The Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Or.) 1862-1899, 1881-03-04
Life in a Gambling Haunt.

The gravelled walks on the terraces
and round the gardens are occupied by
promenaders, each bent on enjoyment,
and there is an utter absence of the stiff
ness, and formality custom has enforced
at Nice. The Englishman may be found
sitting on bench, his paper spread out
before him, thinking of home and Of
skating on the lakes in the parks, while
his face is bronzing with the warm sun,
and that pipe which he has been compelled
to smoke furtively since he landed at
Boulogne or Calais is now held triumph
antly in his mouth, mingling the fra
GRANGE of its smoke with the odor of the
flowers around. There is the German,
the inevitable German, with his blue
cotton sunshade and spectacles. He
never quits his Baedeker, and his itera-
ture wavers between the study of his
guide book and of some theory pro-
pounded by mathematician who,
on paper, has now reduced
winning at the gaming tables to
a certainty. The Russian stalks up and
down, regarding his fellow-men du haut
de sa grandeur as considerably inferior
to MIN. The hours pass wearily enough
for him until the shrine of Fortune
opens and the ball is sent spinning
round the roulette by the croupier.
Then the eyes of the Muscovite light
up, and pin and card in hand he
watches the ball, pricking his paste
board and indulging in hiereglyphics
and cabalistic calculations. He is in
different to loss or gain. He plays
simply to amuse himself, and to while
away the hours which hang SO heavily
on his hands.
Further along may be found the
American, armed with his red-covered
"Kremer's Graphic Railway Guide"
which has become the guide, philoso-
pher and friend of our transatlantic
cousins who are visiting Europe. The
where everything is practical will not
hear word against his "Kremer,"
which contains all the information he
can require, and prevents him from
having to carry half a hundredweight
tains skeleton maps, sketches of tours,
advice to the traveller, with practical
hints, valuable notes, etc., and
its price is ridiculously small, while
the descriptions are given in
such readable form that geography and
history become a pleasant study. On
the square in front of the Casino and the
Hotel de Peris is the Cafe de Paris, with
its polyglot walters, and its customers
speaking Babel Of tongues. Every
beverage In the world can be obtained,
from "Scotch whisky" to ''prime old
but line has been drawn at
the "Tom gin" which is sold down in
the Condamine with label which
sayors strongly of the contraband. The
tables standing out on the pavement in
the sun are all occupied, for going to the
cafe is not considered in the same light
as going to the public house at home,
and French customs and fashions have
not only been accepted but adopted.
The English lady and her daughter may
be seen there of morning, drinking
their cafe au lait and eating their little
rolls, while at 5 o'clock tea the tables are
and the decoction of Bohea is
passed round and imbibed with as much
pleasure and apparent satisfaction as the
Chinese manifests when he inhales the
fumes af the opium from his metal pipe.
The Frenchman sips his absinthe of an
afternoon, the italian drinks his ver-
mouth, the Russian uncorks his pint of
champagne, and the German
takes his coffee with milk, and accom-
panied by half dozen sweet cakes, just
to get his mouth into shape for table
dshota