BEING BORN LUCKY.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 414, 21 April 1904, Page 3

BEING BORN LUCKY.

It. B«n** t « IlluKtiated toy tfce ««ed V»rt>a« of a Man Wk*

' ini «»»)!ilJwfouiid the table weftttcM) ing stories about being 'born lucky; or vice 'versa, says the Detroit' Free Press.

cbnelifded a Chicago drum* meir who 'had'b*«» telling of ah unlucky friend of his, "what did lie do at last•..-but-gather together what lit* tie money he had left'and buy a lot

in a western du district, before prices

boomed. He started to sink his well, with just enough money on the mort-

gage to finish it, if he h-'l luck, and he struck a rock before he had gone 20 feet. He drove away at it and kept driving for a hundred feet, breaking drills and costing raorfey, til! lie""finally threw up .his hands, gave the property to hi« ? creditors and killed hinv self. The creditors' investigated the boring and found that mv frip.nd had struck a petrified tree, upright in the earth and had bored for a hundred -feet right into it. They moved the drill only four feet to the right and - yntEiri' twg 1 . . wjjsekV.ihad tapped a" well f day." There was a chorus of sighs at the Bad fate of this unrucky one, and a Philadelphia railroad man began something more cheerful. "I had a friend," he said, "whoseluck was just the reverse of the gentleman's history we have listened i t«j with so |much "pleasure—l mean borrow"—thi Phiiadelphisin was getting mixed. #

"That's all right," laughed the Chicago majij ."I.know* what you m ean." "And he mad© his ten-strike on a case of boring, just as the other one did hot. Which shows that fortune i» truly a fickle goddess. My friend Smith, I'll call him, had luck always as a boy, and a» soon as he graduated he got a good job, although he was not a brilliant man at all. Which, how-

ever, is no sign, because some of the

best jobs—that pay the best/l meanare held by men who get them by luck and not by genius, fie became a promoter and schemer later, and went in for himself, coming out of every undertaking with more or less success, and never losing money. It made no difference to.' Smith what kind of a proposition came before'him; if he thought there'was anything in it, he' did not let it get away.' The one particular instance 1 have in mind waa the dfiving of a tunnel on a south-

western railroad. He didn't know any, more about that sort of business than

a pulpit knows about practical politics, bat he thought it was a chanca to make something, and he went in With a cohtrp.ctor, who had only done Small jobs. Their bid was so low that if Smith hadn't had rich and influent tial friends be, wou'd have lost it. He had roade considerable money in his venture's and he pit that up also as his backing. The>. tunnel was to coat about half a million dollars and Smith stood to win $50,000 at his own estimation, and to lose SIOO,OOO, according'to estimates oj the contractors who put in higher bida. Therawas to lie $100" a day bonus for every day ahead of time that the tunnel was completed, and a forfeit of the game amount for delay. ,<

"Well, he got everything ready and' act his men toHwurJc at one end ofi the tunnel only, for the first month. Then he expected.to put on a night and day force at both ends, for Smithi was a hustler. However, his luck was with him,: as usual, and it wasn't necessary to hustle. Before his sappers had gone 50 fee.t into the hill, and they ;,fgr.ti almost .at the face of a cliff/:M) b? )jiggfr-red.'if they didn't brer:!;' through ih\r> ft cave 40 feet high and -IH) gjw.ide and vanning that size> naif way (.hi o ugh the hill. Itgotd'.-vva jjnmjl^^iun^for.,.a J ,hy.n,di' e( ?-/set. and then widened again and ran big t» within 50 feet of daylight on the fay. side of the hill;"'' There was some worif sto do to pji't it inip shape, but it-hard* iy air.au pied to "anything, as tunneling. .goes, Smith not a big 'ihinMon,;his contract DOniTSonextra days wa» nearly enough for a,.modeßt man ; io'"reti|e from business'6n." | | » .; . 4 "And yet," said a man of years, "you Jkear people say_that.jhere i| no aracb [thing as tuclfc in tfie Waking o| Jinan's pUCCe'ss,";. .;a;. XJ\ ;■ :'. I KS, / ' i

Alb«ari ■Award -1 ' I'ncknnß**,

i He is one of the heaty shells s and fctruts. Nothing pleases him so much, as to.hold forth eloquentlyibefore newt acquaintances: ■-- Old-ones can't be-axf him. He had just returned'from Europe, where he' ; won something 'ove* 18,000 "puns" "over" the "Darby." jte said to a: delighted audience at 'the club that the impression sent abroad that the king is not the same old prince of Wales is erroneous. i "The whole world seems bent ;tta soaking him a .second Prince HalHenry V. It is saM that he lias gone back on his old FaU't'a'ffiu, Not.a bit of it. He is the sajjtie Albert Edward. When I met him the other dayi he treated me just as he always did;"

| Some one at. the pool table was ttJeftv enough to ask:' "How was thatJPTo which the plunger "iiver" the "Darby" replied: "He didn't notioe m« at all " *~N. Y. Press. " ' A

£* Stony Are Bnllt Tfc'ift' W*r, •"M "My aim," said the confidence man, "is to give happiness. In one Way I way claim tQ be a philanthropist." ■-,■s',': "A. philanthropist-!'':«3cclainved.■•.'the • '.[•# •;. ■ " ,; i: .' If ; !' '"Certainly-" was the answei*i' Mlf . ! yoti li'nyti^io|^ow s various f&kea,' and _. K\yi.u<;Tles or the jire sent day, you " surely : noticed, that' Some people are 'happy, only when they. arebeing properly. hunibugg«d,"—Chicaeo J?<».t. ~..•■. -'.. ';•:;- . , ■■,.£'■■: ■ ■ "■-': ,■ ■■ ' i %0f