The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1884-12-13
UNlUCkY PEOPLE.
Detected Unlucky Ones who stand Outside
the Door of Fortune.

In George Eber's clever book, Elm
Vert, one of the magic words which
Ulrich adopts as his talisman is ''Gluck,"
or, as we would express it, Luck"
Many of us are as thorough believers 10
luck as Ulrich was, while others de-
clare there is no such thing, and if a
man is industrious and Woodworking he
is sure to succeed. Well, this is true; and
yet it is not true. The tide favors some;
it is certainly against others. For in
stance, clergyman. may preach an ex-
cellent sermon, and among his hearers
may happen to be n Cabinet Minister,
who is struck by the eloquence of the
preacher, and soon afterward offers him
an important living. From that living
the step becomes easy to bishopric,
and so on. Another clergyman, equally
gifted, may preach till his throat is
hoarse, but no nearer of authority
happens to be in the way, and he con-
tinues on in the old groove, undis-
turbed by offers of promotion. 1t is the
same in literature. A may may write
an admirable novel; it may even be cried
up by the reviewers; but if the public will
not take to it there is no demand, and
consequently the book dies stillborn. 1t
can not be said that pains and industry
have not been lavished upon it; the au-
thor may have devoted years of his life
to celebrating the characters and de-
veloping the plot, and yet he may see it
passed over for some gauzy, flimsy pro-
duction, which has been thrown off in
few weeks, and possesses no literary
merit whatever. Is it any wonder thai
he protests, and declares that the luck
of some people is amazingp The UNI
lucky ones seem to wear their fate in
their faces; we can tell when they come
into the room that they are not Fortunes
favorites, that the tickle goddess refuses
to smile on them, and invariably throws
cold water on their best attempts
There is dispirited look about them
which betrays their secret, and an
nounces that they have failed. The
lucky ones, on the contrary, have the
air of well-to-do cock sparrows; they
plume their feathers, and look out ag-
excessively on the world, as much as to
say: Look at us; admire us; every
thing that we do is sure to succeed If
we buy shares in new company they
are certain to 90 up the next day. if we
purchase house, the value of property
in that particular locality increases ten
fold. II we write even a six-penny
pamphlet there is run upon it; it makes
"a hit, and we pocket hundreds by the
transaction. There is no trouble or eff
fort in the matter. We have only to
open our mouths, and plums drop into
them. We have only to put our hands
to anything, and 10! it turns to gold or
glory at our touch"
Yes, it is better to be born lucky than
rich. but that is poor consolation TO the
detected unlucky ones who stand Out
side the door of fortune, unable to turn
the lock in their fingers, try as they
may. For even CLEAN of luck they
would be thankful, but none comes TO
them. If they call on an influential
magnatc, who may put them in the way
of climbing the ladder, he is not at
home-gone on his holiday, laid up in
his bed-somehow or other quite invisi
BILE. They shoot their arrows with care
and thought, but not one ever hits the
bulls eye; there is always something
against them, the wind is unfavorablc
or the arrow snaps asunder in the air.
After time they collapse; it is no use
trying, they say, and so they give in like
Captain Cutie, very much ''beaten about
the head" Philosophers would declare
that they are cowardly. So they may
be, but it requires an extraordinary
amount Of courage to struggle perpetu-
ally against tremendous odds, and all
the time to be haunted by the idea that
an unforeseen accident may cause them
to be worsted, and give the advantage
to a rank outsider, who has the magic
gift of luck. What poisoned Carlyle's
life, and made him moody and bitter,
was the long time of probation which
he had to pass through, totally unap-
preciated by the public; the very
presentation copies which he sent
to the Edinburgh literati not even
acknowledged; and his best thoughts
ridiculed and scoffed at. AS one
of his friends remarked: what Carlyle
wants is little success" Under that
encouraging sunshine he might have
snarled less and been a more hopeful
teacher. Goldsmith smarted terribly
under the sting of failure. 1.-THE pub
lic," he exclaimed, ''never do me JUS
tice; whenever / write anything they
make point to know nothing about it. F"
And in one of his letters to his brother
he says: ''You cannot conceive how
much eight years of disappointment,
anguish and study have worn me down.
To add to all this, he had the annoyance
of seeing DR.. Beattie lauded to the skies
for his Essay on Truth, interviewed by
the King, feted, fiattered, given a pen
sion of f200 year and honored by q
Del. degree at Oxford. No wonder
that Goldsmith exclaimed, in the fullness
of his heart: Here's such a stir about
a fellow that has written one book, and
/ have written so many!" While Gold
smith only chafed At his want of success,
to such a fiery spirit as Chatterton's
failure worked like frenzy on the brain,
and death seemed better than life.
What makes the unlucky ones pecu-
liarly sore is that at several times they
have been just on the point of gaining
their object; they had it almost grasped
in their hand, when suddenly it was
snatched from them! The winning-pos
was in sight, they felt the crown OF
laurel ON their brow; the roar of APP
plauding multitudes seemed just about
to burst on their ears; when, presto! all
was changed; they were again shunted
back-in among the ruck once more
while the cold chill of disappointment
crept, like ice, to their hearts.
Standard.