Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1904-03-12
" YOUNG u
sou DIN G'S I
EXPERIENCE
No Oh

hnless, perhaps, at school he played
marbles for keeps" He was we'll
conducted and Industrious young man
-punctual in his attendance at the Of
Zee and with good capacity Tor ousi-
ness His salary was small and the
consciousness of this made HIM carry
his natural modesty to an ext eme. but
he lived within his means and even
put trifle aside for rainy day. That
was Sounding.
The way it came about was that
Plimson, the Out-of-town order clerk,
had come into possession OF a one
nth ticket of the Honduras Lottery
company guaranteed by the honduras
governmenO. He had in EST ed two
dollars in this security, but as it was
nearing the end of the week and his
finances were at low ebb he proposed
TO make up pool of eight among his
fellow employees, which would bring
his and their interests to the modest
amount of % cents each, which seemed
less like plunging Sounding shook
his head at first when Plimson made
the proposal, but when it appeared
that his 25 cents was absolutely needed
to make up the pool he handed over
the coin with the remark that a fool
and his money were soon parted.
"Oh, 1 don't know" said Plimson.
THAT ticket may rake off the capital
prize and that wouldn't seem so fool
tsh. Two hundred thousand dollars
isn't found growing on every bush"
You're mistaken" said Sounding
"The bushes are full of EN-. There's
millions all around us inviting us TO
gather 'em in-only they've got little
string to 'em. l don't expect TO get
that quarter back, but / guess l can
afford to Lose it,
Make a note of the number, any
way" said Plimson. Il may try to
switch 1t on you. If that isn't lucky
one there's no virtue in nineS-four of
'em, d'you see? Nine to begin with and
then eight and one, nine; seven and
two, nine, and five and four, nine.
See?-9S17254."
Mine million chances to four that
you lose," said Sounding.
The drawing was to be three weeks
later and Sounding promptly forgot all
about it. He had plenty of other
things to think of. the chief in impor-
lance being Mabel. Matters were not
going well there. Mabel herself was
rs sweet as ever and gave him no I'M
easiness, but Mabels father was get
ting worse and worse. He had never
thought favorably of Sounding as a
sutton for his daughters hand, main
tanning that the young man was what
he termed a Sticl<-in-the-mud. Il don't
hold it out against him that he's poor"
he said. Il was poor myself once
poorer than Jobs turkey-but wasn't
satisfied to plug along that way and
that chap seems to be. He may be
saving, but he's holding down the
same job at the same wages he was
three years ago, when he first came
incoming around. That doesn't look
we'll"
So he took a decidedly unfriendly
attitude toward poor Sounding, who
was doing the very best he could, and
went the length of telling him a week,
after the lottery-ticket purchase that
he would better cease his visits to the
house until his prospects looked lit
tie rosier-and Sounding dejectedly
acquiesced.
Sounding was sitting in his rooms
one evening meditating upon his I'M
happy lot when the insidious demon OF
chance suddenly whispered in his ear
and he straightway extracted from his
pocketbook a slip of paper on which
was written the figures 9S17254 and
looked at them with a dawning inter-
est What If the number should prove
to be the winning one, There really
was a chance of il after all. Some
number had to win. If il was a swim
die at least it would occur to the swim
dlers that IL would be we'll to allow
one Yankee" 10 win. if only to en-
courage the others. He had heard that
common card sharpers pursued that
policy. Then the magic nines-but
that was a superstition, of course
Sounding sat there for perhaps an
hour regarding that slip of paper, and
by the time he put it back in his
pocket he had acquired what the vul-
gar term ''hunch.''
In the course of a few days the
"hunch" developed into an absolute
certainly. Sounding had figured out
that his share OF the prize would be
$1,000. Well. he had that $1,000 as
good as in the bank. Ii was all over
but the drawing. AS beseemed such q
capitalist, his manner took on a GER
tain dignity and self-assurance which
before had been lacking. His face
grew brighter as he felt himself re-
heved from the anxious thought of
struggling for years on small means
and his air more generally alert A
large part of his burden of modesty
slipped from him and his courage rose
TO such an extent that he decided to go
and see Mabel.
He had enjoyed delicious half-hour
with her. tete-a-tete, in the familiar
back parlor before her father entered.
Bounding, however, instead of appear
Ing embarrassed, greeted him him with
q confident and cheerful bearing that
seemed to take the old gentleman
somewhat aback. Instead of the ex-
plosion Mabel and Sounding expected
he merely said to the young man: "Td
like to see you few moments when