The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1893-07-19
LUCK WAS AGAINST HIM.
But His Heart Broke When His MIL Ma
chinery Ran the Wrong Way.

He wasn't tramp exactly, but he
was on the way there, says the Detroit
Free Press. He had struck the mer-
chant for dollar, and the merchant
was rather interested in him.
Il don't see," he said, "why you 90
about asking for money or help You
are an intelligent man and l should
think you could get something better
to do"
Il don't know about that. was the
respondent rejoinder. "The Lord
knows tried hard enough to get along
before lost my heart entirely.
"What did you dop"
"Well, little of everything. had
some money and thought I'd 90 to
raising rice in South Carolina and
show those people down there how to
do it right. knew it all, of course,
and one day man came along selling
new brand of seed rice. He was a
nice looking man from New York, and
liked his style. He liked my style,
too, he said, and would sell me the
exclusive right to handle his stuff in
South Carolina 1t was something
new-a seed that could not be exposed
to the light, but that would yield
three times as much as the old varie-
ties. That was what l was looking
for, and very quietly / took it in, pay
ing 5000 for the right and four sealed
cans of seed. ! did all the work at
night, and when it was finished I sat
down to wait and to chuckle over my
enterprise. But waited and waited,
and nothing came, and one day
looked into the old cans and found l
had been stuck with some mean little
wheat grains. and you might as well
try to raise icicles in the bad place as
to raise wheat in a South Carolina rice
swamp"
"That was bad luck" said the SYM
pathizing merchant.
$50 thought, and / left the state
and went to raising cattle in western
Kansas. Hadn't more than got my
herd set out before a cyclone came
along and blew every horn of it clean
over into the next county, and when 1
went after my stock a pious cowboy
who had gathered them in with his
own informed me that they had been
sent to him by providence, and he'd
like to see any son of gun try to take
them away. As he had Winchester
and lot of friends with him I didn't
see my way clear to interfering with
the ways of providence, and left the
country"
"It's pretty hard when providence
goes against a man," ventured the
merchant kindly.
yes. but that isn't all" sighed the
disconsolate one. with what little
had left / went to Pennsylvania and
bought a water power gristmill in the
mining regions. I fixed it up with
new machinery, and for awhile it
looked as if my luck had changed and
| was going to come out on top at last.
But one night big mine lying under
the stream that gave me my mill
power caved in or sank down just
enough to change the lay of the land,
and, by gum, the water began to run
the other way, and when / got to the
mill in the morning the water gates
were open, the stream was running up
hill, as it were, and my mill machinery
had been running backward until
every blamed wheel was busted and
the whole shebang was wreck"
The man wiped tear from his eye.
"Then it was," he went on, "that
my heart broke, and laid right down
and quit. Now, do you blame me for
what | am doing?"
The merchant gave him 81, and the
man was in the police court next
morning.