The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1884-01-25
MeNILLIAMS LUCK.

MeWILLIAMS' LUCK.
McWillams 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 Hle future. Neither do l wish it
10 be thought that he had been victim
of continuous ill-luck, for such, | feel
bound to say, was not the case. His
had been an indifferent. mongrel sort
of luck, scarcely equa! 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, ne lectful
luck was disheartening. giving the de-
pressing feeling that the man was
not to be thought of even for play
thing of fate. torso time il has been
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
50 set fate st 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-de6ned notion that fortune some
day would turn in his favor. and that
he would achieve enduring success
without much effort of his own. lie
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 young woman with a
tao-coHstant lover, fortune grows tired
of her idolatrous follower and plays
him scurvy tricks without limit
Luck had played villainous pranks
with McWilliams time out of mind,
and McWilliamS had taken them so un-
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 br dge 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-enyeloped in cloud of doubts
and harbaric beliefs And he was
exasperatingly good-natured and court
-eous: almost any one might impose
upon him. This was illustrated at the
battle of the Wilderness, when McWill-
Jams, after fighting with unexampled
bravery at the head of an assaulting
party, rushed gallantly to haul down
the stars and bars that floated above the
redoubt- He kept the enemy at bay
with his sword, while with his olsen
gagged hand he tried 10 haul down the
tiag. He had nearly succeed, when
some one called to him: .sLet the
Colonel cut down the flag 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 could
impose upon McWilliams.
In saying that McWil,iams was down
On his luck, wish to suggest that at
the time at which we make his &C
quaintance he was in the proud condi-
ton of having been noticed Gin an adj
verse way) by fortune. 1t seemed as
though ill-luck, having tomahawked
him for his own good, had scalped him
as a cure aga nst further conceit. 1t
was high time, CIV IDENTIFY, that the trod-
den worm should turn sea-serpent and
swallow its tormentor. Even a worm
that has spirit enough to turn gains the
fear of some and the respect of every
body. Fate would much rather notice
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 was
at that time, and for a year afterward,
the .'eighth wonder of the world" an
excitable, erTatic city, built in day,
worshiping the green flood OF petro-
leum that flowed up from holes in the
earth, and baptized in mud fathom
deep There has been nothing like it
in all the romantic history of the oil
country since. Oil was discovered on
the Holmden farm early in the year,
and. before summer closed. the wooded
hills upheld an eager city. third in
postal importance in the great State of
Pennsylvania. 1t rose in night. and
ike its heavenly prototype, the comet.
blazed forth for a brief season. and
then went out. Perhaps there was
touch of destiny in the name. 1t was
Just after the war, when good names
We're scarce. and the new town was al
lowed to name itself. A natural pit, or
hole. in the rocks on the summit of
neighbor;ng mountain, furnished ma
terial for title, and the town, with
registering Indifference, adopted the
suggestion.
The day on which McWilliams adj
mItted to his inner consciousness that
he was down on his luck was January
~, lS66. Ii was something of Il COM
fort to him, even in that condition, to
know that fortune had deigned TO notice
him. He had drifted II on that stream
of men fresh from the trenches OF the
hostile South. and. in common with his
neighbors, had Invested his savings in
what was then mere speculation. He
had leased small tract of land on the
hillside above the town, and started TO
drill for oil. This was in the early sum
mer, or spring, of 1865. DEVELOPMENTS
in the immediate neighborhood were SO
uniformly successful that McWilliams
was looked upon as lucky fellow and
future oil prince. From the awakening
of this sentiment L date tho hon-;.r:,,.r