Those who know little about business are often tempted by the prospect of a high dividend, never thinking anything about the risk they run. The great thing is security, however, and a small return will never be grumbled at by sensible people if it is accounted for by the investment being a really safe one. It is anything but a pleasant sensation when, instead of an expected brilliant percentage, one receives a letter to the effect that “the directors have thought it right to suspend the business of the —— Company, and close the share register,” and that “after most carefully and anxiously weighing all the circumstances of the case, they are convinced that the only course is to have the company wound up.” In almost every newspaper we meet with advertisements addressed to the unwary offering shares in companies of which the worthless character is at once recognised by the experienced. It requires some knowledge of the world not to be led away by emphatic representations of “extraordinary success,” “magnificent results,” “handsome profits,” and “unprecedented opportunities.” By way of warning, we may quote an anecdote told by the author of “A Guide to the Inexperienced.” “I heard it,” she says, “from a person who had been almost persuaded by a friend who knew nothing of business to take some shares in a company which _promised_ extremely good interest. “He went to the office, which was in the City, to make inquiries. The manager tried hard to persuade him to invest, assuring him of the safety of the concern. While C—— was hesitating, a man rushed in and said, in an eager tone— “‘Pray, sir, have you any more shares on sale? I have an order for fifty more. They are in such great request that I am afraid of their being all sold before I can get enough.’ “His manner and words opened C——’s eyes, who suspected that this was a plan to entrap him to invest, and he quietly walked off. The company failed in a very short time afterwards.” 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. This is, as a general rule, little better than gambling, and a wise woman will keep out of it. 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.