FOLLY ASA ROD TE TO RICHES. Fortune has Surprises in Many Forms.

Otago Witness, Issue 2308, 26 May 1898, Page 50

FOLLY ASA ROD TE TO RICHES. Fortune has Surprises in Many Forms.

The quickest route to fortune Iff sotnetiraofl via foiiy. Many » man struggles for years in the most approved manner without getting an inch nearer his goal. Many a man abandons hope, and sinks and sinks, till at last it saems that nothkg short of a nairaole can by any conceivable possibility restore bis self-esteem. Then some freak of unfettered ■madness .does s^bafc fixity of purpose and diligent application failed to do — it leads to peace, ease, and riches.

Some years since a middle-aged architect threw up his practice and devoted himself wholly to art. His old' profession had not I been at all satisfactory from a financial point. ! of view, 'bat his new one proved to be worse. Trntb to tell, he was a wratohsd dauber, and it was against the advice of all who were 'oompafcant to adsrise him that he had turned to painting. He had consequently a struggle to exist, his work appealing solely io frequenters of auction rooms.

Eventually a dealer coeveyed to him the glad tidings that he had sold one of his pictnres, and that he would be pleased to &ffar others od the same terms. Obosred by tbia news, be set to work resolutely, and for two or three years he bad an unbroken run of success. Everything which left his easel was disposed of through the dealer, though the artist could not discover the identity o? his patrons.

Oae day a solicitor informed him that a certain gentleman — somebody wboae name even was quite strange to him — had baqaeathed to him a number of oil paintings. Naturally the artist took the earliest opportunity of inspecting his windfall. When, be saw the works he nearly swooned. They ■weie his own pictures— all that the dealer had sold 1 To thia day the artist baa nof; discovered ?/hy t&e deceased gentleman acted so strangely. The paintings which were returned to him were unsaleable except through the old channels, and as a consequence the legatee, cured of bis folly, burnt his easels, canvases, &c., and turaed hie back o» art. Meaowiiile he had, thanks to his pafcros, saved a considerable sum of money. With this he started in business, and is now prospering. r - Quite aas curious % story is associated with the success of a certain merchant;. lVaaty yeas ago, when he ws* a clerk or soßoethiag o£ th« kind in a large fcoase, his employer discovered by tlit puiest accident that he had been guilty of embezzlement- Accountants were called in, and in the dectd of night they sacretly went through his books. In ths course of their invaatiga'dons they had to refer to the head cashier's accounts, which I they found had ha®« falsified tc such aa. 1 exteat as to dwarf the matter upon wfc'eb thfcf were engaged. That: servant had bc&u pilfering for years, the sums ha had pookotsd at different times amounting In the aggregate to thousands of pounds, wharess the other man's deficiency was only about £50. The result wa» that 4 while the cashier was> prosecuted, the lUipatian swiaalsr was pardoned. He was the instrttmftsjt by which the serious defalcations had bssa discovsfftd. All the money he had taken, moreover, was to satisfy the demands of blackmailer*. His employer, therefore, was willing to overlook hi 3 offence. Not only that ; shor&ly afterwards he promoted him to th@ position o£ cashier, thug putting the young man og the high road to fortune, which hs has trsve?iscl ever since. Even law-breaking that leade to an actual

appearance in a police court is at times bene-

ficlal in a worldly sense. Two or three years ago, for instance, a broken-down solicitor,.

after a long apsll of absolute de&tifcufcioa, attempted to commit suicide hr diowniug.' Brought before ihe magistrates, ne told isuch a pathetic story thst a missioner belonging

to a certain home offered to look after him, and as a consequence he was goon in comfortable quarters. Thin establishment be--longed to a wealthy lady, who quickly

evinced a great deal of interest in her latest protege. Six months later, to the scandal of the whole town, he became her husband.

Somewhat analogous was the sequel to another case of attempted self-murder. A professional man spent his last half sovereign in purchasing a revolver and some cartridges.

Ths same afternoon he went to a certain cemetery, and kneeling down by the side of

his wife's grave, he tried to blow oat his brains. Although he did not succeed iv this, he inflicted such serious injuries on himself that for some time subsequently he lay in a very critical condition. Shortly after he had recovered from hia wounds he received a letter from a local gentleman, asking him to be good enough to call at the address given. He at. once waited on thß writer, who having explained that he had read about his sad case in the newspapers, gave him a practical proof of his sympathy—a cheque for £125, the first quarcerly inatalment of an allowance of £800 a year. Beoently this eccentric benefactor — a man, it should be Baid, who had the'reputation of being an " advanced thinker " — died, leaving his .fortunate pensioner £7000. Equally remarkable was the result of a mad freak by ona of civilisation's failures. Some years ago a well-connected man was charged . with defacing a public statue in singular circumstances. A great deal of newspaper publicity was given to the case. One of the paragraph's about the matter caught the eye of the prisoner's brother, who had for montns been searching high and low for his foolish relation. Having amassed a fortune in South America, he had returned home with the in1 tention of bestowina some oi his wealth oa

him, if he stood in need of U ; but. in apite of every effort he could not find him. Seeing the familiar name in the item of news, he communicated wibb the police, and. the upshot was that he met bis brother when he came out of prison, gave him a large sum of money ? and shortly after induced him. to embark on a business enterprise in Australia — a tenure that has more than seil^efla ibe anticipations of the two kinsfolk. Had »,ot the temporarily submerged man damaged the status, h*e might never- have risen agai£