St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1884-04-19
Advice to "a Young MAN.

Do | believe in luck, my son In
deed do, in bad luck. | think there i
no such thing as good luck. | do no
believe that Il lazy, neer- we'll sOr
of u man ever stumbles into a fortune
or climbs into fame by mere. good luck
for if he does, he doesn't hold his gooC
fortune any longer than he is getting it
No man is born lucky. But | believe
some men are born anlucky, and l viii
tell you why, my son. have often OBJ
served
If a young man spends more money
on neckties than he does on books, he
is pretty apt to be unlucky III his litera-
ny ventures.
II a young man attemps to make a
living by sucking the head OF his cane
and playing billiards, he is liable to be
unlucky in bis business ventures.
If "a young man habituaIly breakfasts
at 10 O'clock, he is usually unlucky in
his efforts to obtain the position Of cash
Ter iii tile new bank.
If lman takes half a minute to his
prayers and an hour and q half TO dress,
he is unluckY in spiritual life.
IL imam goes to his father every time
he wants dollar, he develops into an
unluCky merchant, with more assignees
than statesmen.
Ii young man on the road plays
billiards all night and swings cocktails
all morning, he is unlucky when he
tries to sell goods in the afternoon,
If man buys his cloths on credit,
and has little bill at every furnishing
store and restaurant and livery stable
in town, he is u very unlucky man on
the first of January.
If a young man studies art exclusive
ly at the variety. theatre, he is very
unlucky artist.
If he drinks Tom and Jerry all New
Years day, "tO swear off, on, he is a
very unlucky reformer.
Ii he he goes to college with three
Greek. books and five ponies, he is a
very uhlucky student.
If he scoOts out of town because a
note is falling due, il he will not sow
because the wind blows nor reap be-
cause the sun is hot; it he fishes on all
fair days and sits on cracker box at
the cerner grocery and smokes on all
the rainy ones, il he complains because
the world Sights him, and stands with
his hands in his pocket and waits for
quail and toast to drop into his mouth,
ii he spends more money for street-car
fare than lie does for walking shoes, if
he works while he eats, and arests while
he works, it he is the last man at the
store or Office in the morning, and the
first to leave it in the evening; il he
rigidly insists on every one OF his holi-
days and kicks against every minute of
over-wOrk, it his boys do all the chores
and his, wife builds the fires, if he is
lazy and selfish and shiftless, then, my
boy, he is an unlucky man. Bet every
cent you can raise; and offer big odds,
that Bad Luck with big B will haunt
that unlucky man all the days of his
life.
But;
II man ariseth up in the morning
with the ''pissel tree and harp9 it he
spends more time in the bath tub than
he does on a green and yellow necktie,
if he can talk at the breakfast table
about what he has already seen in the
morning paper, If he gets to the office
the first man after the porter, it he
isn't afraid to dust his own desk, il he
weareth a coat with glossy elbows until
he can buy 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, if he can
sweep out thestore as we'll as the porter
and run up column of figures as fast
as the book-keepeF, If he knows every
lawyer and merchant in town, and
never. saw Sullivan or Tug Wilson in
all his life, il he knows what he wants
to be, and bends every energy of mind
and body to attaining his point, who
works more than he sleeps and reads
more than he plays billiards, that man,
my boy, is born to Good Luck, as the
sparks to fly upwards. And now go to
work, my son, and work ais though you
believed in luck, and had got into se-
cret of the stars, and knew how to
shape the destiny of at least one lucky
man in the world.-R. j. Bnrdette.