THE INNER LUCK.
AA GOOD many people who appear to be what is generally t called unlucky are very happy. They seem to have la sort of compensatory luck which one might call an inner 'luck. The saying, " Lucky in cards, unlucky in love," throws a light upon what we mean. Ill-luck in money often goes with a great deal of other good luck. Perhaps there is no such thing as luck, and all that is so called has its origin in temperament and character. On the other hand,. the law of chances, as illustrated by the roulette table, is regarded by some people as completely subversive of this pleasant theory. The roulette table, however, is not sentient, so the analogy cannot be considered perfect. The " human element " vitiates, at least to a certain extent, the calculation. But to return to the subject of inner as opposed to the outward and obvious kind, many a man who fails to " make good " in every undertaking amazes his friends by his marriage. Some charming woman, who might have " married anybody," falls in love with him, sticks to him through thick and thin, believes in him, and excuses him till his or her death. " Whatever made her do it I " say the onlookers ; adding, " Well, he has had one bit of luck, anyway." Such a man has often many more pieces of good fortune. There is " something about him" which smooths his path in life. He carries some talisman, so far as one can see, 'which cannot be bought nor yet had for the deserving. He makes friends. One reason, perhaps, is that he excites no jealousy. No one envies a man the peculiarities which make him liked. What they covet is his possessions. Yet even his friends seem to come to him by a sort of luck. Chance enables him to do a kind turn which half the world would have done had they seen the opportunity. Or he himself, when he is in trouble, comes across some one who is in exactly the right mood to help him. Ninety-nine days out of a hundred his benefactor would not have bothered about him, but on the particular morning when the inwardly lucky man wanted his help, he was for the moment in a softened frame of mind, or was especially happy and well-disposed to his fellow-creatures. Perhaps he himself could only account for his benevolence as a whim which suddenly " took him "—such whims are common where an inwardly lucky man is concerned. Either he casts a spell and evokes them, or the wheel of fortune brings him always across the right person at the right time. Even when he makes a false step he seems to " stumble upwards." His awkward sayings amuse the man who would in an ordinary way take offence, and are retold to produce a laugh, and finally redound to his credit. " Nobody minds So-and-so,' say the hearers of the story, compelled unconsciously to indulgence. Even if he does something which in an ordinary way his acquaintance would condemn, they find themselves, for no particular reason, condoning it and liking the rogue the better.
Both saints and sinners are subjects of this inner luck. It comes to most opposite characters. What they have in common is the gift of getting affection, and, apparently, the incapacity to get anything else. Both live happy lives and are often almost proud of their worldly ill-success. " Just my luck," they say with a laugh when things go wrong. They are not grinning. and bearing it : they seem almost to be smiling and enjoying it. They have the luck not to care. They may be said to be born with a golden spoon in their mouths. It is really golden, we all admit it ; but for all that, most of us, if we could choose, would have the proverbial silver one, the truth being that we don't long so much for happiness as for the means of happiness. We think that the luck we have been describing is more common than it was because we judge each other less by ethical standards than we used. It is worth think- ing of and looking for among characters of every quality because to a very great extent it equalizes lots in the world. Of course, they cannot be entirely equalized. Very many excellent people who might almost be called saints have no luck of any sort. It is difficult to like them, because they are so disagreeable and because their evil genius always brings them where they are not wanted, and makes them say and do the exact thing that the person they say and do it to was hoping they might not. Nothing goes very well for them, and nobody much minds. Therefore the poor things find the world unbearably hard, partly sometimes because they are really too good for it. Again, there are lots of sinners no worse than those who get a great deal of affection whom every one condemns with a sort of gusto. It is a pleasure to feel that people so un- pleasant are really pretty bad, and one can speak against them without a bit of compunction. Still, whatever the adverse critics of the world may say, there is a luck which belongs to the so-called unlucky, the thought of which very much lights up the dark places of the world. The sweets of affection are so very great, and even the sweets of an amused forgiveness are not to be despised. The odd thing is why these inwardly lucky people should not be outwardly fortunate too. They are born into the world with the advantage of " interest." From the time that they are children they live among well-wishers. We suppose the explanation of their position, whether they are saints or sinners, is that certain virtues and certain faults militate almost fatally against success in life without in any way destroying sympathy. For instance, the sort of scrupulosity which makes compromise impossible to a man will put him in the isolated position of a lunatic so far as his career is concerned, but it will gain him if his temper is easy, nothing but respect from his friends. No sym- pathy and no knowledge of.the world will avail him against the peculiarity. He can never " push." What is the good of " pushing ' all alone ? The crowd immediately crushes the strength out of the strongest as well as the weakest man. Again, to take a definitely bad quality, who cares whether or no his friend is lazy ? He knows the quality will in all probability ruin his prospects, but no one loves his friend for his prospects. Who cares either whether he is unstable, unless the peculiarity influenced his affections or his honesty 3 Many a man has every good quality, but he cannot remain for a year intellectually of the same mind, and no purpose lasts with him as a force. Solomon was right enough. He cannot excel. Outward luck simply cannot come to him, but often he is surrounded by the inward sort. What gives certain really bad people the luck to be quite forgivable nobody knows. It is one of the strange gifts which decent people will admire in the sinner for ever. These attractive people, these utterly indefensible persons who offend no one, are rare but notice- able.
As a rule, we believe the inwardly lucky man is simply a supremely lucky person with a handicap, a fault, or a virtue too much, a man who would have gone rejoicing to the very top of the tree but for some one quality which has retarded his progress without destroying his delight in life.
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