THE THREADS OF A STORM-SAIL, A LITTLE BOOK ON THE BENEFITS OF ASSURANCE, BY W. BLANCHARD JERROLD. (WRITTEN AT THE SUGGESTION OF THE DIRECTORS OF THE MOTHE BIBL BODLE Loudon : THE BIRKBECK LIFE ASSURANCE COMPANY, 8, MOORGATE STREET, AND TO BE HAD OF ALL BOOKSELLERS. MDCCCLIII. 232. d. 149. DEDICATION TO THE RIGHT HON. THE EARL OF CARLISLE. MY LORD, I venture to dedicate to you a little book I have written in the hope of familiarising large masses of men with the principles of Assurance. I have endeavoured to realise this hope by avoiding a dull exposition; and by using illustration. I am certain that if the manner fail to please your lordship; the aspiration will meet with your approval. Your lordship's obedient Servant, W. BLANCHARD JERROLD. March 8th, 1853. B 2 WILDLY a north-east wind sweeps the face of the fruitful fields; bends the pliant stalks loaded with golden grain; rudely shows the willow's silver under-leaf; and sings its shrieking songs about the shepherd's lonely homestead. Its splendid power rolls the thunder-clouds athwart the ærial space above; its awful nostrils bend the elm that has been a good century mustering its present strength. This wind is a force that humbles the proudest and the strongest of us. We talk of the giant power of yonder stalwart man! Let him raise his mighty arm to resist this passing gale, and it shall snap like a radish! This brawny ploughman is not at all the man, we see at once, to bid defiance to the faintest breath of air. Every muscle of his anatomy is fully developed: he is a finer man, physically, than most of us; yet, as a machine,- —as a power, he is a poor, wandering thread! Let him train himself to the utmost, and he can never equal the downright strength of the ass that bears his vegetable produce to the neighbouring market. He feels this |