The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1901-02-14
BY
SLIM JOHNSON,

entiously told me that it was a matter
of luck that he was caught. He said
If that hadn't been a blind alley, ETC., he
would surely made have an escape. AL
most everybody can see that there was
no luck about that mans being in
prison. But it is not so easy to see in
all cases. The reason that man was
captured, is because he didn't under
stand the laws governing things. He
lacked the ability of picturing to his
mind the probable results of a criminal
action. If he could have pictured to
his mind the precise results of stealing
that bicycle, he would so have guarded
against detection that to have CAP
tured him would simply have been i'm
possible. A man doesn't fail because
he is out of luck, but because he is out
of something else.
There was woman in New York
city that bet several hundred dollars
that FltzSimmonsw would defeat Jeffries.
Some one asked her the question, "now,
why did you bet on Fitzsimmons 2"
"Well,' she said. "I heard that Fitz-
simmons was good to his family, and
so [ bet on him." That woman was
not unlucky because she lost that
money. She didn't understand the
laws governing pugiIism. She lacked
the ability of seeing things at they are.
"A man of reason would not stop, to
consider whether Fitz was good to his
family or not. He would compare
these two athletes-compare their
height, heft, reach, youth, ring-record,
etc. He would put this and that to-
gether, place his money on Jeffries, and
win.
And people would say he was lucky.
NO luck about it at all. It is reason.
Having the ability of seeing things as
they are. Anybody whose opinion is
worth considering, will admit that
there is only one supernatural force in
this world that can help or harm men,
and that that force is God or nature or
whatever you wish to call it. The laws
OF God are always the same. He never
changes. He is the same today, to-
morrow, and forever. The earth re-
wolves on its axis once in about "a
hours. 1t doesn't make revolution in
23 hours today, and revolution in 25
hours tomorrow. The earth never
fails to revolve once in about "a hours.
God is the only power in this world
that you can depend upon. Because
he is always the same-never changes.
God has no favorites. The saloon
keeper gets rich as quickly as the
honest merchant The assassin's bull
let shoots just as stralghtly as the po-
liceman's. The sinners enjoyment of
life is just as keen as the saints.
Makes no difference what manner of
man you are, the Creator puts no
stones in your way, neither does he
remove any. You must do that your
self.
AAhy ouOuuC VI pCOpIc CIldL 20 on
blundering and making failures in life,
attribute their disasters to Providence.
Providence used in this sense is an
other name for luck or chance. For
instance, if railroad train jumps the
track and comes within one inch of
tumbling into precipice-lots of good
Christian people attribute that to
Providence. No Providence about it
at all. There was just so much force
to be expanded; when that force was
exp ended the train stopped.
A merchant that believes in Provi-
dence, if his store burns down or is
burglarized, attributes his misfor-
tune to Providence, never thinking
for an instant that he didn't take
proper precautions against fire and
burglars.
There is no luck or Providence in
this world. Whether you will be sue
cessful, or unsuccessful, depends
entirely upon you. Right here in