Various

“ To those who love art, in whatever guise it comes to us—as symphony, picture, or poem—a very slight amount of careful study of its accepted laws will repay a thousandfold the trouble taken. Having grasped even the faintest idea of the reason for the special shape of a sonata or a sonnet, the interest in the work itself becomes more keen. ”

“ In mere human work, what one man produces is more or less easily understood by his fellow-man, and a knowledge of the rules to which he conformed, adds interest to our pleasure in his work, and makes us able to be real critics, to some extent, while mere taste or feeling can lay claim to no more than a personal and often valueless opinion.
The laws which govern music are probably better known than those which rule verse, as our English poets choose generally a freer and more flexible mode of expression than the old writers allowed. ”

“ What a brave man he would have made if he had lived!”
“Yes, indeed; but he lived long enough to do a man’s work in the world—faithful until death. ‘Faithful in little, faithful in much,’ Rolf. Casabianca would never have disobeyed his mother, or thought he knew best, would he?”
“No, Fenny,” in a contrite voice, and sidling up to me again.
“I am afraid you can never be a soldier, dear!”
“What do you mean?”—sitting up erect in bed, with his beautiful eyes quite glaring at me in the twilight. “I mean to be a soldier, I tell you, and use father’s sword! ”

“ There is a third point necessary to complete the happiness of the investor: the interest must be the highest possible under the circumstances. We say “under the circumstances,” because in these days really high interest and first-class security never meet.
The safest investment for all who are nervous about losing their money is in the Government Stock—as it is called—of our own country. They thus become creditors of the British nation, than whom no people can be imagined more secure. ”

“ Dividends are often unclaimed through the misconception of people who have sold stock. They think they have sold with it a dividend, or a portion of a dividend, to which they were themselves entitled. Then, executors and administrators are often unable to claim stock, because those they represent have kept their investments secret from their nearest friends. And a good deal of money is not unfrequently lost through the objectionable practice of investing under a false name. ”

“ But Rex refused, declaring he only intended to be a spectator, and his time would be fully occupied in taking care of Fairy, which no one for one moment doubted. Since masks were considered indispensable, he agreed to wear a wire mask to protect his face from the squibs and crackers, which are recklessly flung in all directions, often doing serious injury to some of the passers-by, but this was the utmost he would concede, and Fairy seconded him, declaring that though she liked him very much as he was, she was by no means sure how she would like him if he were dressed up like another person. ”

“ I do not wish this to be thought a gardening article, but, nevertheless, I ought, for health’s sake, to throw out a hint or two about the vegetables that ought to be grown for health’s sake, and I will leave it for others to say how this green food is to be cooked.
Ladies are fond of doing a bit of flower-gardening, but, as a rule, they abjure the cultivation of vegetables, or they know nothing really about it. It is a pity this should be so, for the kitchen-garden, if not a large one, certainly does not entail a deal of hard work, and the work is of a sort most conducive to health. ”

“ A joint-stock company is an association of a number of people for the purpose of carrying on a trade or some useful enterprise capable of yielding a profit. Now, if ever you take shares in one, whether it be a bank, or an insurance office, or a mine or anything else, make sure that it is established under the “Limited Liability Act.” If the company be not a Limited Liability concern, should it happen to fail, you and every other shareholder are liable to lose every penny you possess. In a Limited Liability Company, however, you can only lose the amount of the shares which you hold. ”

“ This centre group was surrounded by men and boys carrying torches and screaming, “Down with popery!” at the top of their voices.
“That group will have a row before they are satisfied,” said Rex, turning away, and looking in the opposite direction, as the group passed on to the Market-place. “But look, Fairy, who is this good-looking man masquerading without a mask as a shepherd? See, he is looking up here,” said Rex. ”

“ I shall be Colonel Markham, too, one of these days, unless I am killed in battle.”
“You cannot be a soldier unless you learn to obey, Rolf; you cannot rule your men until you have submitted to rule yourself. Officers are gentlemen, and gentlemen are never cowards; and I call it cowardly, Rolf—quite a mean trick—to creep into the nursery in my absence. ”

“ It is a much-studied column, and it is surprising what interest and entertainment can be extracted from these daily reports of the health and spirits of the money market if it only takes the trouble to master the peculiar vocabulary. The principal terms connected with the investment of money we shall set down here, with a few words of explanation for each. A business woman—no matter whether she has money to invest or not—should at least know what they mean. ”

“ Well, this class of complainers—for if they do not complain to others they do so to themselves quietly, and have fancies that all the world is heartless and cold, and a dozen other things that “it didn’t houghter to be,” as the old charwoman said—this class, I say, are nearly always work-a-day girls; I do not refer altogether to manual labour, but to businesses that necessitate a good deal of mental thought and calculation. But many belong also to this class, who have nothing at all to do, and whose minds might be said to be preying on their constitutions. ”

“ To get payment of dividends on Government Stock you may either go yourself to the Bank of England or sign what is called a power of attorney for your banker or broker or someone you can trust to receive the dividends for you. “In order to protect you from fraud,” says the author of a “Guide to the Unprotected,” “the power of attorney should be made out for dividends only. That is to say, it should authorise the person who is to act on your behalf only to receive dividends and not to sell the stock.” ”

