The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1904-09-29
THE LOTTERY TICKET.

FoN Portable home for himself
and wife, and to be
thought we'll of by his neighbors. He
had built himself a house, and there
still remained upon it mortgage OF
$500; but this sum he hoped to pay in
q few years, if he only had his health.
He had calculated exactly how long
it would take him to clear off this in
cumbrance, and he went to work with
his eyes open.
One evening James came home to his
supper more thoughtful than usual
His young wife noticed his manner
and she inquired its cause.
e ''sWhat is it, James," she kindly
asked. "Why, never saw you look so
sober before"
"Well, I'll tell you, Hannah" re-
turned the young man, with a slight
hesitation in his manner. Il have just
been thinking that would buy lot
terry ticket"
Hannah Lanning did not answer i'm
nediately. She looked down and
smoothed the silken hair of her babe,
which was chirping like little robin
in her arms, and the shades OF her
handsome features showed that she
was taking time to think.
"How much will it cost:" she asked,
at length, looking half timidly up into
her husbands face.
@Twenty dollars" returned James,
Aying to assume a confidence which
he did not feel.
"And have you made up your mind
to buy it:'
"Well, think shall. What do you
think about it?'
"If you should ask my advice, I
should say do not buy it."
"But why so?''
''For many reasons" returned his
wife, in a trembling tone.
She would not offend her husband,
and she shrank from giving him ad-
vice which he might not follow.
'In the first place." she said, Il think
the whole science Of lotteries is bad
one; and then you have no money to
risk"
"But just look at the prizes" said
James, drawing a scheme" from his
pocket. "Here is one prize Of $4,000,
another Of $4,000, another $4,000, and
so on. Something tells me that If
buy a ticket shall draw large prize.
And then just think, Hannah, how cas-
lily could pay all up for my house,
and perhaps have good handsome
sum left"
The young man spoke with much
earnestness and assurance, but he saw
that there was a cloud upon his wife's
brow.
ssIt seems to me that the chance of
drawing prize is very doubtful" said
Hannah, as she took the scheme.
"Here are many thousand tickets to be
sold"
The babe tried hard to snatch the
paper, and Hannah laid it aside.
II think I shall run the risk" re-
sumed James, glancing once more over
the paper, and resting with nervous
longing upon the figures which repre-
sented the higher prizes. "There's
Barney; he drew about $500 a year
ago."
Eyes, I know it," said Hannah, With
more warmth than she had before
manifested, land what has become OF
the. money? You know be has
squandered it all away. All, James,
money is of no use unless we come
honestly by it.
"Honestly?" repeated the young man.
ssSurely, there is nothing dishonest In
drawing prize in lottery"
81 think there is" kindly but en-
phatically, replied the wife. "All
games of hazard, where money is at
stake, are dishonest. Were you to
draw a prize of $4,000, you would
rob thousand men Of $50 each; or
at least, you would take from them
money for which you returned them no
equivalent. Is it not gambling in every
sense Of the word:'
"Oh, no! You look upon the matter
In too strong light
"Perhaps do; but yet SO it looks to
me. What you may draw some one
else must lose; and perhaps it may be
some one who can afford the loss no
better than you can. I wouldn't buy
the ticket, James. Let us live on the
products of our honest gains, and we
shall be happier"
James Lanning was uneasy. He had
no answer for his wife's arguments:
at least, no answer that could spring
from his moral convictions. and he let
the matter drop. But the young man
could not drop the siren from his
heart. All the next day his head was
full of ''prizes,' and While he was at
his work he kept muttering to himself,
sTwenty thousand dollars" Ten thou
sand dollars Five thousand dollars,
and so on.
When he went home the next night
he was almost unhappy with the ner-
vous anxiety into which he had thrown
Il