "you are to
understand that he came by some damage while doing so, but I give you
the exact words of the pamphlet. It were desirable that a _little_ more
information had been given just to gratify our curiosity. Now, these
that I have read are under the head of `Accidents at Home.' Under other
`Heads,' we find a farmer suffocated by the falling in of a sand-pit,
for which his representatives received 1000 pounds. Another thousand is
paid to the heirs of a poor dyer who fell into a vat of boiling liquor;
while, in regard to smaller matters, a warehouseman, whose finger caught
in the cog-wheel of a crane, received 30 pounds. And, again, here is
1000 pounds to a gentleman killed in a railway accident, and 100 pounds
to a poor woman. The latter had insured for a single trip in an
excursion train at a charge of two-pence, while the former had a policy
of insurance extending over a considerable period, for which he probably
paid twenty or thirty shillings. These are but samples, madam, of the
good service rendered to sorrowing humanity by this assurance company,
which, you must observe, makes no pretensions to philanthropic aims, but
is based simply on business principles. And I find that the total
amount of compensation paid in this manner daring one year by this
Company amounts to about 72,000 pounds."
As Mrs Marrot yawned at this point and Mrs Tipps appeared somewhat
mystified, the enthusiastic gentleman smiled, put away his pamphlet, and
wisely changed the subject. He commented on the extreme beauty of the
weather, and how fortunate this state of things was for the people who
went to the country for a day's enjoyment. Thus pleasantly he whiled
away the time, and ingratiated himself with Gertie, until they arrived
at the station where Mrs Tipps and Mrs Marrot had to get out, and
where many of the excursionists got out along with them. While the
former went their several ways, arranging to meet in the evening and
return together by the same train, the latter scattered themselves over
the neighbouring common and green fields, and, sitting down under the
hedgerows among the wild-flowers, pic-nicked in the sunshine, or
wandered about the lanes, enjoying the song of birds and scent of
flowers, and wishing, perchance, that their lot had been cast among the
green pastures of the country, rather than amid the din and smoke and
turmoil of the town.