Capital Stories by American Authors Author:John Habberton General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1895 Original Publisher: The Christian herald Subjects: Fiction / Anthologies Fiction / Classics Fiction / Science Fiction / Short Stories Fiction / Short Stories Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typo... more »s or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: MISFORTUNE'S FAVORITE. BY CARLOTTA PERRY. I. Everybody said that Dick Andrews was born to ill luck ; and what everybody says comes in time to be believed. He almost believed it himself; he knew that, as he put it, "the wind always blew in his face." In his boyhood, if any one of the children of the family was late at school, it was sure to be Dick ; if any skates got broken or any sled lost a runner, there was no need to ask to which of the boys the property belonged. If either of the boys went without mittens or an overcoat, it was Dick, of course. If any one stayed at home from church or merry-making to tend to the fires or keep the mother company, Dick was the one. No one could tell exactly why. To be sure, his brothers and sisters appropriated his property without scruple, which was one reason of its often being out of repair ; besides, if any one wanted to borrow sled or skates, it was supposed that it was less of a denial for him than for Tom, his brother, to go without them ; and it grew to be an accepted belief that he didn't care very much for merry-making anyway, and then, too. one couldn't go without suitable clothes, and after getting Tom all he needed, andproviding suitable garments for Sue and Mary, there wasn't so very much left. Not that he was an abused or neglected child. His mother loved him tenderly, and to his sisters and one brother there was nobody like dear old Dick ; but it was discovered that he had one talent --...« less