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Show Awakened the TTroag Man. "I saw a very fonny thing inn big poker the other night," said a well known sporting man to a Louisville Commercial reporter. "A coterie o! hair a dozen choice spirits had their legs under tlie table and were play-ingastilTgame. play-ingastilTgame. Great stacks of reds and blues were lu front of every one, and fully $1003 worth of chips were on tho board. A certain well known colonel of the city happened into the room, and being pressed to it by the crowd took a seat In the game. The old follow had been making a round or it and was In that mellow state or semi-stupor semi-stupor which dawns over a fellow after the corks have been popping. In other words, be was loadcu; but he sat down anyway and bought $100 worth of chips. Only a few hands had been dealt when the colonel's col-onel's head tank softly down on his chest, his heavy eyelids closed, and he was fast asleep. When another hand liad been dealt one of the players play-ers "skinned' his cards carefully, at d discovered an ace-king high flush of red, throbbing, living hearts. He reached across the table and gave the colonel a dig in the ribs. 'Wake up said he, 'wake up and play your cards.' The colonel finally rou'ed up, picked up bis hand in a jumbled, careless fashion, and came in. Tlie gentleman with tlie flush raised, and so did the colonel, and so on till every dollar before each had gone to swell a prodigiously prodig-iously big pot. The boys hated to see the colonel betting away in his maudlin way. They pitied him. They knew he was throwing his money at the birds. 'How many cards?' said the dealer. Thump, thump, the hands of the two men hit the table. Thsy were both pat. It was a show-down then, and tho drowsy colonel spread ojt upon the boards a queen-lull, and tbe boys shoved him tho pot; be was too drunk to reach for it. Tbe laugh was on the other player, and be says it is the first time he ever wakened a man to play bis band, and he declares it will be the last. |