The Lamar register., 1902-03-19
BEING BORN LUCKY.
IL Bs.sats IlsstraAed By the GssA
Fortune of . Man who
TuanslsA . A1ll


The men around the table were tell
ing stories about being born lucky
or vice versa, says the Detroit Free
Press.
And" concluded q Chicago drum
smer who had been telling of an un-
lucky friend of his, what did he do
at last but gather together what lit
tie money he had left'and buy lot
in western oil district, before prices
doomed. He started to sink his well,
with just enough money on the mort
gage to finish it, II he had luck. and
he struck rock before he had gone
20 feet. He drove away at it and kept
driving for hundred feet, breaking
drills and costing money, till he final
ly threw up his hands, gave the prop
erty to his creditors and killed him
self. The creditors investigated the
boring and found that my friend had
struck petrified tree, upright in the
earth and had bored for hundred
feet right into it. They moved the
drill only four feet to the right and
within two weeks had tapped we'll
that was good for 300 barrels day"
There was a chorus of sighs at the
sad fate of this unlucky one, and q
Philadelphia railroad man began some
thing more cheerful.
81 had friend, he said. whose luck
was just the reverse of the gentle
mans whose history we have listened
to with SO much pleasure@ mean
sorrow"-the Philadelphia was get
ting mixed.
That's all right" laughed the Chi
cago man, II know what you mean"
"And he made his ten-strike on q
case of boring. just as the other one
did not. Which shows that fortune is
truly a tickle goddess. My friend
Smith, I'll call him. had luck always
as a boy, and as soon as he graduated
he got good job, although he was
not brilliant man at all. Which. how
ever, is no sign, because some of the
best jobs-that pay the best, mean
are held by men who get them by luck
and not by genius. He became pro-
moter and schemer later, and went
in for himself. coming out of every
undertaking with more or less success,
and never losing money. 1t made no
difference to Smith what kind of a
proposition came before'him; If he
thought there was anything in it, he
did not let it get away. The one par
ticular instance l have in mind was
the driving of a tunnel on south
western railroad. He didn't know any
more about that sort of business than
a pulpit knows about practical poll
tics, but he thought it was a chance
to make something, and he went in
with a contractor, who had only done
small jobs. Their bid was SO low that
If Smith hadn't had rich and infiuen-
tial friends he would have lost it. He
had made considerable money in his
ventures and he put that up also as
his backing. The tunnel was to cost
about half million dollars and Smith
stood to win $4,000 at his own esti-
nation, and to lose 800, 900. accord
ing to estimates of the contractors
who had put in higher bids. There
was TO be 800 day bonus for every
day ahead of time that the tunnel
was completed, and q forfeit of the
same amount for delay.
well, he got everything ready and
set his men to work at one end of
the tunnel only, for the first month.
Then he expected to put on night
and day force at both ends, for Smith
was n hustler. However, his luck was
with him, ns usual, and it wasn't
necessary to hustle. Before his sap
pers had gone so feet into the hill, and
they began almost at the face of o
cliff. I'll be jiggered If they didn't
break through into cave 40 feet high
.and 20 wide and running that size
half way through the hill. 1t got down
small again for hundred feet and
then widened again and ran big to
within so feet of daylight on the far
side of the hill. There was some work
TO do to put it into shape, but it hard
ly amounted to anything, as tunneling
goes, and Smith not only made big
thing on his contract direct, but the
bonus on extra days was nearly enough
for modest man to retire from busi-
ness on"
And yet," said man Of yeers. you
hear people say that there is no such
thing Us luck in the making of mans
success"