Whereat the Superintendent said, "You're lucky, I allow; I'll have to charge five dollars for a chance to draw here now." Whereat my cousin Jeroboam remarked, "If 'tisn't wrong, I'll buy a draw for Cousin Steb, to help the cause along." I shook my head, but he _would_ do't; an' sure as I'm alive, I drawed a good ten-dollar bill for Cousin Jones's five! Whereat the Superintendent said, "You're lucky men, I vow; A hundred dollars I must charge for every drawing now;" An' fingerin' the envelopes, one opened--just a grain-- And I discerned the number 11, uncommon black and plain; An' on the _other_ number 11 by glancin' I could see Five good crisp hundr'd-dollar bills a-waitin' there for me! [Illustration: "WE COME 'THIN PART OF ONE OF IT."] To make four hundred dollars clear, an' help the children too, Was somethin' that would surely seem desirable to do; With an unfailin' eagle eye, a heart that swelled with hope, I watched, an' saw the very place he put that envelope; I winked at Cousin Jeroboam, I counted out the cash, An' drawed, an' had that card revealed almost as quick as flash! Oh, sakes!--the second figure I had what I hadn't seen, A _tail_ that made a 7 of it! 'twas Number 17! An' on them figures on the board there nothin' was, in fact, Except a little pamphlet like--an anti-gamblin' tract; Which hadn't any money wuth, an' won't be good for much, Except to keep my older boys from playin' cards an' such. Now Cousin Jeroboam Jones was buried in surprise, An' walked a half a mile with me, an' helped philosophize; An' says, "You come some other day--we'll try that thing agin: We come 'thin _part of one of it_--the next time we shall win." Then, nearin' to a corner, he took kindly leave o' me, Because of some new scholars there that he must go an' see. I give you this experience, John, but please don't tell it now; Let Tompkins take the chestnut horse, an' sell the brindle cow; An' gather up what cash besides I have a-lyin' loose, An' send the whole of it to me for my immediate use. Do everything concerned in this, in soft, secretive tones; Direct it to New York, in care of Jeroboam Jones. A. S. * * * * * A few days, and the following one arrived, Which shows Sin's triumph sometimes is short-lived: [FARMER STEBBINS AHEAD.] DEAR COUSIN JOHN: I'm very glad you sent that money through, By Cousin Seth, an' not by mail, as I requested you! The fam'ly's just so much ahead: 'twere best it never came. If Jeroboam Jones had twined his fingers 'round the same. For that young man has principles fit only to abhor, And isn't the kind of relative that I was lookin' for!