The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1884-01-26
McWILLIAMS' LUCK.

mcNlLLlAMS LDCk.
McWilliams was down on his luck.
do not wish it to be inferred from
this that McWilliams ever had any luck
in particular, or was likely to have, as
fortunes tickle wheel spun him away
into the future. Neither do | wish it
TO be thought that he had been victim
of continuous ill-luck, for such, l feel
bound to say, was not the case. His
had been an Indifferent. mongrel sort
of luck, scarcely equal to sudden flights
of reckless sublimity, nor mean enough
to sink to comforting level of actual
mental misery. A positive luck of
either complexion might have been con-
sistent, but an Indifferent, neglectful
luck was disheartening, giving the de-
pressing feeling that the man was
not to be thought of even for play
thing of fate. FOR some time il has been
a matter of conjecture with me wheth-
er or not McWilliams would have sue
ceeded better in early life had he recog-
nized the Indifference of his luck, and
so set fate at defiance. Fate is bound
to respect the man that strikes for him
self, and if the battle be well fought
she will bestow upon him the sweetest
smiles of her daughter Fortune.
McWilliams, unfortunately, never
recognized this. He had lived with the
half-defined notion that fortune some
day would turn in his favor, and that
he would achieve enduring success
without much effort of his own. He
followed this belief with singleness
of purpose which, had it been applied
in more practical direction, would
have brought his expectations to reali-
cation. A blind faith in fortune, or
luck, even when fortune is kind, is
more injurious than most people
imagine. Like a young woman with q
too-constant lover, fortune grows tired
of her idolatrous follower and plays
him scurvy tricks without limit.
Lack had played villainous pranks
with McWilliams time out of mind,
and McWilliams had taken them so I'M
complainingly and so good-naturedly
that to all fair-minded persons it
seemed distressing case. If McWill-
Jams had known what pranks were be-
ing performed upon the bridge of his
own nose, he would have thrown the
tickle iiirt over his shoulder without
hesitation; but he didn't know, and he
kept straight along, with annoying per-
sistence, making luck into sort of
secondhand religion. There was no
missionary to convert him, and he
swarmed along through early life
half-enveloped in cloud of doubts
and barbaric beliefs. And he was
exasperatingly good-natured and court
eous: almost any one might impose
upon him. This was illustrated at the
hot IF hn Hxrhn
Jams, after fighting with uneXampled
party, rushed gallantly to haul down
the stars and bars that tloated above the
redoubt. He kept the enemy at bay
with his sword, while with his Olsen.
gagged hand he tried TO haul down the
flag. He had nearly succeed wher
some one called to him. "Let the
Colonel cut down the flagr With the
instructive courtesy of his nature Nc
Williams stepped aside to see his SUI
perior officers cleaning sword sever
the cord that held the flag. OF course
the Colonel got credit for the deed
while McWilliams, who had won the
ground by hard fighting, was unnoticed
AS have said, almost anybody coult
impose upon McWilliams.
In saying that McWilliams was dowr
on his luck, wish to suggest that a
the time at which we make his ac
quaintance he was in the proud cond
ton of having been noticed Gin an adj
verse way) by fortune. 1t seemed al
though ill-luck, having tomahawkeC
him for his own good, had scalped hin
as cure against further cOnceit.
was high time, evidently. that the trod
den worm should turn sea-serpent anC
swallow its tormentor. Even a worn
that has spirit enough to turn gains the
fear of some and the respect OF every
body. Fate would much rather motto,
a spirited worm than cowardly lion
The favored spot at which McWill
Jams was down on his luck was Pithole
All Americans, and great many for
eigners, that were alive in the summer
OF 1865, will remember Pithole. 1t wa
at that time, and for year afterward
the .eighth wonder of the world" al
excitable, erratic city, built in day
worshiping the green flood oil petro
leum that flowed up from holes in thu
earth, and baptized in mud a fathon
deep There has been nothing like j
in all the romantic history of the OF
country since. Oil was discovered OF
the Holmden farm early in the year
and, before summer closed, the wooded
hills upheld an eager city, third il
postal Importance in the great State o