THE 13 CLUB

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 February 1930, Page 12

THE 13 CLUB

LUCKIEST MEN IN ENGLAND. The twelve luckiest ijien in England are the unhappiest men in London. They are members of the 13 Club, and they are bored with bliss. The 13 Club was founded for the express purpose of defying fate. It had thirteen members pledged to eat thirteen at a table, sworn to walk under ladders, to refyse to pick up pins, to avoid black cats, and deliberately to disregard every good luck omen. The 13 Club is growing tired of it. Thousands of mirrors have been smashed, peacock feathers have beeir worn, horseshoes have been turned upside down at every monthly meeting, cross-eyed waiters have been hired, but the lives qf the twelve roll uneventfully on. One member of the club died last year, and the remaining twelve have entered on an orgy of mirror-smashing, a frenzied extravagance of ill-omen — but nothing ever happens. “It’s no good,” said Mr. W. G. Randall, secretary of the club, to a “Sunday Express” representative. “We are the luckiest men in England. We were not caught in the Wall Street smash or in anything else. Nothingtroubles us." Another member confessed mournfully that he never suffered ill-fortune. "The ladders 1 have gone under, the mirrors I have smashed! Even rank outsiders’ come home when I back them, and the income-tax assessors forget me!” He said that the daily diary of a member of the 13 Club would run something like this: — 9 a.m. —Rise wrong side of bed. 10 a.m. —Drop salt and refuse to cast it over right shoulder. 10.5 a.m. —Kick black cat. 12 noon. —Walk under ladders to office. 12.30 p.m.—Drop pin on purpose and refuse to pick it up. 1 p.m.—Lunch from cross-eyed waiter on Friday, 13th. 2 p.m.—Refusing to look before he leaps, strike before the iron’s hot, and puts cart before horse. 4 p.m.—Back home under ladders. 10 p.m.—Look at moon through glass. 12 p.m.— Bed (wrong side). And in the morning as likely as not there will be a letter stating that he has won the first, prize in the Christmas draw.