Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1874-11-26

room. Inc Courteous WALTERS, Ruulle
swiftly and noiselessly from chair to chair,
are generally carrying only seltzer water OF
cigar.
TIE TABLES AND COUNTIES.
There is not, however, much money
at least what an ordinary plain man Of
business would consider money Lying
upon the tables. The small strong box in
the centre, over which the noble host him
self presides, may indeed contain, for at4yht
/ know, untold millions. But lying WISH
bly, about in confused heaps among the
players, or near The banker in carefully ar
ranged rows, are endless bone counters,
some plain white, others tastefully inlaid
with rings Of various eolors, from red to
the most delicate mauye. Their intrinsic
value is not great-not more, perhaps, than
that of a bank note-and they look
eharmingly innocent and pretty play
things for children. Still, good deal Of
mischief may be done with them. The
plain whites are the lowest-the copper
coinage-being worth only two thalers
each, or Is. A red ring at once raises their
value to ten thalers. Then there are other
colored pieces Of various values, from five
thalers to 100, until the plain white re-
ures in black show that it Is worth from
200 to 500 thales, or ELS. There may
have been counters ofhigher value, thought
did not see any. Yet, BY playing steadily
from, say, IL P. N. to A. NJ, it is possible
to lose fairly satisfactory sum even
through the medium Of 475 pieces. The
system Of playing with counters is, no
doubt, immensely in the banks favor, in
the way, that is, Of encouraging high play.
1t is not in human nature, at least civil
lied nature, to treat a small bit Of bone,
however neatly eOlored, with the respect
one feels readily enough for a sovereign or
a f10 note. Young players scatter 25-
thaler pieces over the table who would hesi-
tate about stalking sovereigns, though not a
third of the value. As for the plain whites
the copper units-it is amusing to see
what vile dross they come 10 be considered
before the evening is out. Six shillings is
not sum which even millionaires give
habitually to beggars and walters. But
player with his pockets full of reds and
mauves feels almost as much ashamed of
Offering handful Of whites to the gentle
men out Of livery who sees him to the
door as if they were copper.
THE PLAYERS.
The rooms are for gambling, and some
what small; but then the company, too, is
small, and very select. There was not, l
believe, any crowned head present when
was there, but pretty nearly all other ranks,
from that Of Prince downward, were repre-
sented. What struck me as the most char
aeteristic feature Of the evening was the
curious combination Of formal business
like play, much of it very high, with jok-
ing, laughing, ''chaffing," and all
the usual concomittants of a pri-
vate party, except the drinking. The
of whom there seemed
a very fair supply, sat up in their seats of
office as solemn and grave-faced as if they
had been in the Conversion House, to
which they probably once belonged, and
worked quite as hard. "Messieurs, faites lie
ieu-le jeueSt fat, went on with clOck-wOrk
regularity. But the demeanor of the SHES
sieurs," though they contriyed to combine
business and fun, was amusingiy unlike
Lhe silent funeral gravity Of a public gam
bling room. in which the word s'playn
seems a cruelty irOnical misnOmer. 4
peep at the ssAIeSsIeurs" would much mys-
iify simple folks wEO, getting their notions
Of private from sensation novels, mag
inc that the losers, with pale faces and dis
hevelled hair, are always crashing their
teeth, clenching their fists, and muttering
curses deep and low, while the winners
have the blue light of brandy and greed in
their cleaning eyes. The "Messieurs"
could scarcely have been cooler the other
evening if they had been playing "beggar
my neighbOrs for "lOve.s Th3 highest
,,lova- n 1911 soIl,r lool-furr Garrpou had
evidently dined, but the dinner only brought
ont his ioviality, which took the form of
an excessive readiness to accommodate
everybody in every way; to take
either rouge or ROir, or both, as the
or anybody else preferred, provided
only he was allowed to stlke the mG<iiRBR
or the fullest possible share of it. What
the maximum was in the various games
found it hard-knowing little or nothing
about them-tO make out. At treHte ct
yudTdRte the nominal maximum was 500
Ihalers (f120) on each side of the banker,
but it seemed by mutual consent to be fire.
Iuently raised. At faro l saw 1900 thalers
Ost on one card, and st roulette about
5000 thalers won in three cOHpS
THE HOURS OF PLAY
Are nOminally from P. NJ. to 4 P. N. in
he day, and from P. NJ. to l A. NJ. at
night, but practically they depend, fancy,
on what play is going on. The A. NJ. is
nominal, for when Ileft at nearly
3 A. NJ. the play had not ceased, though
his, was told, was an exceptionally late
night. When the party breaks up, at say
A, NJ. or 3 A. NJ, the ehoieer and drawer
spirits usually repair for further amuse-
ment to another building, but at the door
Of this, as it is strictly private, the discreet
leaves them. An old English
lady at my hotel, who, having a grand
nephew member of the set, knows ex-
lctly everything they do, tells me that they
play some game Of skill beginning with
bac"-baekgammon she believes-and she
adds, somewhat to my surprise, that they
Keep most early and regular hours, being
almost always in bed by 8, and up again at
). 1t is just possible that there may be
some last century confusion in her vener-
able mind between A. NJ. and p. NJ. But
his is a mere detail, with which those
alone are concerned who have both to &C
% bed and to get up-duties which, in the
interests of gambling humanity, ought
perhaps to have been divided between two
men. trust have sufficiently vindicated
Baden from the charge of being too good.