Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1905-09-22
DAILY SHORT STORY
LUCK VS.. ENERGY.
IOriRinal1

at the bottom of big fortunes il all
bosh. There's more fortunes started
by savin' than hard work, more by
rascality than by savin' and more by
luck than either. Did / ever tell you
about Tommy Shirk, the LATEST man
in the state: No? Well, I'll give it
to you.
Tommy married Phoebe Cults and
$500. Tom had ten acres o land that
wouldn't even grow blackberries. He
puttered along tryin' to git sOmethin
Outen II, or pretendin' to, till half his
wife's money had been eaten up, then
Phoebe said he'd have to find some
way OF maxim a Twin. Tommy was
a good deal cut up by this and went
of to a corner of his land that was
overgrown with weeds and lay down
to think It over Gittin' his nose right
down on the ground. he smelled kerr
osene. At first he thought some un
had spilled II outen a lantern, but on
diggin' up the dirt with his knife he
found that oil was Oozin' from below
and the furder he went down the more
OF IL there was.
well, Tom went home and told his
wife that there WINS oil on the prop
erty. She laughed atthim. but he took
her 10 the spot and let her smell It.
Tom TUX his spade With him. an made
a hole an proved to his wife's salts
faction that the oil came from below.
She had $4OO hid away in stockin',
and in less'n month that money was
goin' Outen the stockin' jist about as
fast as a well was beiH sunk where
the oil was oozin Mrs Shirk was
almost crazy. seen they KEEP borin'
without gettin' Oil, but she resolved
to put ii all I'm an take whatever dose
was at the end. One. night she handed
over the last dollar, and had not struck
oil. She was too broken up to pay
the money herself, SO she gave it to
Tom, tellln' him I'd notify the boss
digger that the funds were all gone and
not to come back no more. Tom he
started. but bein' dreadful lazy laid
down to smoke his pipe. He went to
sleep and didn't wake up till the men
had gone home. Then he went to the
tavern and spent the money, but he
didn't say nothin' about 1t to his wife.
The next day. after dinner, Mrs.
Shirk was wipin' the dishes and victim
'em ag'in with her tears when the boss
come to the door and said:
Mrs. Shirk, we've got down to
where there's oil. but it's not a-hOwin
well. 1t has to be pumped up
THE Shirk family was In a more tan
talizin' position than before. There
was oil at the bottom of well, but no
means o gettin' 1t up. If Tom hadn't
been SO cussed lazy he might have
done some pumpin' himself Weeks
passed, and the family was nigh on to
starvin. One night a big storm come
up-a regular clOudburst-and when
mornin' come a creek that had run a
mile from the Shirk farm had been
turned from its channel and was
a-runnin' not hundred yards from the
house. Mrs. Shirk tux on, lameptin'
that the water must run right over the
oil well and they'd never git nothin'
but water outen it. Tommy, who was a
cheerful feiler-them worthless cusses
always is-tried to console her, but
there warn't no use so he said he'd go
and see about 1t. Perty soon he come
back and said to his wife:
"'Phoebe, the creek is a-runnin' right
by the well. not over it.
well, then she answered, II
you've got spark o energy left you'll
go to work, pump out some oil, sell it
and git us somethin' to eat
~ got better scheme n that he
said.
81 don't want to hear none o your
schemes the indignant wife answered.
Il want to see some work
sssITimmpp hoIn't no brains for
schemes said Tom, and he went away.
There was an old water wheel on
the place, to which former owner of
property had dug a sluice and had run
saw. Tommy Shirk was too lazy to
do any work himself, but he hired
man on tick to haul the wheel to his
well. Then he went home and tux
down the pump and TUX 1t to the well
too. He rugged the pump to the water
wheel, which was turned by the stream.
Jist as the oil begun TO flow along
comes Mrs. Shirk. Tom was restin' on
his back, with his hat over his eyes,
smokin' his pipe. His wife, not no
ticin' the pumpin' and seem Tom takin'
it easy, begun to fire words at him.
Tom raised his hand without even
liftin' his hat often his face and pointed
at the pump THROWN out oil.
That was the last time Mrs. Shirk
ever spoke disrespectful TO her hus-
band. She admitted that if he was
lazy he had two redeemin' p'ints-luck
and ingenuity. Tom connected his well
with pipe line that run near by, and
the oil ran merrily. Shirk charging it
up at the market price per barrel. His
we'll produced about twenty barrels q
day, and even with oil at 80 cents o
barrel he made about SO day. Bime
by he sunk another well and got an
other supply of oil about as large as tk.
first The same stream and water
wheel and pump did the work, and
Tom had only TO make out a bill for
$40 where before he had made out one