Bennington semi-weekly banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 1894-1902, 1895-03-15
LUCK.

Ho got in at Ipswich with seven differ
ent weekly papers under his arm. l no.
ticod that each one insured its readers
against death or injury by railway acct
dent. He arranged his luggage upon the
rack above him, took off his hat and laid
it on the seat beside him, moppCd his bald
head with red silk handkerchief and then
set to work steadily to write his name and
address upon each of the seven papers. l
sat opposite to him and read Punch. al
ways take the old humor when travelling.
find it soothing to the nerves.
Passing over the points at Manningtree
the train gave lurch, and horseshoe he
had carefully placed in the rack slipped
through the netting and fell with music
al ring upon his head.
He appeared neither surprised nor angry.
Having stanched the wound with his
handkerchief, he stopped and picked the
horseshoe up, glanced at it with, as l
thought, an expression of rcproach and
dropped it gently out of the window.
Did it hurt your" asked.
1t was foolish question; 1 told myself
so the moment had uttered it. The thing
must have weighed three pounds at the
least. 1t was an exceptionally large and
heavy shoe The bump on his head was
swelling visibly before my eyes Any one
but an idiot must have seen that he was
hurt. l expected an irritable reply. 1
should have given one myself had been
in his place. Instead, however, 10 seemed
to regard the inquiry as a natural and
kindly expression of sympathy.
1T did, a little, " he replied.
What were you doing with it,"
asked. 1t was an odd sort of thing for a
man to be travelling with.
1t was lying in the roadway just out
side the station" he explained. Il picked
it up for luck"
He rcfolded his handkerchief so as to
bring n cooler surface in contact with the
swelling. while l mumured something
genial about the inscrutability of Provi-
dcncc.
YES, " be said, Give had deal of luck
in my time, but it's never turned out
we'll"
Il was born on Wednesday" he con-
tinucd which, as darcsay you know, Is
the luckicst day man can be born on.
My Eothor was IL widow, and none of my
relatives would do anything for me. They
said it would be like taking Goals to New
castle helping boy horn on Wednesday,
and my uncle, when he died, left every
penny Of his money to my brother Sam
rs a slight compensation to him for hav-
ing been born on a Friday. All ever got
was advice upon the duties and response
bilitieS Of wealth when it arrived and en-
treaties that l would not neglect those
with claims upon mowhCn came to be
rich man"
He paused while folding up his various
insurance papers and placing them in the
inside breast pocket Of his coat.
Then there are black cats" he went
on. "Theyro said to be lucky. Why,
there never was blackcr cat than the one
that followed mo into my rooms in Boil
sovCr street the very first night | took
Them
Didn't he bring you luck?" inquired,
finding that he had stopped.
A PARKWAY look Camc into his sad eyes.
"Wcll of course it all depends he an
swercd dreamily Maybe we'd never
have suited one another. You can always
look at it that way. Still I'd like to have
tried"
He sat staring out of the window, and
for awhile did not caro- to intrude upon
his evidently painful memories.
what happened them" 1 asked, how
ever, at last.
He reused himself from his reverie
"Oh, he said, nothing extraordinary!
She had to leave London for time and
gave mo her pet canary to take charge of
while she was away"
l,rt = fo1,1t - I
"No, perhaps not, " he agreed, but it
created GOODNESS which others were not
slow to take advantage Of
Il o. red her the cat, too" he added,
but moro to himself than to me.
We sat and smoked in silence felt
that tho consultations of stranger would
sound weak.
"Pitbald horses arc lucky, too" he OBJ
served, knocking the ashes from his pipe
against tho window sash. Il had one of
them once"
what did it do to your" 1 inquired
Lost me the best crib ever had in my
life" was tho simple reioinder The
governor stood it good deal longer than
had any right to expect, but you can't
keep a man who is always drunk. 1t gives
Il firm bad name"
1t would" l agreed.
you see, f." he went on, Il never had
the head for it, To some men it would not
have so much mattered but the very first
glass was enough to upset me. I'd never
been used to it,.
But why did you take itf" persisted.
The horse didn't make you drink it, did
hep
well, it was this way" he explained,
continuing to rub gently the lump, which
was now about the size of an egg. The
animal had belonged to gentleman who
Travelled in the wine and spirit line, and
who had been accustomed to visit in the
way of business almost every public house
he came to. The result was you couldn't
get that little horse past public house
at least couldn't He sighted them
quarter of n mile off and made straight for
the door. l struggled with him at first,
but it was five to ten minutes work get
ting him away, and folks used to gather
round and bet on us. l think maybe I'd
have stuck to it, however, if it hadn't been
for temperance chap who stopped one
day and lectured the crowd about it from
the opposite side of the street. He called
me pilgrim, and said the little horse was
Rollin or some such name, and kept on
shouting out that was to fight him for a
heavenly crown. After that they called us
'Rolly and the pilgrim, fighting for the
3rown.' 1t riled me- that did, and at tho