Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1854-07-01

be very sure that he will begin to win soon, for he
has been losing so long the tide must change.
You never saw ladies in a gambling house, did
you 4? There are several around this table. Here
IS one standing at my shoulder, pleading in an
undertone of voice with an elderly man, who may
be her father, or husband, or, more likely than
either her friend, for q fresh supply of forms, as
her purse is empty. lie pretends to be absorbed
in the game that the rest are playing, but she is
importunate and he turns she has then his eye,
and looks so imploringly that he yields and fills
her purse. | saw her lay down these forins. two
or three of them at a time, f~uttering like a fright
ened pigeon, sometimes revealing her disappoint-
ment when she lost, and her Joy as clearly when
she won but the tide was against her, and before
she quit the table the purse was emptied again
and there was no smiling when she took her old
mans arm and marched out of the hall as mad as
q March hare. But l have been watching, with
moro interest that any of these, a woman OF rare
beauty at the corner of the table in front Of me.
Five hours ago she was there she may have been
out in that time for refreshments, but she is n
hdbitue of this house. Dressed in rich black silk,
and with a neat collar, stomacher and scarf, she
would be taken for a lady, had she less jewelry /;
but those bracelets and chains, and charms, are
rather too rich and many for such q place. No
gentleman is here who seems to stand in any rela-
tionship to that splendid creature. She plays on
her own account.
But women will show their feelings, and with
all her effort at calmness and Indifference, the
~tell-tale blood, as it flies into her face, or rushes
back to her heart, leaving her white as marble,
~discloscs the struggle that is heaving her bosom.
She has not played for five or six minutes; her
head has rested on her hand, and her ivory arm,
as it stands up there, has been glanced at even by
those who seem to be engrossed in the game. She
plays again and loses and now, she has placed
her hand quietly on her forehead, as if it ached.
1t was for a moment only; she recovered and ms.
family threw out double her usual stakes, and saw
them swept away without a sigh. 1t vas exciting
to see her. Involuntarily my sympathies were
with her, and | was wishing that She might be the
winner every throw she made. Who was she ?
Nobody but a gay, ruined, wretchcd woman one
of thousands thronging these watering places
bankrupt in fortune and reputation the least of
their vices is gambling and if the love of money
was the worst of their passions, they would be
pure as they are beautiful. With the dukes and
duchesses, the lords and ladies, the sharpers,
~blacklegs and pedlars of all sorts, and travellers,
who resort in summer time to these fountains of
health and pleasure, come these gay women, and
as they roll through the streets in their splendid
carriages, or sail into the ballroom at midnight,
you might mistake them for the greatest ladies in
the land. Never buy a book by the cover" said
my Irish c~oachman, at Dublin, and the advice is
quite as good in Germany.-N. Y. Observer.