Luck
by Mark Twain
Mark Twain was an American author and humorist. His wit and satire in prose and in speech earned praise as the greatest
American humorist of his age.
Once, the author attended a banquet. It was held in honour of
Scoresby, an illustrious English
military officer. A clergyman, who
sat beside the author, whispered that Scoresby’s glory was an accident and was just a product of incredible luck. The author was
surprised.
After some time, the clergyman revealed
that, forty years ago, when he was an
instructor in a military school, Scoresby was a stupid and ignorant boy. Out of compassion, the instructor drilled the boy in some stock questions. Luckily, he was asked
no other questions outside the drill. The boy came out in flying colours.
Throughout the course the instructor stood by the boy and he always saved
himself just by miracle.
During the Crimean war, luck again favoured him and he was made a captain. As
a captain, he did nothing but blunders. Every fresh blunder was misinterpreted and increased the lustre of his reputation. Thus Scoresby ascended grade after grade.
The war reached a crucial stage. Scoresby detached his regiment from a vital place and ordered them to charge over a neighbouring hill where there was no trace
of an enemy. But again luck favoured him and the unsuspected Russian army in reserve stationed
there. They suspected that the entire English regiment had come down upon them.
So they turned tail and went pell-mell.
In no time, Scoresby got a splendid victory. He was honoured by the Marshall on
the field itself.
He achieved a sweeping and splendid victory, merely because he mistook his right
hand for his left. The decorations on his breast were the proof that the best
thing in this world that can befall a man is to be born lucky.
No comments:
Post a Comment