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Show GLAMOR' OF CHANCE? Gambling Passion Has Swayed Men for Thousands of Years-Cheating by No Means Modern. Man Is tho only nnmal which, nrrlv-Ing nrrlv-Ing at nn adult lire. Bllll requlrea nmusemcnl. And with the deslro for entertainment there la also linked n longing foi excitement, which Beem-Inbied Beem-Inbied In human iintuio Ping-pong or tlddle-elo-wlnkBina) satisfy mis longing for excitement In somo men, but most ot us thirst for soinethlng of less tume- I1CES And with tho proclltlty for playing games, men also pnsscsa nn Innnto do-Biro do-Biro to risk something on the chance of his winning. Ho tho gamo ono of skill or absolute chnnca ho wants to wager something. Ho la a canibllni animal. The onl) lltlng thing In creation crea-tion that Is foolish enough to tcntuie his own propel ty on tho chance of winning thnt ot another Is l'liito's feathctlcss bipod." 1 ho most sheepish of sheep will not draw lots for choice of pasturage, and the silliest nir would not bo tempted to ilsk his dinner nt 'odd and cten" Man Is tho unique animal content to stake Ids money and happiness on tho trcaehoiouB turn of a tile or tho chnnca deal of n pick of cards. Now gambling Is n fashion by no means now. The good people who wcio horrllled over tho nlato of nffulrs In -sew T.ork, for Instnuce, when a ring of professional gamblcrH pretty nearly run tho ttntn, should hato lltcd hack n few hundred years when cmy ruler, etery noble, mid cten the Bcum of humanity itself wcru Intctcrate game-stirs game-stirs The contulsioni nf naturo which do. stru)td l'ompcll surprised n part) of men at thu h izanl table, where they wero ellst oteiol 2000 )cars later with thu dlco llnnly clutched In (heir lingers If uun ma) cictllt Hornet', the) could cog 11 die in the Augustlnl in uge as well as In tho Hngllsh Hiorglau Niphoclts mi of l'nl nudes that ho lntentnl diet) 10 serte Instiud of dinner, ' width ollho the) fulfill to this day for many a man whom they hatu robbed of thu means of 11115 lug foi his dinner." Tho I'mpeior I laudliis, who was 'bo exceedingly piodlgnl In Ills play Hut ho adtenturcd touOuO hostcrces on tho enst of u die' wrote 11 treatise upon gaming In those bonis which he spared fiom the piusult Itself, for which fact Scnccn, in Ills sarcastic relation of the I'mreror's ntotheosln, fetches I1I111. nftcr many ndiontures, tn hell, where he in condemned to phi) with n bottom less dlco box without any cessation In this way his hopes wcro to bo fed ton-tlnuull). ton-tlnuull). but neter satisfied I'erhups theru might hnte been goo I louse for this Fiipposul punishment of 11 ruler ttliu so fostered gambling, for I'hentlug nnd Chaniu lire twin slstein There ma) lie hnnoi iiiuong thletes, but among professional Ramhlttrs tbero la Ilttlu of it The man who "welches" lurns on his paitners 01 tricks them Is gicnlly dceiled b) his associates, but together they will llecco tho un-wary un-wary by ctiry art known to the profession pro-fession It Is told of tho Itnllin gamester, l'lmetal who nourished at tho end of the slxteoth century and the beginning nf the sctenteenth, that In 1C0 J hearing hear-ing that a humor of play rclgnod nt the 1'iench Court ' ho caused a great number num-ber of falso dlco to bo mado nnd secrctl) tontc)el to rnrls ho only knowing the sitrct He then by mtnns of emissaries bought up all the dice In tho mniket and supplied his own In their stead This done ho obtained nn Introduction nt Cuuit and gambhd In such good puiposo that ho cleaned out n ere it iirt of tho nobility's pockets I,ord Ho Itos one of tho most icspect-11I1I0 icspect-11I1I0 of the gambling chment In Kns-lnnd Kns-lnnd