The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-02-10
Al. IS. 1s. p. 90.

Passing such an office one day in a sea-
side town of the Riviera, I paused inyol-
UNFAIRLY, with the question on my lips:
who buy the lottery tickets"
The door stood open. From within issued
a clamor of voices, and eager eyes followed
intently the change of numbers in the in
dicator.
The ticket seller was perched behind a
high counter like a J~ack-in-the-box, while
gathered about him was a group of women
and children, mostly fsh-wives and sailor
folk. The figures adjusted and the Indicator
again hung in place, many turned away
disappointed while others pressed forward
to try again. The numbers are drawn once
in every eight days.
AS l waited an old woman came out with
q lottery ticket in one hand and a half-loaf
of bread tucked snugly under the other
arm. She had a fine face with delicate
features and sad sunken eyes. Her shoulders
stopped. her form was meagre and under
fed, her garments threadbare. She looked
seventy, but she may easily have been a
half-score years younger, for the women Of
the working class age early in Italy. Despite
all, however, she bore herself with the SUI
perb dignity of a Tuscan. AS we walked on
a few steps side by side, I said:
so you have been buying a lottery ticket.
I suppose. you hope to win a great fortune"
She looked at me and smiled. "Ah, Sig
Tell me-" / asked, lis it true that for
tunes are sometimes won?"
Oh; yes, yes; many times she cried
eagerly. I'VE may win a bella fortuna any
But why. instead, do you not save your
spare pennies" l asked, "or buy little COM
forts with them?"
"Ah, cara Signora," she answered quiet
to lay BY a few francs: and sometimesN
who knows? we might win a million" p
And yet, now and then, you go hungry
and cold for the mere chance"
He will have it that / try she said,
Laying me to wonder whether the .p@otential
as we can lay together twenty centesilni-
four cents-he says: Come, we viii try our
we will never play again.
Have you ever won anything" I asked.
Never" she answered: But perhaps. we
She drew the half-loaf from under her
arm, brandished it tragically in the air, and
replaced it with a shrug of the shoulders.
Fortunes are sometimes made, as they
sums. Every family possesses a dream-book
and whoever has a peculiar dream looks up
the possible numbers in the book and plays
them. One lady-for it is not only the poor
who play-dreamed that a golden goose shed
its down upon her breakfast plate. Reason
ing that her golden dream must surely bring
golden luck, she played largely and lost.
A very poor woman, a sailors widow, who
toiled early and late to earn her chiidrs sss
rose with the first streak of dawn, Weakened
her daughter, a child of ten. and putting a
lev SOuo III Gi iidiiO, aus hOl Noht
magical numbers by heart. She babe her
be at the office the instant it opened. There
one would cry about that. 1t had happened
before. The child held the money fast in
ner nan ahe ana ra = 20 ove .ne an oIn oyer e sn nepI
times that finally she forgot them. When
she paid in her pennies and the agent poised
his pen, she was both dumb and despair
The agent lost patience. .tOh, bother he
cried. What difference can it make? Take
!, .. sit is all the same"
But that is not right. The mother will
beat me. Oh, dear, oh, dear, what shall l
The agent was obdurate. He dropped the
pennies into the till and handed the child a
you'll win after ALL" he said in tardy pity.
To win all five numbers would be some
Italians say. Less than three out of five
do not count for anything. I. 2, s. and
eSiid's Chances. She went home, gave the
receipt to her mother, and was soundly
Whipped. The woman shed bitter tears,
marvellous m best chance of her
life was gone. She could scarcely forgive
Next Saturday night the Indicator read, 81,
. 8. IA. 3d." The child's mistake had won
5000 francs.
I'm sorry ! beat her" said the mother
penitently. Then she did q sensible thing.
she invested the entire sum in the pur.
chase of a home and had it conveyed by
deed Of gift TO the child. After this the
lottery offices were crowded with four and
ten-cent SPECTATORS. a certain WdileI
one of the hotels, whose wages were SS a
month, tried his luck many times. AT last
he drew the munificent sum Of 800 francs
S60-and lost his head. He threw up his
situation, which in perpuisites brought him
In double his wages. and would listen to
no remonstrance. HE would go away and
be a gentleman 1t had always been his
ambition. Now that he was wealthy no one
should hinder him.
The hotel keeper shrugged his shoulders,
the summer guests laughed. No one seemed
TO understand that 1t was pathetic.
The ex-waiter spent his fortune within ten
days. so we heard. but he never returned to
the Riviera.