What gratitude would not the necessitous gentlewoman
bestow upon any who would endow her with 13s. 6d. a week? Why, there
are Homes where she could live in comfort on 12s., and have a solid
1s. 6d. to spare. She would even be able to give alms to others not so
rich.
Take, then, a thousand pounds--L35 a year--as a minimum. Take the case
of a professional man who cannot save much, but who is resolved on
endowing his daughters with an annuity of at least L35 a year. There
are ways and means of doing this which are advertised freely and
placed in everybody's hands. Yet they seem to fail in impressing the
public. One does not hear among one's professional friends of the
endowment of girls. Yet one does hear, constantly, that someone is
dead and has left his daughters without a penny.
First of all, the rules and regulations of the Post Office, which are
published every quarter, provide what seems the most simple of these
ways.
I take one table only, that of the cost of an annuity deferred for
twenty-five years. If the child is five years of age, and under six,
an annuity of L1, beginning after twenty-five years, can be purchased
for a yearly premium of 12s. 7d., or for a payment of L12 3s. 8d., the
money to be returned in case of the child's death.
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