under tho Geoiges was accused of practicing a certain trick at whist When, In 1W the matter came up for trial It was prnted that ho cheated habitually, und thai Bomo of his noble associates, knotting this, prudently plajed with him rather thnn against lilm The noblo Hord did not long sur lite his dlsgrnie After his death Then, tlore Honk proioied as his epitaph Hero Ilea l.qgland 8 ptemler II lion, latlently nwnlllUB the last trump" Hut to icturn to older lecords. nnd to Bhotv whit 11 hold gambling has had upon men fiom the highest to tho low- est, In nil ages. It may bo mentioned that Calus Cultguta once converted his magnificent pilnco Into n Gambling houae, where, the chroniclers tell us ho fleeced the )nung nobility of his time, and it Is well known thnt Nero wns tho most Infatuated gambler of hla days l'lutarch records that the Homans matched quails for" wage is, and deicrlbes Anton) lamenting before the battle nf Actlum, ns though his genius eow end beforo tint of his nil-iiiBary, nil-iiiBary, that the quail of Augustus tvero supcrioi to his If ill halt gained nn etll reputo because be-cause of their associations, cards surpass sur-pass them In the minds of many And jet lho molern pln)lng cirds weic Intuited In-tuited by tho monks ot tho fourteenth century, and were until, as Hit ) may bo now, In tho playing of tery Innocent games. Hut tlicy had not been long Introduced befoiu gnmhllng with them bee line tho rugo At lho In ginning of the llftctiith eentuiy wo read that this passion wna 80 1 rctnleiit In l'rnnco thnt persons who wcio luldlctid to It en tit ittuid to riBtrnlu nnd guard them-nclten them-nclten by loluutary bonds, ustinhllng moiUrn tempeiance plidgcs, with the ixcepllon, lion 1 ter, that there was u pcnnlt) for breaking the pledge. Illustrated Illus-trated manuscript!) of that iwrlo I show not onl) that women played but tint tho players stood inste id of Bitting around tho table. lllnr) Cheney, created by Queen rilznbeth Hnron of Tuilllnglon plajeil nt dlco onto with Heuiy II of Trance, and won from him a diamond nf uieiit prlco at one enst W hen tho King linked Ithn tthnt ho would hnto 1I0110 hail he hut, he replied, with truo llrlt-U llrlt-U brag "I hnto phceps' tails t nough In Kent, with their wool, to buy a better ill iniond than this" Hut It wus not the Trench Court nlono that was possessed of tin 'Rambling lagt " In Hm-lnnd neirly un the reign of John l.atkland tho chances of tho dice mnMltiitcd the rhlt t nmuaement of tho Kitnl Miilthotv I-irlM reprimehed the llaronn who wrested Magna Chartn from King John for si en ling their time in luxury nnd gambling tilth dlco when their pusenci wns required In tho Hell Hater Ha-ter the young Hngllshmen of fashion were In tho habit of losing 5000. 10 000 15 000 nn ttuilni! at Almatks lid Statnrdnle not then of age, lost 11 ono Iu ono night but won It hick nt ono throw of the dice Ho thcieupon swore n (lint "ith Now, If I had been plolug eleep I might hato won mill-Ions'' mill-Ions'' And no cicnlng the Muiquls of Hertford bhIi! to the erouplcr at Whites "Hay fl'00 to Lord ' It was the loss of one rubber at whist Toward the close or thu eighteenth century the gaming houses of Loudon known to tho gem pal public na club and to tho guniesteis as hells-wero lilted up in most txtiaonllnary stylo I Ishmongers' hall lost 10 000 lo fur nlsh 'lho ixpiiiso howeter does not Beeni so glint when It Is known that tho proprietor netted In one )oir U0,-000 U0,-000 Tin law prohibited tho opening of such liousiB but lho proprietor of I'lsh-mongcrs' I'lsh-mongcrs' bnastel thnt he wns In no (lunger, ns he counted among his pi-trons pi-trons most ot tho men who mndo the law At this