The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-02-13
Advice to q Young Man.

Do I believe in luck, my son? In
deed I do, in bad luck. There Is nc
such thing as good luck. l do moi
believe that q lazy, ne'er-do-well SORT
of q man ever stumbles into y fortune
or CLIMBS into fame by mere good
luck, for If he does. he doesn't hold
his good fortune any longer than he
is getting into it. Nc man is born
lucky, but I believe some men are
born unlucky, and I will tell you
why, my son. I have often observed
that;
Ifa yonng man spends more money
on neckties that he does on books, he
is pretty apt to be unlucky in his
literary ventures.
Ifa young man attempts to make a
living by sucking the end of his cane
and playing billiards, he is liable to
be uulucky in his business ventures.
If young man habitually break
fasts OF IL O'clock, he is likely to be
unlucky in his efforts to obtain the
position of cashier in the new bank.
If q man takes half a minute to his
prayers and an hour and q half to
dress, he is unlucky in spiritual life.
If man goes to his father every
time he wants = dollar. he develops
into an unIucky merchant, with
o assignees than statesmen.
If q young man on the road plays
billiards all night and swigs cocktails
all morning, be is ualucky when he
tries to sell goods In the afternoon.
II man buys his clothes on credit
and has a little bill ut every furnish
ing store and restaurant and livery
stable in town, he is a very unlucky
man on the first Of January.
If a young man studies art only at
the variety t. eatre, he is a very IN
lucky artist.
If he drinks Tom & Jerry all New
YEARS. day ''tO swear of On", he is a
very unIucky reformer.
If he goes to college with three
Greek books and five ponies, he is u
very unlucky student.
If he scDots out of town because a
note is falling due, if he will not SOW
because the wind blows, o reap be-
cause the sun Is hot, If he fishes on
all far days and sits on a cracker
box in q corner grocery and smokes
on all rainy days, it he complains
because the world sights him, and
waits for quail and toast to drop into
his mouth, if he spends more money
for street car fare than for walking
shoes, if be works while he eats and
rests while he works, if he is the last |
man at the store in the morning and
the first 10 leave in the evening, if he
rigidly insists on every one o. his
holidays, and kicks against every
minute of over work, if his boys do
all the chores and his wife builds the
fires, if he is lazy and shiftless and
selfish, then, my boy, heis an unlucky |
man. Bet every cent you raise,
and offer big odds, that Bad Luck
with u zig B will haunt that man all
the days Of his life.
But:
II a man ariseth upfn the morning
with the "pissel tree and harp" it he
spends more time in a bath tue than
he does on a green and yellow neck
tie, if he can talk at the breakfast
table about what he has already seer
in the murning paper, if he gets to
the Office the first man after the
porter, if he isn't afraid to dust his
own desk, if he weareth q coat with
glossy sleeves until he can buy a new
one, if he knoweth more about the
petition he is drawing up or the goods
he is selling than he does about a
trOtting horse, ii he can sweep out
the store as we'll as the porter and
up a column Of figures as fast as
the bookkeeper, if he knows every
lawyer and merchant in town, and
never saw Sullivan or Tug Wilson in
all his life, if he knows what he
wants to he, and bends every energy
Of mind and body to attaining his
who works more than he
and reads more than he plays
billiards, that man, my boy, is born
to Good Luck as the sparks do fly
And nov 60 to work, my
son, and work as though you believed
in luck, and had got into the secret
of the stars and knew how to shape
the destiny of at least one lucky man
in the WOrld.-R. j. Rurdette.