The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1893-06-24
LUCK AGAINST HIM.
"Just nv luck"

was reading and began to pace the room
Rloomily.
II might have known when l saw the
moon over my left shoulder, but went on
and invested that money in wheat deal,
and now wheat has taken tumble and
will lose my $500"
oh, Jack, said his patient little wife,
"why didn't You invest that money in real
estate? We could have bought a small lot
with it, and that would have been the be-
ginning of u home"
That's all you know about it, Molly"
answered Jack. ''If l had invested in real
estate, land would have gone down to
China tell you, it's luck that makes men
rich Heads you win, tails lose It's just
the toss of a penny"
Mrs. Mandel talked and worked both.
She was busy trimming a hat-not her own
she wore somber black, but Il gay little
affair fer a neighbours head
Jack" she said presently, there isn't
bite to eat i'll the house,
Warm it up! Make hash of it," said
Jack in an absentminded way. when we
get the money on that lottery ticket we'll
go to boarding"
"Oh, Jack! Have you bought another
ticket? You promised me you would never
be drawn into any gambling speculation
again"
Gambling, you innocent! There is no
gambling about that. All the boys in the
bank bought one. But, Mollie, if draw
blank, that ends it. I'll know then that
luck is against me-"
Mollie smiled family; then the troubled
look returned to her face Why was it that
they were. existing like beggars on an in
come that ought to keep them comfortably?
u cannot understand it," she would say
to herself. Jack has good situation in
the bank yet we have neither home nor
the comforts of home There is something
wrong. What is it?"
Mrs. Mandel trimmed bonnets for her
neighbors and helped in other ways. She
would not admit even to herself that it was
Jacks improvidence that caused all the
trouble. That indefinable something which
consecrating sorrow impresses on the
character made her face an interesting one.
She wore mourning for child who had died
victim of it's fathers carelessness. She
had left the little fellow with Jack, who, in
his usual irresponsible way, forgot to put
on his wrappings when he took him out in
the chill air.
"Just our luck!' he said bitterly when
the doctor told them the child must die
Then his wife turned on him, her eyes
blazing with righteous anger.
Jack" she cried, ''how dare your It is
your fault alone. You are to blame-you,
his father-you-youp'
The doctor said it.was hysteria, and when
she flung herself into Jacks arms and
begged him to forgive her cruel speech he
did SO in thoroughly generous manner.
So her brief anger did him no good, and
his belief in the fallacy Of luck strength
ened and grew until he became almost a
monomaniac on this subject.
Over every door in his house he fastened
horseshoe'to hold the good luck he believed
was coming to him. and he tossed pennies
for every move he made.
Finally he consulted astrologers and
soothsayers, who took his money and pre-
dicred wonderful things that never came
true.
He carried n ''lucky piece with persist
ent spirit of determination that might have
been turned to good account in business,
but when man goes into partnership
with luck he invariably loses his good judg-
ment.
He still held his position ut the bank,
where his duties were not arduous, but one
morning he presented himself there in such
a plight that he was at once discharged and
sent home.
Mollie was ILL., She had not seen Jack 20
out that morning, but had laid still with
closed eyes and aching head while he ate
the repast she had prepared for him the
night before When he returned, she wac
UP, and the little house was set in order
"Jackr' she cried when she saw him,
"Jack Mandel, what have you been doingP"
Nothing, Mollie. Luck Is against me-
I've been discharged
"But your coat, Jack?"
eyes, know. l put it on wrong side
out, and of course wouldn't turn it, for it
meant good luck. hoped to get a raise in
my salary"
How are we to live now?"
1.-THE luck will turn. It must after this,
for it's dead against us now, Mollie."
Whether it was the crisis of the fever
called living that was drawing near or
some actual disease that was working
against him no one knew. But Jack Man
dell was very ill, and his distraught mind
went under a cloud that only lifted at the
last to show the silver lining. Mollie, white
and fearless, was bending over him when
he awakened from that long delirium. He
looked up ut her with the old hopeful
smile.
Luck has changed" he said gently the
light shifting his traAsfgured face. II can
see It all now. Heads win''-
The silence was only broken by Mollie's
sobs This time Jack had woni-Mrs. N.
/. Rayne in Detroit Free Press.
The Fans Of Japan.
The art Of Japan In n subject Of interest
to all cultivated people, and women have .