The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1869-04-10
No.. 81
LUCK.

The word luck is too firmly bsdded in
our language, and belief in the fact express
ed by it is too strong, to justify an expecta-
ton that it will soon become obsolete
Luck is an event, good or bad, which be-
falls a man independently of his own Yoli-
ton. If man work all day for five dollars,
his wages is not considered luck Bat if he
finds five dollars in the road that is ll.ek. If q
man, who is suddenly hurried, find that he
is only likely to get an ordinary train, but
hits an express train, which has been de-
layed little, he is in luck. He has secured
what he did not plan for. OF the fact IT,
self there can be no doubt Many disap-
1 pointments befall men which seem to have
no relation to their own agency. Many
5pieces of good fortune occur which the re-
/dpient did not plan or look for.
| But the cause of luck, thus defined, is an
other thing. If we could look into mems
minds, and render clear those obscure and
| nebulous thoughts that hover there, it would
be found, probably, that very different no
| tions are entertained about it Some be-
lievs that there are spirits, or sprites, whose
| power intercalates these events upon the
! calendar of Nature. Others seem to be-
\ lieve that IN the vast realm of Nature events
] are floating about like notes IN sunbesms,
| and that nen accidentally fall upon them.
! Some people believe it;to bea crook in the
| grain of things, some men being born and
| destined to fulfill some mischievous DEGREES.
Do what they will, they can never escape
| ill-luck" Were some mems notions ana
| iyzed, we should not wonder if it were
found that 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
are several pieces of general good or i'll
/ luck which have much to do with the
| special luck that befalls men. We count it
/ a piece of prime and admirable luck to be
| born of parents who had sound physical
constitutions, ample brains, wellproportion-
| ed and balanced, living in moderately pros
peEOus circumstances. Next to this, is to
be brought up IN simplicity, among people
| kind and Just, and under circumstances
| which require one to exert himself actively,
so that he shall never expect to have any
| thing which he does not earn Lastly, and
as a consequence Of these, it is supreme
! good luck to have o patient nature. too
| proud to do evil, and not proud enough to
| take offence at the common experience OF
| life; as contented as is consistent with en-
terPrise, and, above all, with Unwastlng
| good nature. This last quality-gOod ma
/ ture-is perhaps the most desirable of all,
1 in so far as happiness is concerned. Every
one knows that it Is the sugar in fruit that
! gives il ITS palatableness, and that converts
I its juice into wine. Good nature is to
human disposition what sugar is to grapes.
| A robust and cheerful nature hardly knows
| the difference between good and bad luck.
| Some things, which extort piteoHs com
plants of bad luck from his aeighbors, be-
fall him without exciting more than mo
neHEs attention-just as a healthy man
does not feel chilly gust which sets an in
| valid into shiVers
Ill-luck In petty affairs is only another
name for want of foresight, unskilfulness,
poor Judgment, clumsy-handedness lack. of
| spring and enterprise. Few men are viii
| ling to say that their own blunders, negative
| or positive, return upon their own heads.
Luck is to them fortunate word. Luck is
a word that hides a mans inefhciency from
himself and saves his pride Every one of
Us has lucky and unlucky days. Too much
! excitement, late hours, late eating, poor
sleep, and too little of it, bring on morn
! ings full of depression-blue days, in
| which everybody and everything seems
wrong Everything our hand touches fails.
| This is simple case in which respectable
dissipation has put the whole instrument by
which man works, his brain and nervous
system, out of adjustment. His mistakes
are no more surprising than would be a me-
|
chemists who measured by incorrect
standards. By-and-by rest, diet, and good
habits restore the equilibrium. and then
comes a sparkling day of good luck. Half
the labor produces twice the ordinary re-
suits. We meet the very person whom we
| desire most to see. Everything goes on
| rightly. The world is propitiOusI
A good man, in good health, engaged in
business for which he is fitted, and con-
tented, 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 fecks and
tints of ali these elements, at times, so we
all of us have our share of bad luck The
! height of ill-luck is to be born badly, live
badly, and to die badly. Let every man
blame himself for all has bad luck, and he
will find cure for more than half Of it.
The rest Is imaginary.
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