The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1872-06-20
Female Gamblers at the German Spas

SoHpooe, Iuueeu, SOue OF the pest Known
habtuees; 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, rigidly
polite manners, and perpetual "Faites
votrc jeu, messieurs.
One of the most noted players of rank
Is the famous Countess Kisselef, whom
all frequenters of Hamburg must remem-
Der as large gray haired woman hob
bling about with a crutch, and often
carried by her servants in an invalid
chair to the gaming table, which she
seldom quits. She must be seventy five
now, and has been reported dead again
aud again. Her portly and crippled
figure was conspicuous in the Cursaal
last season, and will be again this, am
sure. She could hardly forego the pleas
ure 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
Taunus Mountains. She is, or rather
was, the wife of the former Russian
minister to Rome, and all kinds of stories
are told her. She is said to have separat-
ed 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 Il beautiful basilsk of fas-
cination, and her figure (who ever saw
veay fat old woman that had not once
been a modal of issome grace y 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 awkwardness and
avOirdupois.) The hour of beginning
the game is almost invariably anticipated
by the countess. She is at the table be-
fore the croupier, day and night, week,
days and Sundays, find her glued to her
familiar chair. 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 jcu est fait rieu
ne va plus"
Her losses at Hamburg are stated to
have been enormous-not less during the
last twelve or thirteen years than eight
or ten millions of forms She has done
much to improve the little town, has
built many of its best houses and opened
a 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
modest independence. She no longer
bets with her former audacity, stalking
rouleaux of napoleous upon a simple
chance, but limits her mise to a few
forms, in consequence of her compare
lively straitened circumstances. To her
more than to any other one person The
Direction is indebted for the large divi-
dends, averaging about twenty per cen.
tum per annum, which it pays to its
stockholders, after deducting its 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
correct biography of Prester John As
divided paying stocks they probably have
no rivals in all Europe.
A lionne at Baden is the Princess
Suvarrow, Bussian lay of distinction,
who devotes herself almost as zealously
to rouge,e ct noir in the Conversationshaus
as the Countess Kisselef does to roulette
in the Cursaal. She must have been ex-
ccedingly pretty; indeed, she in very
good looking now, although full five aud
forty, if it be allowable to conjecture
woman's age, and she still has fine
presence and engaging manners. Always
dressed richy-yellow silk, trimmed with
black lace, is her favorite costume, set
ting of her brunette beanty to advantage
and having a really grand air, she
draws the fire of many glances. Accord
ing to general report, she has played as
sad havoc with the funds of the Baden
bank as she has with the hearts of men
all the way from Paris to ST Petersburg,
from Constantinople to Antwerp. She is
said to have won as much as her notorious
country woman has lost, and she bears
the credit of having again aud again ex.
hausted the treasury Of the tailleur Her
reputation as a lucky player is diffused
throughout the grand duchy, and she is
often implored to make bets for others,
as persons believed fortunate are apt to
be. Full Of bonhomie, she generally
yields to persuasion, albeit she AYERS she
has little leisure to look after other stakes
than her own. She is deemed the best
authority on systems in the entire valley
of Gel bach, and appears to have studied
them to some purpose. have been i'm
formed that she has thousands of the
little pricked cards (having noted the
course of the game for many years. care
fully arranged in her archives according
to date, and that she gives the late hours
of the night to their diiigent investiga-
ton. She must be a feminine Auastasius,
if all the on dts concerning her are to be
trusted. She has been everything aud
done everything; speaks all languages !;