Wichita eagle., 1888-05-20
LUCK OR PLUCK?
Temperament GOES FAR TOWARD
DECIDING ONES FATE.
Who Is the Lucky Feilow?-ya1ue of
Perseverance The Environments of
Birth-A Man of Many Accidents-The
Reason Why.

Reason Why.
Without plunging very deeply into the
metaphysics of this subject, We viii have
few moments talk about fate and luck. We
speak OF lucky fellow, meaning by that
man who is fortunate, and yet luck may be
| good or III, the one quite as frequently as the
other. If we mean by luck, however, an oft
recurrence along the line OF help or him
drance, without special effort, work, thought,
exertion on the part Of him to whom the
luck, good or evil, comes, why not believe in
it? Some people 90 through life bathed in
sunshine perpetually, others walk forever in
a vale of tears, and the shadow of the high
mountain, impossible, ungetoverable.
Some men, sunny natured, easy tempered,
lazy, good for nothing fellows, to whom a
thought would be a novelty, and an exercise
a curiosity, find every door open at their APP
proach, and banquets spread with every
imaginable and conceivable delicacy, with
nothing to interfere with the ongoing of their
pleasure from the rising OF the sun to the
going down thereof, while other men, care
ful, brooding, ever Flooding earnestly, con-
scientiously along first this road, then the
other, meet a continuity Of disappointment
and disaster, which absolutely enshrouds
them in gloom that is never penetrated by
ray OF hope; confronted ever by disappoint-
ment until tie closing scene wipes them
from the face Of the earth into the blacknesS
Of darkness impenetrable
1t win not be gravely argued that birth
has nothing to do with mans chances in life
remember, when l began to work in 1860,
thinking that of all the men in the world
whose chances I envied, there were but two
whose opportunities were seriously any better
than mine. They were Albert Edward,
Prince Of Wales, whose progress through the
provinces and the states | was then chron-
icing for The New York Times, and young
Jim Bennett, whose father was then editor
and proprietor of the great journal with
which his name was synonymous. Do you
mean to tell ME that young Bennett didn't
have better opportunity for professional
renown than any other young man about to
embrace that noblest profession, journalism!
Did the Prince of Wales have no ampler
scope than the other young men born in the
British dominion? OF course, birth and social
posi- ion and pecuniary status have much to
do with mans opportunities, but when we
discuss broad questions we must look with
wide vision; we must not confiue our illus
trations to extremes, but must take the aver
age.
The average man is poor, the great major
ity very poor If it be fact, and it unques-
tionably is, that of every 100 young men
who go into mercantile life ninety-five fail
before they are so years of age, and of the
other five, three get on fairly well, one makes
profound impression in his sphere and one
alone becomes phenomenal, standing head
and shoulders above his fellows in all the
world, where comes in the matter of lucks
Where is the exceptions Isn't it fact that
the great multitude toll and suffer through
the blasts of winter and in the torridities of
summer for barely enough to keep themselves
from starving and to cover their nakedness
from the jibes and sneerings of the worlds
l tell you temperament decides almost
everything. What would seem to one
luck, of the most grewsome nature, appears
to another on a similar plane of life simply
an unhappy incident temporary in its
nature, not lasting in its effect. Some men,
worth 100000, groan over the luck of their
neighbor who is worth 81 900 900, while an
other man who can honestly say 81 am
worth today 100000" is SO overwhelmed
with recognition OF his Independence, of the
power in his hand to do good among the
weary OF earth, that he can find no words
sufficiently rotund with which to express his
satisfaction, his content, his delight.
Some people say, ''Whatever is to be will
be- If am fated TO be rich l will have
money, and if l am fated to be poor won't
have any. A man who was born to be
hanged will never be drowned, SO whatever
comes l take it because have got to. l didn't
o~lv+ II, a.
first place don't know whether you asked to
come here or not. Neither do you.
That two and two added together are fated
TO make four, yes, but are you fated. Is
there any compulsion that forces you TO put
one two under another two! If you stub
your toe you fall But why stub your toea
II you hack your finger with a knife, blood
will flow, but why hack your finger: You
may assume that you are fated TO be rich.
What difference does your assumption make?
In order to be rich you must be industrious,
saving, self-sacriicing, methodical, indus
trious. Those factors enter largely into the
problem of success in life, and if those factors
are properly grouped In your case you Will
be rich. 1t IS very rare combination, this
honesty of purpose. this continuity of in
dustry, this intelligent direction, but if you
have them the result is certain, and if you
have them and do not use them the result
then is equally certain. You cannot raise
figs On thistle tree or thisties on fig tree,
and you cannot bring disgrace upon honor,
nor can you crown dishonesty with integrity
know man who has lost an eye, who has
broken an arm twice, who was shot through
his right lung, and whenever anything hap
pens to him, he says: at is just my luck. ~
My friend Of the many accidents is pecul-
iarly constituted individual Had he looked
he wouldn't have fallen down the hatchway
That he was shot through the right lung was
duo to his presence upon the field Of battle.
That he lost his eye is attributable to the fact
that when be flashed his little pile Of powder
he didn't shield his face, and yet he says, as
ACCIDENT after accident occurs, at is Just ny
luck
1t IS just his stupidity.
AID when you say that it is Jay Gould's
luck, or it is Vanderbilt's luck, or it is the
luck Of this, that and the other, you at
tribute TO some unseen potentiality results
which might much better be attributed 70
the natural foreings Of perfectly well under
derstood, but rarely possessed, elements in
human nature-Joe Howard In Boston
Glcea
Girls Physical Health.
Noe-ar. >ha Turkish hath f-,-ni :r=;