ound me, and above,
And cried aloud: "Where art thou, Love?
O let me see thy living eye,
And clasp thy living hand, or die!"--
Again upon the atmosphere
The self-same words fell: "_I Am Here._"

"Here? Thou art here, Love!"--"_I Am Here._"
The echo died upon my ear!
I looked around me--everywhere,--
But ah! there was no mortal there!
The moonlight was upon the mart,
And awe and wonder in my heart.
I saw no form!--I only felt
Heaven's Peace upon me as I knelt,
And knew a Soul Beatified
Was at that moment by my side:--
And there was Silence in my ear,
And Silence in the atmosphere!

LIFE ASSURANCE.

One of the subjects which for some time has commanded the public
attention is that of Life Assurance: the means by which a man may,
through a moderate annual expenditure, make provision for his family
when death shall have deprived them of his protection.

The number of companies organized for this purpose, their annual
increase, the assiduity with which their agents press their respective
claims, the books, pamphlets, and circulars which are disseminated, and
the large space occupied by their announcements in the issues of the
press, all unite in creating a spirit of inquiry on this interesting
subject. We propose in this article to submit a few statements, the
collection of which has been greatly furthered by recourse to the
treatises of Babbage, Park, Duer, Ellis, Angell, Bunyon, Blayney, and
other writers on insurance.

In the early history of insurance, objection was continually made that
it was of the nature of a wager, and consequently not only unlawful, but
_contra bonos mores_; yet the courts of law in England from the first
drew a distinction between a wager and a contract founded on the
principle of indemnity, which principle runs through and underlies the
whole subject of insurance. Lord Mansfield denominated insurance "a
contract upon speculation," and it has universally been considered as a
contract of indemnity against loss or damage arising from some uncertain
and future events.

Insurance may be defined generally as "a contract by which one of the
parties binds himself to the other to pay him a sum of money, or
otherwise indemnify him, in the case of the happening of a fortuitous
event provided for in a general or special manner in the contract, in
consideration of the sum of money which the latter party pays or binds
hi