The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1896-10-15
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*MY:E0TTERY WIFE; y

;.s; 4oHNNIn d:ssfAAIei:Dy#sMednfs0h 5AOkH3Fy
may sound very dreadful in the ears OF
some folks, and yet I, Jack Drummond,
owe, mine to nothing more nor less thai:
ticket No. 0,o5S,3 10in the Brussels Grand
international lottery. of q few years
Ego. '' :: ~. '''. .';;'@:.' ':',
1t occurred thus: i was in the low
est of low water. II, "a playwright whose
pieces possessed that" the author at
least. was cdnyinced-the power Of
drawing large sums from the pockets
of the multitudinous pleasure OF
the metropolis. Alas! had not con-
sinced the. managers that I, a frank
ulitsideryF whose only dramatic fame
rested upon the production of q farce at
asuburban ehurek 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. ~ ,,,~xe.
&" / was, as I have said, in low. water.
I had sent my latest comedy-'Sober
sides, the Funny Manic the actor
= manager Of the Thespian, and &vas q lit
tie more than doubtful Of the result. %
With ''Sobersit,es, the Funny Man,
pigeonholed ut the 'Thesrian, Il :. hal
nothing to do but. struggle on as best !
could on the mipimum ofHssh obtained
by doing: sweated reviewing for a srp1
posed: :.respectab!e journal. One day
when I had scampered through ten vol
.lmes@ of written notices of them for the
, princely remuneration of half as I1any
shfllings I was surprised (and not alto
gether agreeably) by visit from, my
uncle. A worthy button merchant Foi
Birmingham, he would never forgive me
having quilted the position which he
had found for me in his Office, that
might seek to earn 'beggary subsist-
ence" by my pei. "Pens," he would
say, fare made for bookkeeping--not
for bookmaking." And bookmaking in
Fleet street was, to his mind, no less dis.
reputable than bookmaking on the race
course.
Well, Uncle Joe came, and if I did not
exactly welcome the coming, I was ccr-
tainly 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 bullion!" as
Sir Lucius would have .said)-a' e 81
note. - ~. ..o..
Invent to Euston to see the old boy of,
softened toward him almost to the de.
gree of Offering to return like prod.
igal son to Birmingham and it's buttons.
As the train was on the point of starting
Uncle Joe threw me an envelope, say
ing: II was fool enough to buy thai
when in Brussels. You may have it,
Jack, for all it. s worth"
The envelope much to my amuse~
ment, contained ticket in the Brussels
Grand international Lottery.
On the way to my lodgings I revolvet'
the question: What shall I do now? ]
determined to husband my means so
that might live on the & so as long as
possible, while making further efforts
at original work. Strong in my new
capitalist conceit, wrote to the editor
whose sweated reviewer in-chief I.had
been, and threw up my connection with
his paper; and, then, having no ties of
work to bind me to London, deter
mined to live on the continent as cheap
Iy as possible while wrote another
play. A happy thought struck me;
why not go to Brussels while working
aud waiting for something to turn up?
1--WE 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 of July. Ever creature
of impulse, was by noon the following
day in Brussels.
I had been in the Belgian capital be-
fore, and made my way at once to an
unob.rusive hotel in a side street off the
Rue de In Madeleine. In the hotel en-
trance saw flaming bill about the
lottery, giving the exact date of the
drawing as July 4. A happy augury
this, thought I, for that will be Inde-
pendence day! The first prize repre-
sented an enormous sum, the very con-
.side,ation Of which gave me the dreams
= sS5ssl1t.