National Republican., 1888-02-26
"LUCK" is A MYTH
illogical aud Nonsensicai sUperstitions
Dissectsd and Exploded.
| BOSTON GlObcl /

In lotteries aud kindred forms of gam
bling men reject trusts in other folks luck
and believe instead in condolences and
dreams They find the number on which
they finally stake their faith in all manner
of absurd and unmcaning ways. All the
tens of thousands of ticket holders in u
great lottery have selected their number
in some way satisfactory tO themselves,
about which we hear nothing when the
result is Il failure, us in nincty-ninc eases
out ola hundred it necessarily is. But
when the result chances to he Il success,
as in small proportion of cases II must
be-, the whole story is gruvcly related in
the papers, ~ though the number nC.
tuully bringing the prize had been lie.
tcrmincd beforehand by some scientific
process of reasoning and success assured
by the exercise of good judgment or
ingenuity.
Vet how prrpustcruus such stories in
varably are and what an insult it is to
men of SENSE to expect them to accept
such inauitcs as worth considering. M.
y, of y. \. H., We are gravcly told, was
fortunate in securing the great prize by
his happy hit in selecting the winning
number SO, l75 Us indicated 10y the year ui
his mothers birth, lSOl, followed 10y her
age, -, nt her death Whatever number
had been drawn We may he sure that II
similar story would have been tOrthcOm-
ing, and II story perfectly true too, only
absolutely unmcaning. Yet thousands Of
foolish folks think that the winning NUM-
bcr in every lottery is always determined
in some such wHy--thr real fact being
that the winning number in amy fair lot
trry is any whatever, hut that since every
one who ventures the price of II ticket is
sur" tu hit upon some casual combination
huN ing H. much connection with the lot
trry IT, the pegs in his boots with the stars
IN the Great Bear. the number of the win
/ ming ticket cannot hut correspond with
one ur other of these casual combinations
Vet il is idle tu invrigh against the folly
Of such ijInCiuN and suprrstitiunS They
have existed in all ages and among all
races from time ilmmCmurlHl. Carrying
in themselves their own contradiction
they also carry in themselves what to
believers in luck appears their iull con
lrmatiun For he does not observe that
the ideas about luck which run through
his mind are contradictory, and in Their
>clicuntmdirtiun provide for every event
When success comes tO him by following
one idea about luck. his faith in luck |,
confirmed; but when failure arrives hc l.
not whit less satisfied that lac holds th,
true faith about luck, for he has another
doctrine about that event also.
Resolved into it, component iucturS the
common belief about luck involves thcs,
two doctrines. First, luck lasts long; sec
Ond, luck cannot last forever. The even
of any trial is bound to correspond will
one or the other doctrine, and since no on,
can guess beforehand just how long lucI
will last ar when the luck which has Taste,
long will change, every venture is pur
gur>~wurk with the believer III luck, an'
there is no certainty in the rcsults-cNccp
this, that when luck continues all the win
ncr> will say they know they could trus
in that lOng-MSting luck, while when lucI
changes the winners will proclaim Il
loudly that they knew such luck WA
bound to change The luScrS in such ease,
though they may loudly lHmrn. their i'll
fortune. are apt Ia remain silent about III
question of luck-havng missed thci
, mark and made no luck hit.