The Forrest City times., 1899-12-15
A Wasted Opportunity.
By A. A. Smith.

lDlNG IN chair car was an unac-
II customed luxury to Martin Lovett
For several years-iust how many he
could not recall-his usual mode of
transit had been by way of the rods
or in box cars. with an occasional jour
ney on the blind baggage" when he
was in great luck. So he leaned back
and enjoyed the luxury of the swift mo-
tion and the cushioned seat The
rhythmic ''clickety-click,c k,clickety-click"
of the wheels was conducive to a
dreamy, restful languor, and for the
time being he was almost indifferent to
the black pail of failure which fate, or
circumstances, or his own inefficiency.
had cast over him.
Lovett was a tramp printer, and for
tune had dealt capriciously with him.
There had been times when she seemed
to smile upon and beckon him onward,
and then she would vanish like mock
ing sprite and plunge him deeper into
the abyss of despair. Again and again
he had entered the race, urged forward
by a subtle instinct which adversity
could subdue but never quite destroy.
Again and again there was the same re-
suit, until now he lay humbled and
passive, with only an occasional gleam
of his old hope and energy.
Vague shadows of thoughts fitted
through his weary brain as the great
train rushed along-impressions as
light and indistinct upon the mind as
were the fitting trees and fences to
the eye. The scenes of his early life
touched lightly upon his memory, and
dreamily once more he felt the prompt
ings of ambition, the alternating Ella
ton of success with the sting of de-
feat and in fancy he was once more
grasping at the elusive sprite of oppor-
tunity. But little more distinct than
all the other shadows which pressed
upon him was the never-ending prob
lem of existence, and behind it the
specter of what might yet come to him
sickness, starvation, and somewhere
in some neglected spot. nameless pau
per's grave. He had never quite sue
ceeded in banishing that specter,
though in his intervals of buoyant res
olution he had driven it to the back
ground. Its gaunt presence was vague
ly outlined in his mental vision now,
and mechanically he thrust his hand in
his pocket and felt of the coins therein.
Their total was two dollars. That
meant that with his customary econo-
my in dietary matters he was sure of
more than half week of existence,
and in that time something was sure to
turn up" His hard life had taught
him to be philosophically submissive
to circumstances when he could not
ccntrol them, so once more he drove
the specter back into the dim prospect
i've and thought not of the morrow as
he watched the flying landscape or
gazed dreamily at his fellow passen-
gers.
His eyes fell upon prosperous-look-
ing old gentleman to the right and a
few seats in front of him, and suddenly
he threw off his lethargy and awoke TO
lively interest, though why he could
hardly tell. He remembered seeing the
old gentleman in bank in the town he
had just left. He remembered that the
cashier had given him money-rols Of
bills-and that he had put them care
fully away in a small hand bag, while
the banker good-naturedly chaffed him
about his indiscreticn in carrying so
much money about There was the
same hand bag now. held on the lap of
the benevolent-looking old gentleman,
who did not appear to be in the least
disturbed by the possession of so much
treasure. While in the bank cashing
his small check for the work which
had enabled him to ride in the chair
car Lovett had witnessed the trans
action, and now the sight of the treas
ure aroused a pang of cupidity and
sent thrill through his long dormant
spirit.
He knew the bag contained 50 900.
Two thousand dollarsl What a golden
field of opportunity the possession of
such a sum would open to him. Once
before he had possessed as much and al
moat i hcg proved the foundation of