Connecticut western news., 1872-06-14
Female Gamblers at the German Spas.


 Baden, Hamburg, Wiesbaden, and Ems have each their feminine noblesse from the leading nations of Europe. They compose, indeed, some of the best known habituees; can be met, while they are alive, in the Dichtenthal avenue, the Wilhelmstrasse, or on the Mahlbery- Kopf with as much certainty as the tail leur with his imperturbable face, fri9idly polite manners, and perpetual Faites votre jeu, messieurs.
 One of the most noted players of rank is the famous Countess Kisselef, whom all frequenters of Hamburg must remem- Der as 8 large gray haired woman hob bling about with crutch, and often carried by her servants ill an invalid chair to the gaming table, which she seldom quits. She must be seventy-fve now, and has been reported dead again and again. Her portly and crippled figure was conspicuous in tho Cursaal last season, and will be again this, am sure. She could hardly forego the pleasure of occupying her accustomed seat during the last gambling year, when she has for nearly @ quarter of a century breathed the genial summer air of the Taurus Mountains. She is, or rather was, the wife of the former Russian minister to Rome, and all kind of stories are told about her. She is said to have separated from her husband because he insisted that she should give him up or give up gaming, and she adhered to the latter as the more attractive of the two. The gossips declare that up to her fortieth year she was beautiful basilisk of fas- cination, and her figure (who ever saw Q very fat old woman that had not once been modal of lissome grace :? so light and symmetrical that St. Petersburg and Moscow followed it with adoring eyes. (If this be so, it Is only another corrobo- ration of my aesthetic theory concerning the tendency of rank to awkwardn ess and avoirdupois.) The hour of begin ming the game is almost invariably an- ticipated by the countess. She is at the table before the croupiers, day and night, weekdays and Sundays, find her glued to her familiar cbair. Roulette is her life, and her last words, as the ball of death goes swinging round the circle of her being, will be, no doubt, "Le jeu est | fait /; rieu ne va plus."
 Her losses at Hamburg are stated to have been nenormous-not less during the last twelve or thirteen years than eight or ten millions of forins. She has done much to improve the little town, has built many of its best houses and opened street, which is named in her honor. But all her property has been mortgaged, and it is questionable if she now has left, out of colossal fortune, more than 8 modest independence She no longer bets with her former audacity, stalking rouleaux of napoleons upon Q simple chance, but limits her mise to a few forins, in consequence of her compara- lively straitened circumstances. To he1 Direction is indebted for the large divi- dends, averaging about twenty per cen tum per annum, which it pays to its stockholders, after deducting it's very liberal expenses. All the tables at the springs are owned in this manner, though as may be presumed, the companies are supremely close corporations, and the shares are no more purchasable than the correct biography of Prester John. Al divided-paying stocks they probably have no rivals in all Europe.
 A ionne at Baden is the Princess Suvarrow, Q Russian lady of distinction who devotes herself almost as zealously to rouge-et-noir in the Conversationshaus as the Countess Kisselef does to roulette in the Cursaal She must have been ex ceedingly pretty indeed, she is very good-looking now, although full fve-and forty, if it be allowable to conjecture : woman's age, and she still has fnt presence and engaging manners. Al ways dressed richly-yellow silk, trim med with black lace, is her favorite COS tune, setting off her brunette beauty te advantage-and having really grand air, she draws the fire of many glances According to general report, she ha! played as sad havoc with the funds O. the Baden bank as she has with th' hearts of men all the way from Paris tt St. Petersburg, from Constantinople tt Antwerp. She is said to have won a much as her notorious country woman has lost, and she bears the credit of hay ing again and again exhausted the trea s try of the tailleur. Her reputation a Q lucky player is dlfused throughout th grand duchy, and she is often implore, to make bets for others, as persons be lieved fortunate are apt to be. Full c bonhomie, she generally yields to per suasion, albeit she ayers she has ittl leisure to look after other stakes thai her own. She is deemed the best arl thority on systems in the entire valley o Oel-bach, and appears to have studie, them to some purpose. l have been i'm formed that she has thousands of tn little pricked cards (having noted tn course of the game for many years} care fully arranged in her archives accordipi to date, and that she gives the late hour of the night to their diligent investie a tion. She must be feminine Anastasius } if all the on dats concerning her are to b trusted. She has been everything an done everything /; speaks all languages has travelled all over the world-is, in word, paragon of imprudence and en , chantment, of folly and generosity, c , vickedness and charity, of tendernes l and temptation. She is Greek, Rus sian, an Italian, Spaniard, and French woman the much fathere
 daughter of Grand Vizier, of the Pop
 of Rome, of the Emperor William, of
 Russian admiral, of Spanish grandee
 and of French general. Everybody g Baden knows something about her nc ! body else knows and what each know is altogether different from the gener, knowledge of this singular woman, wh { seems pleased with the myst ry SUI, , rounding her, and nowise averso 10 deer I ening it by 8 continuation of ccentri , courses and inexplicable vagarie -Jn'
 ius HenrS Broao,se
 l Gems of Thought.