Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-08-09
A SENSATION.
The Sto ny of a Game of Cards Played
by Bismarck, Count Nesselrode and
a French C0nSuE

One hot afternoon in the month OF
August, 1867, three men sat around q
table in a private parlOr, at the hotel
Darmstadt at Ems, Germany, taking such
comfort as they could derive from the
juice of Rhenish grape and pack of
cards. The most conspicuous figure of
the group was large man with a bald
head, grayish blue eyes, heavy, light
colored mOustache, airs about him that
would have done honor TO the imperial
purple. This parsonage had even then
achieved some fame and was tolerably
well known TO reading people by the
name of Bismarck. Next TO him sat
another bald-headed individual, infe-
rior TO Bismarck in stature, with bor-
der of black hair about the base OF his
skull that looked like the rim of an old
felt hat (uthlessly robbed of its CROWN
condemned to remain there as perma-
nent figure. During the Crimean war
the father of this man figured at the
Cabinet councils in st. Petersburg as
Count Nesselrode, but the son was only
known as clever gamester and an hd6-
it1te of the fashionable European water
ing places. The third member of the
party was little fellow $50 little that his
feet scarcely touched the tloor), with dark
piercing eye, swarthy skin, and viVacity
enough for half dozen ordinary men.
At the time of which we speak he was
the French Consul at Stuttgart. All of
them had been partaking freely OF wine,
and each in turned shuffled the cards with
vim that the generous grape imparts
even to the most phlegmatic temperament.
The Frenchman, in the interludes of the
play, kept up a running fire of converse
ton, skipping from topic to topic with a
facility which only Frenchmen enjoy, un-
til, warming as he went on, he Ventured
the declaration that France would one
day mark her boundary by the Rhine
from Basel to the sea.
ga hundred Fredericks to fifty" ex-
claimed Nesselrode, "that she wont.
'DOne," replied the Frenchman, "and
let the game be the fortune-teller.
They shuffled the cards, and the French
man lost.
"Another wager !" said Nesselrode,
with a glance at Bismarck, who eyed his
two companions calmly, though never ut
tering single word. Another wager!
Two hundred and fifty that within five
years France and Prussia measure swords,
and that France yields Alsace and the
whole disputed border.
"CeSt impossible ," excitedly re-
sponded the Consul.
Again the cards were shuffled. At the
fourth play Bismarck and the French
man had each taken two tricks. 1t was
the Russians lead. He threw the queen
of clubs upon the table.
"King !" shouted the Frenchman in
triumph, as he covered Nesselrode's card,
and extended his hand to seize the prize.
'ENot SO FAST" coolly remarked the
Prussian Premier. 81 believe the game
is NINE" and casting the ace, he leaned
back in his chair and laughed heartily.
"lfafa Djeu ;" shouted the discounted
player, "but cards always were liars"
and unable to conceal the chagrin and ex-
citement that overmastered him, he rose
from the table and quilted the room.
Three years have scarcely elapsed since
the incident here narrated Gan incident
which Nesselrode told with hearty salts
faction in the Ems cafes that summer),
and, now the big cloud of war that has
lowered over Europe has burst, the result
may prove that the cards were not such
liars after all.-Appleton's Journal.