Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 May 1893 — Caprices of Fortune. [ARTICLE]

Caprices of Fortune.

Every imaginative person cherishes in his heart the hope that some unexpected windfall may bring him wealth. In a very few instances this secret wish has been gratified. Years ago, a lady named Burch was one of a London crowd that had assembled to see a street pageant. Suddenly she noticed an old gentleman faint and confused with the pressure of the crowd, which pronounced him drunk. Discerning with better insight that he was not drunk, but very ill, Miss Burch led him to a seat, found him somewhere a glass of water, and in a few minutes restored his scattered energies. De thanked her warmly, asked her name, and departed—to he heard of no more till a few days ago, when asolicitor called to inform Miss Burch that the old gentleman had bequeathed her the immense reward for such a service of nearly a million dollars. It is said that \lbert Way, the well-known areha'ologist, came by a fortune in this wise. Crossing Pail Mall he cannoned against an old gentleman, and discomfited him. After mutual apologies and the interchange of civilities, cards were exchanged, and on each card was imprinted “Mr. Albert Way.” The older gentleman at his death had no natural heir, and left his fortune to the other Albert Way. These two incidents seem more like fairy tales than veritable happenings. Stories of unexpected fortunes, of course, are as common as blackberries. Somebody is always making or finding or inheriting a heap of money which seems to himself almost to have come from the clouds. Worthless shares become valuable. A workingman discovers a mine; or a relative, from whom nothing was expected, suddenly heaps everything on the kinsman who bored him least, as occurred last year within our own knowledge. But alas! these delightful things generally happen to other people, and our castles in air have no foundation in fact.