The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1881-07-07
Nasby's Betting Young Man.

Nasby's Betting Y0nng Man.
From the London Letter to tho Toledo Blade
Among tie passengers was young man
from near Oshkosh, Wis.,, named Tibbitts.
He VAS an excellent young man Of his kind,
and he very soon acquired the reputation :,
which he deserved, Of being the very best
poker player on the ship. He was uneasy
and growled ferociously when the lights
were turned down at twelve at night. He
was impatient with slow players because, as
he said, all the time they wasted Was SO
much loss to him. He could drink more
Scotch whiskey than any one on the ship,
and he was the pet of the entire crew, for
his hand is always in his pocket. He ruin
ed the rest OF the passengers by his reck-
less liberality. His father was a rich Wis.,
consin farmer, and this is his first expert.
ence in travelling.
What time he could spare from poker
and his meals was devoted TO writing a
letter to his mother, for whom the yonng
| scapegrace did seem to have great deal Of
respect and a very considerable amount of
love. His letter was finished the day before
We made Queenstown, so that he could
mail it from there. He read it to me. The
sentences in parenthesis were his COM
ments;
On BOARD THE CITY OF RICHMOND,
NEAR QUEENSTOWN, May %, 1881.
DEAR MOTHER: While there is every
thing to interest one from the interior in a
sea voyage, I confess that I have not enjoy
ed the passage ct all. have no heart for
it, for my mind is perpetually on you and
my home in the far west. you SEE it will
please tho old lady to know that I am
thinking Of her all the time. Didn't scoop
that jack pot nicely last evening? Hadn't q
thing in my hand, and Filkins actually
opened it with three deucee. The ship is one
OF the strongest and best on the ocean, and
is commanded and manned by the best
sailors on the seu. The passengers are all
good, serious people, with perhaps one ex-
ception. There is one young man from
New York Of dissolute habits, who has a
bottle of whiskey in his room, and who &C.
tualy tried to tempt me to play cards with
him. But he is known and avoided by the
entire company.
We have regular services in the grand
saloon every morning, and occasional meet
ings for vocal exercises and conversation
At other hours. have just come from one
at which,
''You are not going to send this internal
aggregation of lies to your mother, ARE your"
I asked.
why not? She don't know any better,
andi will make her feel good. 1 have my
opinion of man who won't give his old
mother pleasure when he con Just ~ we'll
as not. will, you bet"
But such atrocious lies!"
"I1l chance that. can stand lies of that
kind when they are told in so good cause
1 love my mother. I do. Let's see, where
was I? Oh, yes"
have just come from one at which the
discussion was mostly on the progress of
missions in the for west. (The cid lady is
treasurer of society for the conversion of
the Apaches, or some other tr1be) Just
now the sailors are heaving log, which
they do to ascertain the speed the ship is
making. Mr.. Inman, the owner of this ship,
is very wealthy man, and he has every
thing of the best. He furnishes his vessels
with nothing but black walnut logs to heave
while the others use pine or poplar. Capt.
Leitch is very humane man, and never
uses profane language to his crew. On
other ships the men who go aloft are com :
PEELED to climb tarred rope ladders, but
ged to the masts, such as you saw in the
Palmer house in Chicago, in which they
sit comfortably and are hoisted up by a
steam engine.
Great heavens. You are not surely 60
ing to send that2"
"Why not? What is an old lady in silver
spectacles on a farm Thirty miles from any
water more than we'll going to know about
a steamer? I must write her something
for she persuaded the old gentleman to let
me take the trip. amt ungrateful, amt.
I'll give her one good letter, anyhow. Why,
by the way You talk, should suppose YOU
never had a mother, and if you had that
you didn't know how to treat her. l hate q
man who don't love his mother and isn't
willing to sacrifice himself for her. All I
can do fer her now is to write to her and
write such letters as will interest her, and
the dear old girl Is going to get them if the
paper and ink holds out. and they are 60
ing to be good ones, too"
l have got to be a good deal of a sailor,
and II 1t were not for leaving you, which
couldn't do, = believe should take one of
these ships myself. know all about star
board, and can tell the stern from the
bow. On ship you don't say I will 60
down stairs," butyou say Il will go below. "
the sea, and was true child Of the ocean.
home. and my absolute abstemiousness on
the ship, have escaped the terrors of sea-
sickness. As you taught me, true hsppi-
ness can only be found in virtue. The
wicked young man from New York has been
sick half the time, as young man who keeps
bottle in his room should be.
The nice WOODEN stockings you knit for
me have been a great comfort, and oil I re-
greet is, am afraid I have not enough of
them to last me till get home.
The young villain had purchasedin Now
York an assortment of the most plcturesu ne
hosiery procurablc, which he was wearing
with low cut shoes. The wooden stockings
he gave to his room steward
The tracts YOU put in my valise 1 have
read over and over again, and have lent
them since to the passengers who prefer
serious reading to trashy novels and fitera-
ture of that kind. What time I have had
to spare for other reading have devoted to
books of travel SO that may sec Europe in
diligently.
by the way" he stopped to soy. ''are
the Argyle rooms in London actually
closed, aud is the Mabille in Paris as lively
as it used to be? Great Cesar! Won't I
make it lively for them!'
In another day We shall land in Liver
H~0As esAAN GACA oIfttA 10 Ouly I'VE 0OuE8
from London. long to reach London,
Tor do 80 delight to hear Spurgeon, and
attend the Exeter hall meetings, as YOU de-
sired me. But as we shall reach London
on Tuesday, I shall be compelled to wait
till the following Sunday, five long days.
Please, ma, have pm send me draft Mt
my address at London at ence. find the
expense of travel much greater than SUD-
posed, and I fear shall not have enough.
Your affectionate son, EEs1UEL.
There" said Lemuel as he sealed the
letter, that is what call a good letter.
"a: lady will read it over ana over to
herself, and then she will read it to oil the
neighbors. It will do her heap of good.
Goodbye: The boys are waiting for me
in the smoking ROOM"
And stopping at the bar to take drink
the liberality of English measure was not
too great for: him-he was, q minute after,
absorbed in the mysteries of poker, and
was "raking in" the money of others ut a
lievly rate.
And the letter went to the good old
mother and probably did her oood And