stroy
his life. How many temptations to violate the law has one just missed by
a lucky accident? How many times has a previous experience, education,
or a friend at the right time saved him from destruction?

The imperfect man travels this road; he is poor and friendless; his life
is a long series of accidents great and small. The first accident that
weakens his structure makes the second more certain and so on in
increasing ratio until the end. Good luck crowds around one life, while
ill luck and disaster follow another's footsteps wherever he goes with
the persistency of his shadow.

In all the infinite number of chances one false step may be enough to
bring final disaster. All depends on the nature of the step. Every
pilgrim makes innumerable false steps; often luck alone saves the
situation; often luck alone compasses the destruction.

Insurance companies know just when accidents will befall the insured. If
a man lives long enough he will die from a mischance. In a thousand men,
a certain number will meet accident in a given time. It is just the same
whether the insurance is written to be payable when a leg is cut off by
a train or when money is embezzled from an employer. In either event the
time can be figured out, and inevitably it will come if the time is long
enough.

Neither is it necessary that the bad luck shall be great at the first
misfortune. It may be but the loss of a few dollars which another could
easily stand. It may be only a few days of sickness which would be of no
consequence to someone else. It may be the death of a father or an
uncle, while the same sort of tragedy might be the source of another's
wealth. It may be some other person's hard luck which takes him from
school and leaves him to follow a life of hard and constant toil. It may
be that he had the bad luck not to marry the person of his choice, or it
may be that he had the bad luck to marry her. It may be because he had
no children; it may be because he had too many. It may well be that he
has been saved from prison by dying early of tuberculosis. He may have
been saved from a railroad wreck by going to jail. Infinite are the
tricks of chance. Infinite are the combinations and consequences that
may come from turning the cards in a single deck.

Who is the perfect one that should be willing to punish vengefully his
fellow-man? Let one look honestly into his own life and pick out the
important things that lead to fortune or disaster