The Washington herald., 1911-01-01
INSURE BROKEN
HEARTS Is THB
VERY LATEST FAD:

xuN i LII 0Ox ~
Hearts. fingers. eyes. and even the fam
ily. cat are being insured in England
nowadays. Eyes. Of course" says Lloyda.
the big insurance combine, I'VE insure
cats. A. cat Is q fine risk. Why, every
one knows a cat has nine lives"
Insurance against death. fire, and ae-
cident are common enough. Insurance
against broken hearts, marriage. triplets,
and other so-called catastrophes is rather
new. Very recently Cohan & Harris. the
theatrical managers, insured themselves
for $4,000. to be paid in case John Bar
rymore. the actor. married. Later they
chuckled at their foresight and lost not
wink of sleep when his engagement
and his marriage 10 Miss Katherine Corr
Harris, a New York society girl, were
| announced
But insurance against broken hearts!
Impossible declare the incredulous.
Well. read this:
| A titled En4iishman wishes his son and
heir to marry. He goes to Lloyds and
gets insurance that his son win marry.
sometimes ne WouIS iISuAo oASc sAsnS -
will not be a chorus girl. His son finally
becomes engaged. II it is to rich
American girl. the whole family often
wakes to the terrible independence Of
that Nberty-loving person. and several
policies may be taken out to insure that
the son and heir shall not be Tilted Such
policies are issued to father, mother.
brother, or sister. The prospective bride
groom often has one himself. And on it
he may have to raise money before the
wedding day.
If the rich girl marries him. he pays
his debts out Of her millions. If she
changes her mind and doesn't. then this
insurance policy makes good and the
tailors, jewelers.. and florists lose moth
ing.
when the title and the millions are final
ly married? Does it! 1t has only begun.
Milford hikes him to Loyds and gets in
sured that there will be issue of the mar
riage. Gets insured that it viii be son.
Gets insured that the son will live. Gets
insured that he will reach his majority.
And so on.
A father with several daughters on his
hands gets insurance that they will mar
ry. funny part Of issuing such pol
icy-or tragic. as the case may be-con-
sists in the careful summing up Of the
girls chances in matrimony. This falls
to the lot of an old man, long in the
business, who says a knowledge Of psy-
chology and physiology Is necessary for
this work. He sees each girl twice. for
a half hour each time; talks with her.
sounds her. reads her. He meets her at
some social function and the girl doesn't
know who he is-that Is, IL the father
keeps to his agreement she does not
But II the father puts the girl next"
the wonderful old man. with an almost
Sherlock Holmes ability to fathom deceit.
reports to Iloyds: and not for love or
money will papa be able to get policy
written now.
Not all Englishmen approve Of large
get insured against such a calamity.
Some get insurance that they win not
have a child. Some get Insurance that
they will not have twins Some men.
naturally pessimistic, want insurance
against triplets. The two latter kinds Of
insurance are often taken out after the
stork has announced that he Is about to
make q visit.
Before such policies are issued Lloyds
gets reliable data on the number of dou-
BILE or treble births on each side Of the
house. and the premium IL large or small
accordingly. In one year four wise Eng
lish families who had reason to think
the stork might deal bounteously with
them, took out policies against triplets.
In each case there was a history Of trip
lets on one side or the other Of the house.
Only one family had them. And the in
surance was considerable enough to
clothe. feed, and educate three very fine
boys.
AL over the British kingdom mercan-
tile houses insured themselves against
King Edwards death. They knew that
general mourning in England would mean
a consequent heavy financial loss to
merchants, because no house could sell
bright-colored dress goods, hats or rib
Ell of any kind but somber hue.
When King Edward died at least one
seasons stock was an almost complete
loss, and but for this insurance many
houses would have gone into bankruptcy.
King George has already been insured
by every London tradesman Of impor-
tance. 1t is the only way to avert a
financial panic in case Of an English
kings death. All the body servants Of
royalty insure themselves against the
death Of their employer, too.
Travellers now get insured against be-
ing held up in quarantine. Farmers in
sure their crops against drought
Churches and other Organisations which
contemplate a bazaar or fete go to
Loyds and take out a policy insuring
that the sun will shine upon a certain
day or days. They spend money in get
ting up their entertainment, and in order
not to find themselves losers they pay
for the policy