The record-union., 1896-04-19
Why | EMIGRATED.
(Told for the Record Union" by S. P.
Lionhergerl

!
(Told for the "Record-Unio by S. p.
Lionberger)
'"There is no such fellow as luck"
| is a quotation often used, and 1t has
nearly if not quite arrived at a suffi-
cient age to be recognized as proverb.
| If the story I am about to tell seems
| to contradict that oft repeated state
ment 1 ask no one to change his belief,
for if there is no truth in age, everyone
will admit that it should always be en-
inently respectable, and should not be
discarded because it may chance to
clash with a new theory, or one that has
| been regenerated..
| In the year-well, never mind the
year, as that has nothing whatever to
do with the story-chance had brought
me into community whose members
speculated heavily In an institution run
J by sister republic, which besides her
youth and inexperience, was in rather
Strengthened circumstances for finan-
cial aid only. This institution was lot
| terry which was run upon stupendous
scale, and which it was calculated-and
rightly, too-would renew the depleted
exchequer of the republic in question
! by thus imposing voluntary tax upon
her own citizens, and those of any other
nation who were disposed to donate.
There was a chance in the scheme for
any speculator to amass comfortable
| fortune, If only luck befriended him,
in which case he would have the pleas
ure of relating the incident to his
| friends until the day Of his death, if not
after.
| The people in the village were by no
| means wildly excited when day for
drawings came around, but it is safe to
say they were mildly expectant. For
| some months I had been an interested
| spectator Of the citizens of this village
| and came in for my share of badinage
| because / held myself aloof from the
| lottery, which was a somewhat singular
| occurrence in a place where everyone
| fed the monster and their own greedy
| hopes of gain with the same piece Of
| money. Not bad idea, as an ancient
| denizen of the place confidentially in
| formed me- to crafty ones desire and
| to feed ones natural cupidity at the
same time, and that it was better to be
among the mediocrists and play within
| the limit of your purse, and better
| one than to go over your head the first
leap-to be a plunger and-forgotten.
| But to all their twittering l turned a
| deaf ear and satisfied myself at least
with the threadbare theory which has
the place of honor in this story: There
is no such fellow as luck"
| To the more persistent of my persecu-
| tors I intimated that l should try my
luck" whenever I received revelation
of the winning number, and that when
7 did play 1 should win, and win heavily.
In vain did they repeat to me wonderful
cases of '1uck' in individuals-all Of
whom chanced to reside at distance
and offered that as an inducement why
I, too, should speculate, asserting that
lightning never strucktwice in the same
place" Several persons also assured
me that they had come within one or
two figures of winning the mammoth
prize, thus nearly becoming able to re-
tire from active business and live on the
| interest of their money instead of upon
| the interest of what they owed. They
appeared to place no reliance upon the
old saw "a miss is as good as mile,
and failed to respect me any more high
| ly for calling attention to 1t for their
benefit. One old gentleman even told me
| that he thought proverbs greater bore
than the multiplication table.
| And so I was slowly but surely drift
ing away from the good opinions of the
people of the village, when an incident
occurred which changed the whole scope
OF my reasoning, or Dutch stubbornness
| (call it as you please, as / am not at all
concerned in the names you apply to me
or my acquirements).
| One night, after tiresome days
work, stretched myself to sleep with
out a care. How fast or how far one
can sleep I do not pretend to know, but
on that particular occasion / dreamed
dreams. Now, I had never been a be-
| lever in dreams, and if this one had
| been of the usual kind I should never
have thought of it But after my itera-
tions to my friends that 1 should never
play in the lottery without revelation
of some kind, the dream probably would
| have staggered greater skeptic than
| / was. There was nothing in it of any
lottery, or ticket, or drawing. / simply
dreamed that 1 went to sleep and was
conveyed into a room as dark as night,
where l stood wondering what would
| transpire. The silence was as dense DIS
| the darkness. I stared at the blackness.
Soon a small spot of dim light fickered
and crept, and finally settled quietly IN
one place. 1t slowly gained in brilliancy
| until it became as a ray of the sun
| light. AS / gaZed in wonder, the spot
| seemed stirred by an invisible finger.
| It's chaos began to resolve itself into
shape. Slowly but surely the transfer
nation scene progressed until at last it
was completed, and there, surrounded
| by midnight darkness, stood out in
| brilliant lines one single characteristic
| figure 2. Even as I watched, the same
| invisible hand rubbed the light into
chaos once more-the quivering again
commenced followed by that piercing
brightness, and the figure stood where
the former character had been. This
was followed by similar changes, and
with each shifting of the scenes came
the figures g. / and 5.
| The revelation was passed and 1 was
| awake. The sun was shining brightly,
| and ray was playing through a lattice,
| directly in my eyes; but those magic
| numbers were still running through my
mind 2, ), 3. l and 5. l repeated them
| over to myself; 2 5, 3, l and 5! What
| did they mean? or did they mean any
| thing? Still those characters Of fire
went raging through my mind, and still
| | puzzled over them.
| But all day long those glittering num-
bers recurred to me, and wondered that
| a dream should hold me so closely in it's
| mystical clutch. Never before had
| sleep scene taken such complete possess
| sion of me. All day long beneath my
pen those magic numbers grew. They
crept in at places where thew had no