time too It became the fashion fash-ion In l'nglnnd for titled ladles to hato shares In the principal gaming tables and faro Innks In Hnndiii The rrnnd-sons rrnnd-sons of tho Duchess of Marlborough liv 1 rule 'noitr to dirt) their llngcia with filter.' and when they went to the gaming clubs were In the habit of throwing a guinea 10 the chairman to be fniiRht for "llu passion for fie qucntlng theso houts brought about some BlnguUii social annni illes In Hug lind A noble man Ihe heal of a high ly popular Whig famll) III the west of Hngland died In USJ In a roll lie il garret In an obscure quarter of 1omlon, hating m iny )ears pretlouslv lost his ull at the earning tnble In 1840 one of tho oldest bironets In Hugland hating lost his foitune In u similar wn) was making n lltellhood hy dilvlng a stage coach I,i tho eighteenth centur) hotting t ns tho prlmo amuiement of nil classes, from King to beggar Nothing wns to trivial or ridiculous to bet upon. 1'or Instant e, tho utmost exclt limit woull protall nnd ruinous sums wero Hake I on which ot two tain drops coursing; down n pane would first rench tho hot. torn, 01 which of two maggots would achloto In u certain tlmo tho greatest distance ncrosa thu iliessboarl, or which of two beggars would pull Ihe longtst straw from 11 rick "Whit will )ou In) 7 win. the qui "Hon In etery-bod) etery-bod) 's mouth nnd 11 bet settled ivcry dispute On Jnnunry 0, 1715. Ixird Orfoid, informing in-forming Horace Walpole of the suicide or a mutual filend, writes "He him-stlf, him-stlf, with nil his Judgment In bets, would Into belted nny man In Hngland ngtilnst hlnistlf for self-murder" Wnl-polo Wnl-polo In turn records 11 deter story of cynlrnl (leorgo Stl)n Once when 11 waiter In Arthur a tluhhouso was com-mlttcd com-mlttcd lo Newgato for robbery Selwyn exclaimed, ' What a horrid Idea ho will gllo of us to the people of Newgtite" It la said of George l'ox thnt ho once plnjit! tttcnts-twn eonsicutltn hours at faro, lining nt the rnte nf troo nn hour, nnd It Is known of I,oril I.audcr-tl I.audcr-tl lie that he onto staked fOOOO on a sin gle tnrd. Ono Matthias OH) me, an Irish ndtenlurer, hating won In ono nlhht 100000 fiom n person whom he knew tery well could not pny so large 11 sum, Bhrewdly permitted the man to win back nil but 10 000, which, being within the lost r's toninss wns pntd Hrnm this bit of strategy ho recelted fiom Hare the name "Xenophon O 11) me," to commemorite his mister-ly mister-ly retreat with tho ten thousand During the Inst century gnmhllng has become less gent ml, If we leate out of the lists tho manipulation of storks In open market, which Is )ct considered lehltlunle ' business' hy clergy and laymen nllke In the "good old days" on tho Mississippi before tho war and befoiu Ihe tallrnida tut Into tho rlter trilllc there wns nil enorinoun nmnunt of gnmhllng on the stc imbnata pl)lng up and down tho stinm 'Inlay thero Is probably more gnmbllng with cards on tho railroad trains ol the countiy nnd on the ocean slcnmshlin than nny-where nny-where else. Gambling houses nie, com paralltely speaking, few In nunicbr. I'la)lng the ponies." "policy" nnl "craps' seem to hnte superseded cards and dire, espeilally among thu ml I lie and pooler 1 lasses, nnd the Ineiiased latronage nf theso games nf chance tlirmtin seriously the health ot public moralll) Iu pli)lng policy ono emi sometimes Btnke as small 11 sum as two cents, and crnpn Is nntnhly 11 ' enny Kimble " 1'roni ciaps to droiplng Jio,-OoO Jio,-OoO nt Monlo Cnrln ns on, ot our millionaires Ih rtporlel recently to hnto done, Is n fir try, and yet It shows how tvlltly tho spirit of garni ling still ndlUta tho human race New Yoik I'rtss, |
