Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-12-02
famiLp GirtIt.
THE LOTTERY TICKET.
A Sketch for Hazard Seekers.

5aN Af
gain a comfortable home for himself and wife,
and to lie thought we'll of by his neighbors.
He had built himself a house, and there still
remained upon it a mortgage of i've hundred
dolIsrs; but this sum he hoped to pay IN a
very few years il he ouly had his health. He
had calculated exactly how long it would take
him to clear of this incumbrance, aud he went
to work with hi eyes open.
Que evening, James came home TO his sup
per more thoughtful than usual. HIS young
wife noticed his manner. and sAe inquired lie
cause.
"What is it. James p she kindly asked
I"Why, | never saw you look SO sober before
wei, Hi tell you, Hannah returned the
Young man. with slight hesitation III his maA.
ner. g" have been thinking that should
buy a lottery ticket"
Hannah Lanuing did not answer immediate
". She looked down and smoothed the sllken
hair of her babe, which was chirplng like a lit
| tie robin in her arms, and the shades OF hel
handsome features showed that shs wa taking
time to think.
"How much will it cost 2 she at length
asked looking h%alftimidly up into her hus
bands face.
IWSlGY u0ltaFSt EGbuihCi SuH1SS, uJA"G
to assume a confidence which he did not feel
Aud have you made up your mind to buy
it ~
1nWell, think shall. Whatd 10 you think
about it 7"
"If YOU should ask my advice, James, !
should say, do not buy it"
But why SCI" ~
For many reasons" retnrned the wife, in
a trembling tone. She would not offend her
husband, and she shrank from giving him adj
vice which he might not follow. In the first
place, | think the whole scheme of lotteries is
a bad one; and then you have moi money to
risk"
But just look at the prizes" said James,
drawing a scheme from his pocket. Here
is one prize of twenty thousand dollars, anoth-
er of ten thousand, another of FIVE thousand,
and SO on. Something tells me that if l buy
a ticket | shall draw a large prize. And then
just think, Hannah, how easily l could pay
all up for my house, and perhaps have q good
handsome sum left"
The young man spoke with much earnest
ness and assurance, but he saw that there was
a cloud upon his wife's brow,
1t seems to me that the chance of draw
ing q prize is very doubtful, = said Hannah, as
she took the schsme. Here are many thou
sand tickets to be sold" The babe tried hard
to snatch the paper, and resting with a ner-
Vous longing upon the figures which represent
ed the highest prizes. "There's Barney; he
drew eight hundred dollars about a year ago"
Yes, | know it said Hannah, with more
warmth than she had before manifested, land
what has become of the money F? You know
he has squandered it all away. All, James,
money is of no use to our happiness unless we
come honestly by It."
Honestly 2" repeated the young man.
there is nothing dishonest in drawing
a prize in a lottery"
81 think there is" kindly, but emphatieally
the wife. "All games of hazard,
money is at stake, are dishonest. Were
you to draw q prize Of twenty Thousand del
lars, you would rob a thousand men OF twenty
dollars each; Or, at least, you would take from
them money for which yon returned them no
equivalent. Is it not gambling in every sense
of the word I"
o, no; you look upon the matter in too
strong a light
Perhaps l do; but yet so it looks to me.
What you may draw some one else must lose;
and perhaps it may be some one who can af-
ford the loss no better than you can. l
buy the ticket, James. Let us live
on the produce Of our honest gains, and we
shall be happier"
James tanning was uneasy. He had no an
for his wiie's arguments; at least, no
that could spring from his moral con-
and he let the matter drop. But the
young man could not drive the syren frem his
All the next day his head was full of
T" prizes AND while he was at his work, be
kept muttering over to himself, Twenty
thousand dollars Ten thousand dollars"
g Five thousand dollars and SO ON.
When he went home the next night, he was
almost unhappy with the nervous anxiety into
which ne bad thrown himself The tempter
had grasped him firmly, and whenever he
of the lottery, he saw nothing but
piles Of gold aud silver. In short, James Lam
ming had made up his mind that he would buy
the ticket. He went TO the little box where
he had already a hundred and twenty dollars
laid up towards paying of the mortgage from
ais house. The lock clicked with q startling
sound, and when he threw back the cover, he
UtStlIlSQ. liz 1OOhCu at AND UllCy 03A liz OGU
that she was sad.
80, I'm sure l shall draw a prize he said,
with a faint, fading smile.
He took four half-eagles from the box, and
put them into his pocket. His wife said Moth
ing. She played with her babe to hide her
sadness, for she did not wish to say more on
the subject. Size had seen that little pile of
gold gradually accommodating, and both she and
her husband had been happy in anticipating
the day when the pretty cottege would be all
their own, But when she saw those four
Of gold taken away from The store, she
a foreshadowing OF evil. She might have
spoken again against the movement, but she
that her husband WAS sorely tender on
the subject. and she let the affair go to the
hands Of fate.
A week elapsed from the time that James
bought bis ticket to the drawing Of tie lottery,
and during that time the young mai mad not
a moment of real enjoyment. He vas alter
mating between hope and fear, and lis mind
was constantly On the stretch.
At length the day arrived. james went to
the ofhc9, and found that the drawing had la
ken place, and that the list OF prizes hao been
made out He seized the list and turned
away so that those who stood around should
not see his face He read the list through,
but he searched for his number in vain. 1t
was not there. He had drawn a blank! He
left the Office an unhappy man. Those twenty
dollars which he had lost had been the savings
of two months Of hard labor, and he felt their
loss most keenly.
Wien he returned home that night he told
his wife that he had lost She found no fault
with him. She only kissed him, and told him
that the lesson was a good one, even though
it had been dearly bought.