The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1869-01-22
E,ncIK.
DY HENRY WARD DEEcuER.

eApreSScu Dy III is TOO strong to Justify
an expectation that 1t will soon become
obsolete. Luck is an event good or bad,
which befalls a man independently of
his own volition. n man work all
day for five dollars, his wages is not
considered luck. But IL he finds five
dollars in the road, that is htck.
If man aims at an accommodation
train, but hits an express train, which
has been delayed little in luck. He
has secured what he did not plan for.
If the last boat of the season leaves AL
bany for New York day sooner than
the shipper had calculated, and hc loses
an opportunity OF sending his freight,
he exclaims "that Is just my luck"
Ofthe fact itself there can be no doubt,
Many disappointments bcfall men
which seem TO have no relation to their
own agency. Many places OF good for
tune occur which the recipient did not
plan, or look for.
Tut the cause Of luck, thus defined, is
another thing. If we could look into
mems minds and render clear those OBJ
scure and nebulous thoughts that how
er there, 1t would be found probably,
that very different notions are enter
tained about 1t. Some believe that there
are spirits, or sprites, whose power in
tercaIates these events upon the calen.
dar Of Nature. Others seem to believe
that in the vast realm of Nature events
are floating about like notes in sun.
beams, and that men accidentally STUN
bic upon them. Some people believe
1t to be crook in the grain of things,
| some men being born and destined to
fulfil some mischievous DEGREES.
"Do what they will, they can never es-
cape ill-luck." Were some mems no
tions analyzed, l should not wonder if
it were found they still believe Luck to
be personal being, as Puck, or Ariel
who spent their time in playing tricks
upon men, good or bad, according to
their peculiar fancy.
But dismissing all these notions, there
arc several pieces of general good or i'll
luck, which have much to do with the
special luck, that befalls men. I count
1t piece of prime and admirable luck
to be born of parents who had sound
physical constitutions, ample brains,
well proportioned and balanced, living
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS circumstances.
Next to this is to be brought up in sim
pllcity, among people kind and just,
and under circumstances which REQUIRE
one to exert himself actively, so that
he shall never expect to have anything
which he does not himself earn. Lastly,
frd9e 8 s,eor9ocn~et~noye tIa,i.lIG IfelI,iIe
too proud to do evil and not proud
enough to take oflense at the common
experience of life /: as consistent with
| enterprise, and above all, with unwast-
ing good nature.
This last quality-good nature-is per-
haps the most desirable of all, in so far
as happiness is concerned. Every one
knows that 1t Is sugar in fruit that gives
it its palatableness, and that converts
its juices into wine. Good nature Is to
human dispositions what sugar Is to
grapes.
a robust an cheerful nature hardly
knows the difference between good and
| bad luck. Some things, which extort
| piteous complaints of bad luck from his
neighbors, befall him without exciting
more than moments attention-just
as II healthy man does not feel chilly
gust which sets an invalid into shiver5.
I'll luck in petty affairs is only anotl-
or nam for want of foresight, unskill-
fulness, poor judgment, clumsy-hand-
edness, lack of spring and enterprise.
Few men are willing TO say that their
own blunders, negative or positive, re-
turn upon their own heads. Luck 10
| them is fortunate work. Luck is
word that hides n mans inetficiency
from himself, and saves his pride.
Every one Of US has lucky and un-
lucky days. Too much excitement,
late hours, late eating, poor sleep, and
too little of it, bring on mornings full
of depression-blue days in which ev
erybody and everything seem wrong.
Everything our hand touches fails.
This is simple case in which respecta-
bic dissipation has put the whole in
strument by which man works, his
brain and nervous system, out of ad-
justment. His mistakes are no more
surprising than would be n mechanics
who worked by false rule, or a chem
lists who measured by incorrect stand
ards.
BY and by, rest, diet, and good habits
restore the equilibrium, and then comes
Il sparkling day of good luck. Half
the labor produces twice the ordinary
results. We meet the very person we
desire most to see. Everything goes
on rightly. The world is propitious.
In olden times, when necromancers
would fill the air with spirits, they had
potent spells, cabalistlc formula, and
various charms by which to evoke and
control evil spirits. There is much
shorter and surer way than all that to
fill heaven and earth with demons. Put
your liver out OF order. That is spell
that never fails. Dyspepsia will raise
more devils in one day than ever Mer-
lin could in year.
A good man, in good health, engaged
in business for which ho is fitted, and
coutcnted, will always be in luck.
Poor luck goes with slender judgment,
with Incidence, with supersensitive
pride, with indigestion, with torpid
livers, with heedlessness and stupidity
AS all Of us have flecks and tints o
all these elements, at times, 50 we all o
us have our share Of bad luck. The
height of iii luck is to be born badly, t
live badly, and to die badly.
Let every man blame himself for al
f his bad luck, and he will find cure 70