Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-04-16

ioohCt ut hlul lIou ItuI w 1oot. liS
was perfectly calm aud at ease.
"You mean what you say?" NUT
tered the officer.
Sometimes" said the foreigner
carelessly; ''now, certainly"
cts absolute Madness" said an
other officer
ITS mad world" said the for.
eigner.
"Well. your life is your own to
throw away if you will"
"Oh, but it's not thrown away
yet" said the man. "Whcre is the
bag?"
They handed him the bag, and he
put his hand again among the papers.
"One turn for luck" he said, stir
ring the papers mp. "Now!" and he
held the paper high above his head. 1t
was white one. He bowed to the
man and his wife. "We are so far
fortunate, he said, and smiled.
The man fell to the earth, and was
about to clasp the wonderful stranger
about the knees; but his wife was be-
fore him:
"Oh, sir!" she cried; "you have q
charmed life; you have Heaven with
you; you are good, or You have
magic. Sir, you have listened to the
wife; oh, that you would listen to the
| mothern'
In her fierce emotion she did mol
heed the efforts CT her husband to re-
strain her. Every one was moved.
The officers could not. disguise their
feelings. The Englishman alone
seemed collected.
"Whew" he whistlel. "Children,
are there? That's coming it little
strong" He looked at her, musing,
for few second; and added; with
whimsical accent: ''It's little strong
But how many are there? There's
only room for two."
"These two, kind sir" pleaded the
woman. "Oh, sir, be their savior,
and the good God keep you from
harm!'
"Two, are there?" said the man.
every well, will draw for the two."
Then he said, with sigh, "Heigho!
and to think that mere resemblance
in the voice can make man such a
fool!"
Then turning to the officer, he said,
courteously: "Will you so far extend
your indulgence as to allow me to draw
again?"
Gas you WILL" said the officer, but
with marked consideration Of tone.
81 am indeed beholden to you," he
said, and slipped his hand into the
bag. Snow, the question is, where
those two papers are. Well, this for
one shot!' and he drew out the paper
and handed it to the officer. A shout
arose which there was no suppressing.
1t was white ore.
"You will have your children" he
said to the woman; "for if fail this
time, it will only be my life they will
require. And have no friends"
He turned again to the bag, and said:
"We will take the first that comes this
time" He drew it out, shut in his
closed hand, and held it there. All
the army seemed to have gathered
round. There were eager faces, quiv-
erlng lips, fearful eyes. But he was
looking at his hand with curious,
quizzical smile. "There's handful of
faten' he said. Suddenly he opened his
fingers, and revealed the paper lying
open on the palm.
1t was white one.
Then indeed such a cheer arose. rs
has seldom been heard on this old
earth. The officer carried back the
bag to the generals tent, where he re-
ported what had happened. The
generals, discerning in it the finger of
Providence, declared the lottery at an
end, released the five victims, and
proclaimed a general amnesty.
"Curious thing, the voice." said
man in camp that night, over cigar.
He was talking to the officer who had
carried round the bag. "It's some
years now since l heard the voice of q
woman strangely like that voice. But
for her ] suppose I should never have
been in this mess. Well, there's
compensation everywhere; for, but for
her I should never have got these
poor wretches out of this mess. So
she's done me good turn at last; and
it makes up for q good many bad
ones. New York Independent.