Of a Brummagem club this is the typical
form. "The United Order" is a society; which
secures to the members provision during sickness
at ten shillings a week full pay for three months,
and in event of continued illness half-pay for a
similar term; after which the sick member is
"superannuated" on half-a-crown a week,
payable so long as the club lasts. In case of death,
the sum payable is six pounds. For all these
benefits the farm-labourer pays sixpence a week,
and an annual fee of one shilling. On the death
of his wife, the members are bound to raise by a
levy the rate of which depends on the number
in the society the sum of four pounds. If he
lose a child, there is a levy of two pounds.

All the members of the United Order pay
alike. They avoid the difficulty, which is no
small one to them, of different premiums
graduated to different ages, by striking out, in
a rough and ready manner, an average uniform
rate 'of payment. This plan cannot
produce insolvency so long as the average
payment of all the members compared with their
average age is high enough. If the average
payment be too low for the average age,
insolvency, for this reason alone, would follow. If
it be too high, every penny of the surplus goes
to secure solvency.

Neither does the injustice of the uniform
payment seem so great in practice as it is in theory.
Where all members enter, say, between the ages
of twenty and thirty, the variation is but small
in a graduated contribution, and if a simple
plan be thus secured instead of a complex one,
which even men who are not muddled by beer
and tobacco have to think over before acting
upon, the farm labourer gets cheaply to the end
or his problem. As for the injustice done in
electing two or three members, who, though
twice the age of others, pay the same uniform
rate, it is compensated, in the opinion of the
United Order, by the graver services and better
advice to be had from such men. To them, as a
general rule, the young men leave the
management to them and to the landlord of the house
at which they meet; until, the young men having
come to know more than the old men, there is a
disturbance, and the club is reformed with a
fresh ministry to help the sovereign landlord.

Members of the United Order are admitted
at the annual meeting on the first Monday in
May. A verbal declaration is made by the
proposer that to the best of his knowledge and
belief the candidate is subject to no disease or
disorder likely to throw him upon the funds.
In a country town or village it is next to
impossible to make such a declaration falsely, and
escape immediate detection; but, should there
be fraud in this matter, the member is cast out,
and forfeits all that he has paid. Often, even
in public-house clubs, a medical certificate, for
which the usual payment is a shilling, is required
instead of a verbal declaration. The landlord
and two of the older and most respected men are
joint treasurers. They have a box with three
unlike locks, of one of which each man carries the
key. It can therefore be open only when the
treasurers meet. Money beyond a sum in hand
necessary for outgoings is placed in their joint
names in the nearest savings-bank, and the
attention of savings-bank managers ought to be given
to see that the non-certified societies can legally
open an account with them. The United Order
has, however, voted the investment of a large
sum in a builder's speculation, with results we
will not venture to anticipate. It holds
a fortnightly "court," as it is termed, in
the taproom of the Black Bear, at eight o'clock
on Saturday night, on which occasions the
"regalia" of the order are displayed, the
strongbox is placed on the table and examined, and
a verbal statement of accounts is rendered.
Eines are then levied, and, by rule, "spent in
beer." Every member is bound to attend, or
be fined threepence for absence. One fine
is, "If any member swears or utters a profane
word during the time the court is open, he shall
be fined sixpence for each offence. The money
to be spent in the room." The check to one
sort of excess is made the inducement to another.

Taking all payments into account, fines and
necessary outlay for beer, the weekly rate, the
occasional levy, the annual entrance fee, it is
doubtful whether thirty-three shillings in any
year clears the farm labourer of all claims from
the club; thirty-five would be nearer the mark.
For, besides the sixpence a week, and the annual
shilling, his expenses are at least threepence for
"the good of the house," if not in fine for
absence at each fortnightly court. The chance
of a "levy" is not taken into account, as its
incidence is uncertain, and moreover it is looked
upon in the light of that most common good,
charitable help of the poor to one another in
affliction and bereavement, and shall not,
therefore, enter into our calculation. Neither in
this estimate of cost is any sum (beyond the
entrance fee) reckoned for the expenses of the
annual festival, against which we should be
sorry to say a word. The character of the few
holidays enjoyed by the rural poor will rise as
the poor themselves rise, socially and morally:
not by discouraging their little opportunities of
festive intercourse. The club dinner is to
many a poor man his one yearly dinner party,
more kindly and sociable than many a feast in
Belgravia, and God bless it!

The annual meeting is held by rule at the
Black Bear, at ten o'clock A.M. on the first
Monday in May. A statement of accounts is
then made, and of all receipts and disbursements
of the club, excepting fines, which it will be
remembered are summarily disposed of.
"Sharing out" is then made; it is a bonus of a few
shillings per member, and the investing labourer
hears the amount with pleasure, as he means to
forfeit the day's wages on the farm, and spend
the whole day jovially. There will be dinner at
one, for half-past one. His wife and family are
to come afterwards, and usually the bonus will
almost pay all.

At this moment, however, the club is in its
pangs of annual dissolution, a process which
usually occupies a few minutes, until some