The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-11-21
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is an unlueky man, superstition whicf
 as he proves by evidence, really exists.
 and he earnestly entreats all men il
 future to avoid this particular "slan-
 der," because when it has once fasten-
 ed itself it is absolutely ruinous. The
 two questions, therefore, require an
 sWer before his letter can be judged up
 on it's merits, Our reply to the first
 would be that a man can certainly be
 unlucky in the proper sense of the word
 that Is, frequently visited by mis for
 tune for which he is entirely respons-
 ibe Of course, In the majority of eases
 the ill-luck is only apparent, the true
 explanation being some deficiency in
 the man himself of which he is totally
 unconscious. He knows his powers and
 he is aware of his weaknesses, but he is
 not aware of his causes of failure. He may, for example, with every capacity for succrss, except certain Inability to
 understand the character of other men
 or women That has been often the de,
 spoiled the career of Louis XIV, Whoge ficiency which has ruined Kings; it has 1 latest adviser Mime. de Maintenon, was l a good woman of the Catholic devotee
 type, with a decidely inferior brain
 and 1t was one cause of the fall of Na- poleon, whose sub-Kings and Marshals
 were, with the possible exception of
 Eugene Beauharnais, never men of
 first-rate powers. That Is usually at tributed to his jealousy or rivals; but
 to chose inferior men in civil life, and never through his whole career had a 1 private secretary or controller of his | household who was worth his salt; while two of his wives one was a vain and l extravagant person without brain, and the other an Archduchess who had | not an idea beyond her claim to be considered on account of her birth, and who married her chamberlain
 | In private life the same defect is probably of all others the commonest cause of ruin very able men, and still oftener affairs by persons of imperfect I intelligence and positively untrust- worthy character Or the able man has habit of procrastination of which he | is wholly unaware, which leads him al- ways to miss the moment of opportuni- | ty, the commonest of defects in able yet unsucceksful Generals; or he is liable to what the French call entrainements and the English "rushes," which lead him into blunders that all his intimates de- clare to be positively inexplicable." The ablest human being we ever knew
 had way of dressing himself, always in unconseiousness, which twice cost him great career; while another singu- 1arly competent man spoiled every chance by a temper which was in real ity nothing but whimsical, but which
 caused all employers to pronounce him hopelessly unreliable" We should
 say, indeed, that the really able were
 specially liable to one of the most ruin
 ous of all vices or foibles incurabe
 incidence, while every one knows a few quite competent men who never succeed
 ed because they lost opportunities
 through an indifference of which they
 were totally unaware. Still, though we
 recognize all these, and many more, causes of failure we cannot but admit
 that there are men who are genuinely "unlucky" with whom, that Is, the cur rent of events for some inexpllcable req
 son always collides who are always injured in an accident from which others escape, whose cab breaks down when driving to important appointments whose investments which seem most reasonable are always swept away, whose relatives are blisters, and whose friends causes of expense.
 The writer had once an intimate friend who firmly believed of himself that the off chance of misfortune always happened to him, and always would happen, and it was exceedingly difficult for any one who knew his history to doubt that he had reason for his super stition. And the writer knew well an- other man-indeed, he published an ac- count of his adventures-who passed some eight times in life through acci- dents which would infallibly have kill ed any one else, without a scratch, and | who had, therefore, Gives belief that | he was destined to something-whichl | turned out an illusion. We know that | there are laws which regulate chance, | and we know that there are long in tervals when they seem to be defied, and there is no perceptible reason why a mans life should not be lived within the influence of one of the intervals | favorable or the reverse. If he can throw aces or deuces ten times running | why should he not come to grief in ten incidents of life? There is no reason perceptible why in the great scheme chance should, in sanity, involving that hardest of all things to conceive, Responsibility; yet both do enter. We may humbly wait for explanation, but we see no use in denying the common experience of man. kind,
 Then as to the second question, wheth- er an accusation of unluckiness is a islander. surely that must depend upon its accuracy or falsehood. MT. Her. mann Vezin says 1t ls false as regards himself, and we entirely believe him; out he seems to imply that 1t is always false, and why should that be so when IS we all know, there are unlucky peo- ole? It may always be ungenerous, just IS it is ungenerous to say of man that he is but able but a cripple, or compe- .en but squints; but why is 1t islander to say of a man that he is unlucky if )nly that is the fact? We can conceive If many cases in private life which it would be duty to say it-for example, advising a friend about a partnership and in public life it would be simple oily not to take 1t into account. We