The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1901-02-14
Vol. XIV.-No. 30.
LUCK.
Paper Read Before the Cha,atauqua Circle.

PdpeT RedG BeTOre the ChGutGuQuG Ctrcte.
THE older we become, the more
the intellect develops, the more
we understand the laws of
God and of man, the more we
are convinced that there is no such
thing as luck or chance. AS things
are, there cen be no luck or chance,
because everything in the universe is
governed by law, it matters not
whether it is an animate or inani-
mate object. Every atom however,
small, every mountain however large,
bears certain relation to each other.
Scientists claim that if you stamp
your feet upon the ground, the whole
universe is shaken. OF course the
shock is so slight that no machine of
human invention can register it.
Now as everything in this world is
governed by law, nothing can happen
by chance. If you throw a baseball
from you, it is not matter of chance
where it will stop. According to the
law of gravitation, the amount of mo-
mentum you gave the ball, etc., it will
stop in a certain place. If you were to
hurl that ball second time with ex-
actly the same amount of force, and
you stood in the same place, the atmos-
.pheric conditions, the ground and
everything being the same as on the
former occasion, the ball would stop
precisely where it did before. 1t is not
a matter of chance that the Mississip-
pi river rises in Minnesota, flows south,
and discharges its waters into the Gulf
of Mexico. 1t is because the Missis-
sippi river is governed by certain laws
which it must obey. There is valley
extending from Minnesota to the Gulf
of Mexico; consequently, the river
must flow through this valley; as Min
nesota is higher than the Gulf of
Mexico, the water, seeking its level,
must flow south.
AS everything in the universe is gov
erned by certain laws, it is evident
that the man that understands these
laws the best has an immense advan-
tage over his fellowmen.
The difference between what is
known as lucky man, and an unlucky
man is, that the lucky man under
stands the laws governing things bet
ter than the unlucky man.
The musician understands the laws
governing music; the mathematician
understands the laws governing mathe-
matics; the financier understands the
laws governing financial matter. If
man has succeeded in any one of the
above mentioned avOcations, it is be-
cause he understood and complied with
the laws governing that particular call
ing.
A man holds up train at the point
of Winchester rifle and steals all the
money. Another man comes along
and steals the railroad. The first man
is called criminal and gets life SEN
tence in the penitentiary. The second
man is called great financier and gets
q SCdt LII Gu0 S6IldCt. LII Is IlOC luck, D6-
cause the first man is in the peniten-
tiary, and the second man is in the
senate. 1t is because the second man
understands the laws governing the
making of money better than the first
man.
There is no more luck about solving
a financial problem than there is in
solving problem in trigonometry.
To understand the laws of God and of
man, you must see things just as they
are. Any amount of people that en-
bark in certain enterprises, fail because
they lack the ability of plcturing to
their minds the results Of certain &C.
tions.
While l was waiting trial in the
county Jail in Minneapolis, there was
a man in that jail convicted of steal
ing a chained bicyclea and running down
blind alley with it. This man consci-