“ The plan had proved a great success, as far as Lily and I were concerned. Our bodily strength increased in the warm, sweet, southern air; we learned to talk French like natives; we rejoiced in long rambles through the vineyards and among the bands of flowers which soon began to appear in the land as the fair vanguard of spring; but it cannot be said that it was exactly a season of joy and repose for Miss Dolly.
Miss Dolly was one of the mildest, most characterless single ladies that ever put on a cap. ”

“ Every transaction in the stock market, whether it be in Government stock, or in railway shares, or in any other securities, must be effected through the medium of a broker, who is thus not only an adviser but an indispensable agent in the transaction. Be sure to employ a broker of good standing, and, having found a trustworthy man, be rather guided by his advice than by your own notions as to what purchases are safe and what imprudent.
All documents connected with investments should be carefully preserved, and dividends, when they fall due, should be looked after. ”

“ He’s quite certain, with a name like that, to keep the windows tight shut in July, and insist on my wearing a fur cape in April, and eating oatmeal porridge for breakfast, and no butter and marmalade; and he’ll be always dressed in a hideous, flaring red dressing-gown, and he’s sure to have a wig, and he’ll never take a walk with me after sunset, because of some horrid old whim about catching cold. No, it’s not to be supposed that I can even tolerate Uncle Jasper; and as for going and living with him, and leaving our bright, jolly life here, it’s quite out of the question. ”

“ Put to work on its own account money will make money, and go on growing and growing even whilst the person owning it is asleep or taking holidays.
Of course the wisest thing is to employ it in one’s own business, turning it over and over at a profit, under one’s own management. But such advice is thrown away on those who have no business. ”

“ People can sell their stock with the greatest readiness, and there are always plenty of buyers.
The price which national stock fetches is not always the same. It improves when the prospects of the country improve, and declines in times of difficulty and danger. In the year 1800 war and dear corn, not to speak of other things, made the national bond for £100 sell for only £61, but since then peace, improved prospects, and no lack of money seeking investment, have forced the price up. The average market value of £100 Consols in 1881 was just £100 ”

“ We have spoken of investments in shares, but shares are often bought, not as a matter of investment, but as a speculation, the buyer purchasing them with the expectation that they will rise higher, and that he will then be able to dispose of them at a profit. ”

“ The Money Market is a more or less figurative expression, covering the whole field for the investment or employment of money, the leading dealers in the market being bankers, bill discounters, and capitalists of all sorts. Money is cheap or dear in the market according as the rates for discount are low or the reverse; and business is brisk or flat, according as the amount of such discounts is large or small.
A stockbroker is a broker who deals in the purchase and sale of stocks or shares for others. ”

“ The multitude are slow to realise law in any shape, and in art no less than nature look upon most results as the effect of what a critic has termed “the glorious gospel of haphazard.” To these poetry suggests no art in itself, only a more or less musical jingle of pretty sounds, gay or plaintive feelings, while the whole is unreal and fantastic.
But to avoid further preface, let us take a specimen of the aforementioned forms, choosing a dainty little epigrammatic verse known as the Triolet, to start with. ”

“ Debentures, as commonly understood, are mortgage deeds given by railway companies in acknowledgment of borrowed money. Debenture bonds give the holders the first claim for dividends on the company’s receipts.
Preference Shares are shares on which a dividend is bound to be paid so long as the net income is sufficient, even though there should not be a farthing left for the ordinary shareholders.
A Dividend Warrant is the document which entitles the holder of stock to receive payment of her dividend. Dividend warrants may be lodged with one’s banker in the same way as cheques. ”

“ Transfer is the legal operation by which the rights and responsibilities of the people disposing of stock or shares are conveyed to those who buy. When the purchaser, or his or her attorney, signs the transfer in the bank books, that is known as Acceptance of Stock.
The periodical payments of interest made by the Government to the holders of the National Debt and other public funds are known as Dividends. The term dividend is also applied to the sums paid to the shareholders of a company at each periodical division of profits. ”

“ Occasionally a grand excitement was caused by the rolling past of a lighted tar-barrel, which illuminated the whole street, its attendant youths, many of whom were dressed like demons, looking in their black masks and asses’ ears more like fiends than men as they lashed their blazing barrels with their torches, sending the sparks far and wide. ”

“ Do, pray, pull yourself together, and I will ask Dr. Staples if a drive will not do you good; your indoor life does not suit you.”
I did not contradict her, but I knew there would be no drive for me that day; perfect quiet and rest were all I wanted, and I knew Dr. Staples would be of my opinion. The afternoon was showery, so the children played about the nursery. I did not admit Rolf, for his noisy ways would have been too much for me, but he was very good, and promised to stay with Judson if he might come to me a little in the evening. ”

“ Again, in music the form is more easily seen, for two reasons: one, that constant habit of hearing pieces in strict form has given us knowledge, without our being able to formulate it; the other, that the subjects of music, being at most vague and abstract, are left out of the title of works by the great masters, save in a very few instances. ”

“ What is known as a stockjobber is one who buys and sells stock on his own account on speculation: he is a useful medium between the public and the broker.
There are some dealers on the Stock Exchange—the mart where stocks and shares are bought and sold—who, by a poetic figure, are known as Bulls and Bears. Bulls are dealers who buying stock low have an interest in trying all sorts of devices to raise prices. ”

“ It is not so long since we met a lady who had invested a considerable sum with a republic which shall be nameless, and which has since declined to pay any portion back, or even to remember that some fraction of interest might be acceptable to its creditors.
In taking shares in a joint-stock company, there is a caution to be observed that cannot be too strongly insisted upon. ”