Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1896-04-26
F0GG on THE f"

One author says "chance e -,
void OF sense; nothing can exist ~. %olu
cause" another, Chance 1bo,,oT %', yi'
Is the sole author of tho ceas, mn
. idhe your choice And some saw
there's no such thing as lucko De-,
little "if' implying something Of O o's
conceptions OF both would be b9rd "a 10
wlth-it, and especially so in n,ey,no
ones imagination. 1t can lead ps i,.s
an endless chain OF serious or mdic-nn-
may bes,' or might have been,sn
IL Abraham Lincoln had secured Tho
cierkship in Washington which he Az
sired at one time. what would have
been his destiny and what y,nIJ ~
our condition? Would Booker w.
ington have made the SAINT address n
Atlanta, and would General Gordon de.
liver the same famous lec.ure3
If Ulysses Grants rival for admission
TO West Point hadn't had six .oes On
each foot, whose equestrian s,atna
would be most conspicuous?
If Oliver Cromwell when voung
hadn't been taken off an American
bound ship by constable. what then9
Ii my great-grandfathe Fogg badn,f
happened TO be at a certain place an
one st. Patrick's Day and said 10
certain young lady, Faith an am glad
TO mate wild ye," what thel2 The
chances are that | would be MISSING
and however potent factor now nav
be in local politics and spring blowing
no one would ever have said anvtbirg
about me; for people who might have
been born are never mentioned in good
society.
And, furthermore, my good traits OF
character, by different marriages.
would be scattered about here and there
amonst the Irish and the Dutch. and
Heaven knows what, until no one per-
son would realize the small fraction of
my best qualities he possessed, by my
not happening to be evolved from a
certain set of ancestors in 1868.
And on the other hand my bad. both
ersome traits, if so scattered. might be
very mild and give no one person any
great amount Of trouble. But. as il Is.
certain men married certain women all
back through the ages, and I'm the re-
suit; with that unfortunate trait Of
character of whole lot of concentrated
poverty, contributed in large quantities
by my Is t-great-grand- parents.
handed down undiminished by my s
great-grand-parents, received in trust
by my 4 grandparents, and so on until
now it is in my possession a trouble
some attribute which prompts me to 20
slow on the pie and shun seeking a
| nomination for county office.
If the snake mad been killed by some
blackberry pickers on the outskirts OF
Eden, what then? Would prize fighters
fight on the Rio Grande? Would PEN
itentiaries be choral halls and aims
houses be art galleries?
If Eve had said TO Adam. IT will
never marry you until you build a
brown stone house with a conservatory
and promise me a French cook, TWO
maids and a coachman." the meg
alonyXes would still be rOmping in my
hazel bushes, and where | now write a
mastodon might be playing catch with
what is now my front doorstep.
If Emperor William should cat too
many fresh pretzels some day Just be-
fore considering some French diplomat
matters. would this affect one man only.
or would it move the artillery OF two
mighty nations? Some day the peace
Of Europe may be broken by a h0t. pref
Eel in Berlin. pudding in London, or
too much Bordeaux in the Chamber OF
Deputies.
If, on the eve of an important Presi-
Dental message, the wild ducks should
persistentiy keep on the other side Of
the lagoon, might not this disrespectful
behavior, on the part Of the ducks, be
| felt from sea 10 sea?
Doesn't every act, every accident,
every good, every sin, to some extent
affect the future of the whole world for
all eternity? So if things hadn't been
| just so, what then? DAN FOGG.