Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1870-03-03
How Won AT Faro.
The deal came ace Jack.

! John Mansfield blew his brains ont thai
night and that was the way l came K
win.
| John was fast young fellow and al
ways had been, but had never known
him to be much of gambler until few
weeks before he committed suicide. | can
not say we were friends exactly, but there
was sort of an acquaintance between us
that had grown into intimacy at the last,
owing, suppose, to the fact that misery
loves company. John invariably lost, SO
did I. He was the last at the gambling
table when the game closed, so was I, and
we usually went out on the street to-
gether. 1t was customary for US to pass
the time of night when we first met, bat
it was not long before neither of us had q
watch, and it was but q short distance
from Ann street where the game was
dealt, to the City Hall, we used to GO
around and look at the clock on the
steeple. l was little more careful than
John, and used to save sometimes a dollar
or two. He never had penny when the
last card was drawn from the box. Con-
sequently in friendly way, being the
only one of the two who had any money,
used to invite him to take drink. This
was before the excise law and there were
plenty of all-night saloons. A few glasses
of whiskey used to set us to talking and
from time to time [ gathered from Johns
conversation pretty correct idea of his
history.
1t appears his father died when he was
quite young, and his mother having no
other children depended very considerably
upon him, not for support, for she was in
very comfortable circumstances, but for
care and protection in her old age. In
fact she loved him as only a mother can
love hayward child. John had queer
temperament. He was confding and
generous to fault, but impulsive. There
is no doubt that he abused his mother,
forgetting her infrmities, and that she
died before he realized her bodily weak
ness, or appreciated her strong love for
him. He he'd been gambling before his
mothers death, and she found ii out, l
think he said, by his taking her watch
and some of her trinkets to pawn when he
know she could not readily let him have
the money he wanted. At any rate she
died and then came his bitter remorse.
l do not wish to speak of myself in
my recital of these matters, except so far
as to say that | was raised as the son of a
gentleman, and was about as completely
ruined as gentleman's son could be. This
was probably another reason why John
attached himself to me. [ really felt for
him, and sympathized with him as well
as i could.
Grief and drunkenness, with some peo-
pie, seem to go together. 1t may shock
those not much used to the worlds ways,
but there is no use emitting the truth.
John got drunk on the day of his mothers
death, and did not go to her funeral, but
remained drunk for about week. This
he did, he said, to drown sorrow. l pre-
sumo those who have tried to drown sor-
row in this way know about how effect
ually the thing cannot be done.
John managed to sober up sufficiently
to get hold of his mothers property, ex-
cept few lots that had been mortgaged
heavily to raise money to support his ex-
travaganee during his mothers lifetime.
He was in funds; and | must say felt
considerable satisfaction when / found his
attachment to me was of suoh nature
that he proposed to lend me few hun
dred dollars, that might again appear in
the character of a gentleman. 1 had led
precarious existence SO long, depending
sometimes upon loan from friend not
exactly acquainted with my altered cir.
cumstances; at others, upon the charity
of some saloon keeper; and once in a
while picking up dollar or two from
lucky winner, that at first it required a
little practice to twirl cane as had been
my practice in former days, or to appear
easy In new suit of fashionable clothes.
L might have done all this very well in
any other city but New York. Here they
all knew me, and it was some time before
l could wear off the guilty look of having
once been comparatively beggar. How
ever, John seemed to delight in the
change, and enjoy my surprise at my own
improved appearance. have said before
that he was both generous and impulsive !:
and it was these traits in his character
that gave him pleasure in raising me up
from the depths of degradation into which
l had fallen. l must confess could not
help thinking was sort of Man Friday
for John. But my pride had pretty much
given away in my losing battle with For
tune, and I cared but little what the
world thought, SO that got along COM
fertably. @a sas
g. afr-F .tsg