noon
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 !