Everybodys Chance | Page 2

which will be at the door."
"Everybody has a chance, eh?" said the natives to one another. "That
man doesn't know what sort of town he's coming to. If he is depending
upon the collection at the door to help him to the next town he'll have
to walk."
The more the lecturer's subject was discussed the more ridiculous it
appeared, and as most people rather enjoy the spectacle of a man
making a fool of himself the town hall was absolutely jammed on
Friday night, half an hour before the usual time for the appearance on
the platform of such strolling entertainers as did not know of the
impecuniosity of the natives.

When the town clock struck eight the audience saw coming from the
ante-room to the platform a middle-aged man with the garb and the eye
of a well-to-do mechanic and the manner of a preacher, although he
soon manifested an unpreacher-like disregard for grammatical rules.
The lecture, too, although humorous enough at times to set every one
laughing, was somewhat like a sermon in its general character.
"People talk about not havin' a chance," began the lecturer. "Why, if
chances were eggs, none of you could move without steppin' on 'em.

When a man says he hasn't got his chance in life he's talking about the
particular chance he wants-- that's all. What we want most isn't always
what we need most, my friends, though few of us are honest enough
and smart enough to see it an' say so.
"I'd bet a dollar to a doughnut that the chance an' the only one-- that
every man in this room is simply achin' for, so that he won't look at any
other, is the chance to make a lot of money! Did he ever see anybody
that had made a lot of money? Did the rich man look any happier than
other folks? If not, why not? Can any of you tell the difference between
the rich and the poor by their faces? I can't, except that generally the
richest man looks most anxious and most discontented."
By this time every one in the house was looking at old Pruffett, who
was looking at the back of the seat in front of him, although the
expression of his countenance did not imply that there was anything
particularly cheerful and inspiring in the back of that seat. The lecturer
continued:
"An old book which all of you have in the house, and which some of
you profess to believe with all your might, says that 'A man's life
consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth'; you
can read the passage for yourselves, and correct me if I am wrong. That
same old book tells of chances that came to lots of people that hadn't a
cent, either before or after. There are just as good chances now, and
Brundy's as full of 'em as any other place, an' the people that don't get
'em are the people who won't see 'em, though if the chances were bears
they'd bite 'em, they're so close. A man's best chance is whatever is
closest to him; if it isn't also closest to his heart, that's the man's fault--
not the chance's."
The lecturer went on in the same vein, and told of some of his own
chances which he had missed, as well as of some in which he had, to
use his own expression, "caught on"; and he told some stories of
personal experience so well that he made a lot of people cry a little, and
laugh much, and not a few were compelled to do some serious thinking
When the talk ended there was quite a melodious jingling of coin in the

box at the door; and several members of the audience who were nearest
to old Pruffett told their neighbors for a week afterward that the old
man actually dropped into the box a ten-dollar bill, forty times as much
as would have paid the lecturer's stage fare to the next town.
"Got any small change about your clothes, Champ?" asked Charley
Wurring, a smiling youth, of Champney Bruff, a serious-looking man
of about thirty years, who was exploring his vest pocket. Charley had
abundant reason for smiling, for by his side, where she had been
throughout the lecture, was Luce Grew, the handsomest girl in the
village. "I didn't bring any money, for I came only to laugh, but I found
my chance during the lecture, and here she is, eh, Luce?"
Luce looked rather bashfully toward Champ with her great dark eyes
and strong face, and then, for relief, smiled pleasantly at Charley.
Champ flushed a little under his dark brown skin, but mechanically
extended a coin toward Charley, who took it