Norfolk day book. [volume] (Norfolk and Portsmouth Va.) 1868-1880, 1869-05-08
THE INSURANCE CLERK

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THE INSURANCE CLERK.
1t was downfall indeed-or
it seemed so then.
There was I, as comfortable
a young fellow as wore nice
Kid gloves in Boston. My
salary was eighteen hundred
a year. I had a reasonable
vacation. ] liked the other
clerks, and they liked me. |
understood my business, as it
proved, only too we'll. Best Of
all, perhaps, l had fitted up
my two looms at Mrs. Thayer S
as prettily as heart could wish.
The bed was large enough,
and you could air the bed
room. The carpets were ingram
of small figure; they were
cheap, but Of that dark claret
and black which give a warm
tone and make things comfor-
table. Not too many books,
but the tree list at the old Bos-
ton Library, four or five cards
at the public library, and three
or four friends on the staff
there, a minister's right at the
Athen@um, and a pleasant in
timacy with Loring. | owed
no man a dollar. I had no
enemyin the world. l was at
home III a dozen nice, cordial
families of friends; and what
more could man require? Of
a sudden the bolt fell ! Or is it
sword that tails ? | believe it
is sword. Make it Sword
| Mr.. Proof-reader. Of a sud
| den the sword fell /!
Thus
! The office that I was in was
the newly established ME
thuselah and Admetus Life
Assurance Company To say
assurance instead of insurance
is rather natty; it sounds
English, and people fancy the
Earrings and the Bank of Eng
land pay the bills. 'Methuse-
lah' was to attract the biblical
and 'Admetus' the classical
gudgeons. For, though the
great hope of the man who in
sures his life is that he may be
beloved of the gods, and SO die
young, yet, practically, peo-
pie insure in the vague feeling
that they thus take bond
against death or turn him the
cold shoulder. 1t is somewhat
as you carry an umbrella in
the hope Of preventing rain.
I'VE had got our advertisements
and prospectuses out, and real
" we had q great many new
features. If you held our
script eleven years and four
months, and then did not sell
it for two years and one month
more, at the end of that time
we declared a dividend of
four-nineteenths of all profits
before undivided, after striking
a balance between two elevenths
Of the risks and seventy-three
| per cent, of the premiums, re-
serving, of course, $37, 1913, 642-
IT to secure the cousins of the
| bond holders. That feature
may have been in seme other
companies, but l never saw it.
We had very fine sign in
front of our Office in Queen
street, with picture of Methu-
selah kissing Admetus, and
Alcestis crying in the corner
because her husband could not
die, believe. Within, we had
a velvet carpet for the presi-
dents room, tapestry carpet
for the directors room, Eng
fish Brussels for the secretary S
American Brussels for ours,
and that nice, clear Russian
mat, that smells SO pleasantly
Of tar. for the customers. We
had comfortable chairs and all
the newspapers.
| L should have been there to
this hour l suppose but that
one day a very stupid customer
came in. Not but this often
| happened. But this day the
| president found his velvet lone
some, and had come forward
into our office. / thought he
was reading the Cornhill, but,
I os ~ bopnonaI he WAS 1istAnir1 o.