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Show I I LITTLE FABLES of the 1 BUSINESS WORLD B "Sitting In" CHERE was onco a Young Man who suddenly Fell for this Gambling Stuff and then Let it Alone. And thereby hangs a B Tale. But it isn't one which Winds H Up with a Prison Sentence and a B Pauper's Grave. In Its way, however. H It does point a Moral. So if you aren't H Interested in Morals, don't Read any B Further. jH Now this Young Man-was a chap H on a Small but Livable Salary and ho H wasn't particularly Bad or partlcu- fB larly Good. He was a Regular Feller iH all right, but ho wasn't a Rummy. jH Yet, somehow, "sitting in" at pokor H sessions and Snapping Up Beta on any H and all occasions had never Appealed iB to him. , , lH But one evening ho Fell. That Is 1H to say. ho mado tho Fifth Hand at a H "sitting" just to oblige a Friend who JH lived in tho same Boarding House. JH He won Slxty-Flvo Cents that night H and found it Kind of Pleasant to use Mfl it to Pay for his Lunch tho next two M days. Ho figured it as That Much to JB tho Good. nB Then One of tho Losers in tho party B had a "sitting" in his room and In- 'H vitcd Our Young Hero. The game rfH was Straight and there wasn't a JH Champcen Poker Player in the Bunch. TH Luck, too, was With him. So O. 1. H. "H copped out Two-thlrty-flve that Even- frH lng and Enjoyed spending it. It looked B ' llko Easy Pick-up to him. So ho con- jrfB eluded to have his Ear to tho Ground iffH whenever any more "Sessions" wero ht.H framed up. H The next timo ho Cleaned Up. Tno H other fellows swore ho must havo run IrB. across Something that gave him Luck. -jH Tho Next Time Ho Cleaned Up. But he Set it Down as Good Playing He walked off with Soven-twenly which was Some Killing. More than that O. Y. H. figured that Money on tho Side that way was Just about the Easiest Proposition ho had ever run across; and ho began to Flguro It In as a part of his Income. And so It's an Old Story It wasn't long before ho was a Regular. He didn't always win; but wasn't Discouraged Dis-couraged by his Losses. On tho contrary, con-trary, they merely mado him all the more Determined to "Get it Back" the Nest Time. Whenever ho Cashed In on the Minus Side he figured that ho had Just Loaned It to tho other chaps for. a while. "Chips havo no homo" listened mighty well to him. And he believed It, too concerning tho Other Oth-er Fellow's chips! At first he had Kept Books to see how he Camo Out each month. And ho discovered that Ono tlmo ho would bo Ahead of tho Game; and Another time ho was Trailing. So ho argued that as long as ho Broke Even, or near to it, he Should Worry. So ho Kept On enjoying the Easy Money when it did Come his Way and Economizing when he Got lilt. Things went along without his having hav-ing the slightest Temptation to Raise a Check or Monkoy with his Employer's Employ-er's Books. He didn't developo Into a Booze Fighter nor did he find that Wlno-Woman-and-Song wero any more Attractive to him than they had been beforo ho began to "sit in." But, aftor a while, he did Discover a Few Things worth thinking about. Ho was a protty Well-Balanced chap so ho sat down and Took Stock. Financially, ho couldn't say that he had been Soaked or that ho had Laid Anything By. "Easy come, easy go," seemed to be Holding Truo concerning his Winnings. Yet, ho found that a Course of Study ho had been working on, in preparation for a Better Job, had been knocked Galley-West. And, somehow, he couldn't find much Pleasure Pleas-ure in an evening spent Anywhero away from a Shcet-Coverod Table. Also, he found himself Hankering After a big game whore all in imagination, imag-ination, of course ho could make a Big Killing and Rctlro for Life, as It wero. The Gambling Spirit seemed to be Spoiling his Perspective for Serious Endeavor, and Chance seemed to bo Worth Figuring On in any Proposl- In tho old days, ho .had planned the Destination of Quarters and Dimes out of his Pay Envelope. But now Fifty Cents had become nothing more than a Ticket of Admission to a Jack Pot. And that was Bad. He thought tho whole thing over to n. Finish. And then, being a chap with Bono in his back and not in his Noodle, ho concluded to Cut It OuL Ho did, too, for he saw that: Moral: "Tho Man who Gambles picks his Own Pockot but not necessarily nec-essarily of Moneyl" |