The Van Buren press. [volume] (Van Buren, Ark.) 1859-1914, 1896-10-31
MY LOTTERY WIFE.

TO win a wife by means of a lottery
may sound very dreadful in the ears of
some folks, and yet /, Jack Drummond
owe mine to nothing more nor less thar
ticket No. 0s05s,3i0 in the Brussels Grand
International lottery of few years
ago.
IL occurred thus: / was in the low
est Of low water. l, a playwright whose
pieces possessed-of that the author at
least was eonyinced-the power of
drawing large sums from the pockets
Of the multitudinous pleasure-seekers OF
the metropolis. Alas! | had not con-
tinced the managers that L, frank
outsider" whose only dramatic fame
rested upon the production Of farce at
suburban church entertainment, could
possibly write three-act comedy
which should make the boxes smile.
the stalls litter, the dress circle grin,
the pit roar and the gallery scream with
unrestrained merriment
WIS, as | have said. in low water.
j had sent my latest comedy-"Sober
sides, the Funny Man"-to the actor
manager of the Thespian, and was a lit
tie more than doubtful of the result.
With 'Sobersides, the Funny Man."
pigeonholed at the Thespian, | had
nothing to do but struggle on as best
could on the minimum OF cash obtained
by doing sweated reviewing for a sup
posed respectable journal. One day
when | had scampered through ten vol
umes of written notices of them for the
princely remuneration of half as many
shiliings | was surprised land not alto
geiher agreeably) by a visit from my
uncle. a worthy button merchant OF
Birmingham, he would never forgive me
having quilted the position which be
had found for me in his office, that
might seek to earn ''beggary subsist-
ence' by my pen. "pens," he would
say, ARE made for bookkeeping-nol
for boolmaldng" And bookmaking in
Fleet street was, 10 his mind, no less dis
reputable than bookmaking on the race
course.
Well, Uncle Joe came, and II did not
exactly welcome the coming, was GER
iainly delighted to speed the parting
guest. Before he left | had decided
that he was not so bad after all, for he
treated me TO an excellent dinner, and
gave me-C'Ods banks and bullionl" as
Sir Lucius would have said)-a C 80
note.
went TO Euston to see the old boy of,
softened toward him almost to the de
gree of offering 10 return like prod
igal son TO BirniIg CHAM and its buttons
AS the train was on the point of starting
Uncle Joe threw me an envelope, say
ing: ~ was fool enough TO buy that
when in Brussels. You may have IL.
Jack, for all it's worth"
The envelope, much to my amuse.
ment, contained a ticket in the Brussels
Grand international Lottery.
On the way to my lodgings revolved
The question: What shall do now2 |
determined to husband my means so
that ! might live on the so ms long as
possible, while making further efforts
nj original work. Strong in my new
capitalist eonceit, | wrote to the editor
whose sweated reviewer in-chief had
been, aud threw up my connection with
his paper; and, then, having TO ties Of
work 10 bind me TO London, | deter.
mined to live on the continent as cheap
~ as possible while l wrote another
play. A happy thought struck me.
why not so to Brussels while working
and waiting for something TO turn up 4?
I've are all more or less intimately con.
nected with the great family of Micaw-
ber)I looked again at the lottery
ticket, and learned that the drawing
was at the end ofJuly. Ever a creature
Of impulse, was by noon the following
day in Brussels.
l had been IN the Belgian capital be-
lore, and maize my way at once to an
unobtrusiye hotel in a side street off the
Rue de Il Madeleine. In the hotel en-
trance I eaw a flaming bill about the
lottery, giving the exact date of the
drawing as July 4. A happy augury
this, thought j, for that will be indie
pendence dayi The first prize repre-
scnted an enormous sum, the very con-
sideration OF which gave me the dreams
u millionaire. began to consider my
ticket as really valuable possession,
almost as though ii were an actual
draft for the amount Of the first prize.
and at the very least as a kind OF tai
isman which was TO pass me along the
road 10 good fortune. Such. indeed.
q was TO prove, in a manner never
sould have imagined.
During my stay was determined to
30 Brussels thoroughly. ! spent my
mornings in work my afternoons in
wandering In all quarters Of the city,
ard my evenings at Wsuxhall. Gay
with light. life and music. the popular
resort exercised great fascination over
90.