"Twenty-five dollars." "That isn't bad. How did you do it?" "I found a diamond ring in Wall Street, and got the money for a reward." "Have you got it now?" "Most of it." "What are you going to do with it?" "Henry Martin advises me to put it in the savings-bank." "Who is Henry Martin?" "He is a boy that rooms with me." "Take my advice, and don't do it." "Why not? Would the bank break?" "I don't know as it would; but what good would it do?" "They give you interest, don't they?" "Yes, but it's only six per cent. The interest on twenty-five dollars would only come to a dollar and a half in a year. That's too slow for me." "What would you advise me to do, then?" asked Sam. "Is there any way of making money?" "I'll tell you what I'd do if I were you. I'd buy part of a ticket in the Havana lottery." "Could I make money that way?" "Say you bought a fifth of a ticket; that would come to ten dollars. Now the biggest prize is a hundred thousand dollars!" It almost took away Sam's breath to think of such a large sum. "I couldn't draw that, could I?" he asked, eagerly. "You might draw a fifth of it; that would be twenty thousand dollars." "Why, that would make me rich!" exclaimed Sam, in excitement. "I'd never have to work no more." "Besides, there are other prizes a great many, only smaller." "I'd be pretty sure to draw something, wouldn't I?" "You'd stand just as good a chance as anybody." "Have you got any tickets in the lottery?" "Yes, I bought a fifth of a ticket yesterday." "Where do they sell? 'em?" asked Sam. His companion told him. "I guess I'll go round and buy one," he said. "It must be better than putting the money in the savings-bank." "That's what I think. You may not get a big prize the first time, to be sure, but it's worth waiting for." Sam was not much of a financier, nor did he know how little real chance there was of drawing the large prize he desired. He did not know that it was about the most foolish use he could make of his money. He was deceived by the consideration that somebody would win the prize, and that his chance was as good as anybody. It is always unlucky for a boy or young man when he yields for the first time to the fatal fascination of the lottery. He may fail time after time, but continue to hug the delusion that the next time will bring him luck. There are clerks in New York and other large cities who have not only squandered all their own savings, but abstracted money from their employers, led on by this ruinous passion. During his noon intermission Sam went round to the lottery office, and returned with the coveted ticket. He put it away with great complacency, and gave himself up to dreams of future wealth. If he could only win that twenty thousand dollars, how rich he would be! How he would triumph over Henry, with his poor thirty-five dollars in the savings-bank!