The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1867-12-26
Gales. Skettbes, AnetNotes, &e.
MY LOTTERY TICKETS.
HOW MUCH THEY COST AND WHAT THEY
AMOUNTED TO.

1t was Saturday night. and the little
woman who bears my name and mends
my stockings was sitting in her low chair
by the fire, zealously putting patch upon
| the knee of little Toms trousers, turning
the piece of cloth this way and that, and
! holding her head on one side to watch the
| effect. But the stripes would all run the
wrong way, while the colors were proYok-
ingly bright compared with the faded gar
msnt.
''Never mind that, Mary" said 1,
s'here's chance to throw away your
patches. Hurrah for lovely country
se,t on The Hudson, fifty shares of bank
stock, house in town, or anything else
yoa wish, and all for q dollar
"Now, Thomas," said she-when she
wishes TO be particularly severe she always
calls me Thunas-''what are you talking
about e.
"a gifs enterprise, Mollie tickets only
q dollar, and sure to draw a prize l
read the heading and exhibited the long
list of prizes. ''What do you think of
that - shouted /, triumphantly.
81 Think" she said, laughing, ''that if
you make so much noise you will wake
the baby" Then seeing that looked an
noyed, she added: ''But L do not think
that lotteries are just right, especially for
church members. Do you p
"Oh, nonsense l never saw a church
fair in my life that did not have grab
boxes and lotteries. shouldn't dare to
say how many dollars l have spent on
them, and never drew anything either"
She looked roguiShly at me. ''Don't
you think, then, you are most too old to
begin"
''It may as well be / as any one, and
it is no great matter-only dollar"
81 know, Tom," and the wise little wo-
man looked grave, SHUT we haven't many
dollars to throw away y and she held up
the baby's socks with good sized hole in
each heel. ''And little Toms school bill
comes in next week"
laid down my paper and tried TO speak
very convincingly. ''Now, Nollie, it is
all very well for a man to jog on day after
day, earning and spending just so much,
but he likes to make a venture once in a
while, just for the excitement of the thing,
if nothing more"
eyes but, Tom, don't you remember
the share in the oil well :"
'sY-e-s,' said /, slowly, for it was
rather unpleasant topic of conversation TO
me. had invested the little sum left me
by a maiden aunt in an oil company,
against Mary's good judgment. Capital
a million of dollars, more or less oil wells
flowing day and night on the land of the
next company, just over the fence. was
very much elated, and promised Mary,
among other things, new black silk dress
we had seen displayed in some show win
dow. Well, they bored and bored, throw
ing up dirt and water, great deal of dirt
and water, but not drop of oil and just
as they were about to begin in another
spot the treasurer, or some one else, ran
away with the funds, and that ended the
whole affair. Mary, like good little
woman, never reproached me, but when |
came home one day and saw her turning
her old merino inside out and upside down,
1 felt-well, I can't tell just how but /
thought of that black silk dress.
"And, oh !" she continued, ''don't you
the patent for the -four sitter r
and she laughed outright. So did when
/ thought of the spectacle ] presented
when 1 chancsd to turn the crank the
wrong way, and the -four few in every
direction.
But / had made up my mind to buy one
of these tickets 80, though Mary sighed,
she said nc mora. invested on my way
down town, Mcaday norninG, and theught