Connecticut western news., 1873-11-28

gam1ng-table.
 "Some Bank of England notes would save you from employing your time in such pastime," said I, little smartly. |" Her benefaction, I suppose, took that shape"
 "Not got it yet," said he, humor- ously. CT mean the solution. No, I'm not to have any cash. Yet she pays all expenses. See here," he said, pull. ing out two little books.
 "Not tracts ?" said, scornfully.
 "No," he said, "though am to give them away piecemeal.- They are talis- mans, or talismen. In short, they are coupons.
 "Coupons, what are they ?' We all looked at them with mysterious curi- osity, as though expecting they would change suddenly into precious metal o1 notes.
 "You know," he continued, "I am methodical in my ways, and the moment I heard of the famous coupon system l hailed 1t as being made for me- In fact the whole of human life ought to be transacted in coupons. It would save a world of trouble and anxiety"
 But" said my father, mildly, "you have not explained. What is a coupon? What do these things in your hand mean ?"
 "See here. London to Dover; no money or ticket; but merely tear out and present coupon. Packet ditto, T. O. and P. that is tear out and present, coupon. q abbreviate.) To Paris, T. O. and P. coupon. At hotel, break fast; garsong, bill. Here you are, coupon. So with dinner. So with bed. Coupon here, coupon there. Coupons to the right of them, coupons to the left of them. Fire 'em off in all direc- tions. And so you see you can travel, board and lodge for @ month, be taken away, kept and brought back, without putting your finger into your purse once the whole time."
 We were enormously interested. Was there not something piquant and en- gazing in this ingenious subversion of all ordinary forms of human arrange ment? There was, as he said, beau tiful simplicity in the system and it was certainly the first successful at tempt at doing without the root of all evil. The vulgar element was elimina- ted, and one could at last travel with
 
 we wondered, as he explained how the director of the system, lived and di- rected in town, whence he dispatched, every day and every hour, crowds of travellers to the ends of the earth, fur nishing each with nothing but his little book of tracts. He then unfolded a sort of broad sheet or programme of ar- engagements, in which, besides giving information, the founder chats agree ably with his patrons-rather was he not their patron ?-tells them his pros poets, what he is going to do, and what he has done.
 ",So there is the way it stands" said Mir. Blowman, rising, "and am to be transported to Curebath by boat and rail, maintained there at the Golden Stork fortnight, and returned to my friends, without any expense or trouble beyond offering little slip of paper as come or go."
 This revelation made a deep impress sion. The seed was sown, the difficult ties vanished of themselves. The sys- tenn commended itself as something almost fascinating. Before the next evening all was arranged, and though my father naturally felt some trepida- tion as to the fate of his glasses, still the danger he felt was reduced almost to minimum. We were to go with MT. Bowman.
 To carry out the principle in it's most perfect style, MT. Blowman declared that "not more than a few shillings in cash were to be brought by the party, just to defray the charges of cabs, DOT terage, and so forth. We should trust ourselves implicitly to our coupons, and, as we agreed, give the thing fair play. It should be the coupon, the whole coupon, and nothing but the coupon.
 In day or two the die was cast, or rather post-office order was dispatched to the coupon-founder, who by return of post promptly returned three stout little pamphlets, and one for each of a smaller little tract, each having DOT trait like an enlarged postage stamp, which was to be in common for the hotels. We set to work, got on pack ing, and at last started, my father slightly tremulous about his glasses. But MT. Blowman iberally guaranteed their safety.
 Everything was delightful and worked admirably. Coupon here, coupon there; up, down, everywhere, they were all graciously honored like cheques. It was universally agreed that it was the most charming way of travelling that could be. We-that is, and MT. Blow man-heartily wished the principle could be introduced into all the trans actions of life. Dover, Ostend, Brus- o11 cfz iot1 on to Cologne and the Rhine, where The only drawback was that our small cash for cabs, porters, and so on, began to disappear with alarming rapidity, and we discovered with alarm that it would not hold out to the end of our journey.
 We were in great spirits, which we bestowed-that is, I and MT. Bowman literally on dry, elderly, wiry-haired Briton, one of the true type we all know, who has the air of taking his bank abroad.with him. That sort of con- mercial superiority is really unendur- able, and we noticed that he smiled contemptuously as the guard came in and tore out our coupons.
 "You find all that sort of thing an- swer, I suppose" he said.
 MT. Bowman answered him readily. cit speaks for itself," he said Cit is the one, the only system, and, depend upon it, we shall all have to come to it, whether we like it or mo-"
 "I am fond of the old ways," said Briton, "at least till the new ones are fairly established.
 "That was what all the social Tories said when steam came in. We'd never have had railway if those principles had prevailed"
 "Perhaps so. I only wished to know how the thing answered. Have you found it satisfactory p
 We had all the a1dor of neophytes, and answered. Had we not gone in for the thing thoroughly? Gould we show greater proof of our confidence thar having embarked so great stake in the matter?