Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-15

MY lFdNllcl Nd9 an
- unhandsone man named
Andy Meek. who had just come
down from the BlacKfoot Reserva-
ton in Idaho with his eye knocked
out He had been a bullwhackcr
before the Union Pacific was built,
had fought score Of Indian battles
and had a body covered with scars.
But when 1 undertook to Sympath.ze
with him and said 1t was bad luck
he snorted. spat and drawled
Son. there amt no such thing as
luck. 1 lost this eye by bein' plum
careless like Lost my temper when
a broncho cut up as I was saddliu'
him, gave a perk and the end Of the
latigo strings cut my eye out. So 1t
was foolishness. Nothin' more"
Then. in advancing his argument
against what is commonly called
luck ne told me this:
In the early gold rush in Virginia
Gulch, Mont, he was one Of the
first men to stake a claim. There
was no great hurry, because the
stampede was not yet on. He stak"d
a claim at the apex OF a bend. The
only claims on the entire gulch that
never threw a color and therefore
never produced a cent were his and
the one adjoining. In other words,
he could have strolled a few hun
dred yards either up or down to
plant his Stakes-and made a for
tune.
Some said, Bad luck, but luck
had nothin' to do with 1t, son.
didn't climb that spur to look up
and down at the lay OF the land or
I'd have seen that whole mountain
had slid, pushed itself right over the
pay streak. and so made some
blanks A long time afterward \
geological sharp came along and
saw how it was and they went after
that buried pay streak under the
hill and took out more gold than I'd
ever dreamed of havin'. lost
through ignorance not bad luck.
Whenever you hear d Teller squawK
about his luck. just make up your
mind that he's unlucky because he
dent deserve nothin' better, and
it's his own fault"
I've been curious since then. Forty
years observation has about con-
WINGED me that old Andy Meek was
right.
THERE undoubtedly is such an
inexplicable component of life
as chance, or coincidence, and there
are numerous individuals who at
tribute events to the direct interpo-
sition Of a Higher Power. Some of
these instances do seem extraor-
binary or almost supernatural. They
at least afford room for speculation
and sometimes are interesting. Per-
haps there is some great invisible
influence that works for one who
does his best and comes up against
1t so hard that there seems no pos
sible way out. The writer likes to
believe this and doesn't bother his
head too much with the arguments
of those who don't Never yet have
I known of a man who belongs to
the Wanderers Lodge or the
Wanderlustbund who hasn't had
some almost incredible experience
Of this kind.
Are some Of the following luck
mere condolences, or what the fatalis
calls "Kismet" (meaning the hand o
Most of these deal with men in "Tl
Brigade" The personal ones are KIN
absolutely true
In January, 1891. / landed in Ne
with Is cents. II had taken little m
than 1 had anticipated to come fro
via the Old Dominion Steamship Co.
and thence by rail to my destination
not a single human being in New Or
was not unduly worried, because a
owed me money in Ogden, Utah, had
that he had mailed It. general deliver
Orleans. Unfortunately, a railway '
delayed my progress, so I did not
Crescent City until Sunday morning.
walked out Tchoupitoulas street
suit case that weighed a ton before
q cheap enough room. It was a r
room, but 1t cost me only 81 a week. /;
ceeded in getting the old widow lady
it to trust me until the following da
to the French Market and got cup
and a doughnut for 10 cents and felt