The bee., 1883-03-10
Gaming in Mica.

Uurlng Che last fifteen years, but
more markedly since the closing of the
gaming tables at the great German
spas, Nice has become suburb OF
London, Vienna, Paris and st. Peters
burg That is to say, it has had trans,
planted into its circumference the club
houses, theatres, saloons and society
which distinguish these great capi-
tails. Its original groups of tall stucco
/ houses, profusely adorned with the
eolored ffescUes the Italians love on
their facades, have been buried In
piles of more elaborate and costly edi-
tices, representing the wealth and en-
bodying the taste of the most affluent
aristocrats in Europe. From the site
originally chosen for its shelter from the
keen mistral winds. the city has been
extended along the whole half circle of
the sea, backed by the lustrous foliage
OF the highlands jutting down from
the Savoyafd Alps. Earth, air and
sky, without d stroke from mortal
hands, constitute picture which the
eye never wearies contemplating.
Originally peopled by winter multi
tudes, for the mildness of its climate,
Its perpetual sunshine and its incom-
parable environs, the means of diver
sion accumulated in its enceinte during
the last ten years have made the place
irresistible to the vast movable column
which In Europe has no other business
than the enjoyment of life.
Hence it comes to pass that more of
the wicked, the goddess and the gay
may be seen in Nice between Novem-
Der and March than in any single Eu-
ropean city. The English are the
dominant race in the season. They fill
the operas, the theatres; theirs is the
money that keeps the crack clubs in
royal state. They inaugurate all the
gayeties; they keep the fuel of scandal
constantly afame. Besides this the
harbor and neighboring haven of Vile
FrHnche are the winter rendezvous of
the naval magnates of every nation
maintaining fleets in the Mediterra-
hean. AS may be imagined, the vol
ume of life is written rapidly and in
every phase.
Hotel life in Nice is one of the most
diverting studies that can be afforded
the student of manners and men. Out
of population of 100000 in winter
fully 100000 are lodged in hotels. In
fact, every house in Nice is open to
dodgers in winter, though the hotels
fairly predominant. The very atmus-
phere of the place relaxes the moral
Bensibilities. That is to say the ideals
Of ones youth. Here American fami-
lies settle for the winter with neigh
bors where the invariable diversion of
the evening is the regulation gaming
table. Instead of the Simple
and somewhat inane pleasures
of the drawing-room of an
American hotel, the guests at Nice ad.
journ from the breakfast table at
o'clock in the afternoon and set to
work feverishly at rouge ct noir, trente
ct quaran te, or any of the ordinary
gaming processes by which money is
made to pass from one purse to an
other. The remarkable traits of these
scenes are the absorbing interest of the
women. Even young girls, who at
home in America or England would be
discarded from polite So
ciety for participation or even
knowledge of such wickedness,
seat themselves at the tables
and play with the fervor and
ihtrepidity of practiced gamblers.
Night, however, is the most absorb
ing time. Then the ladies, adorned in
their best. rise from the dinner-table
called, arrange themselves in line
around the long tables, with the ivory
coin of the trade in abundant heaps
beside them. The picture George Eliot
gives in daniel Deronda" is in no
sense overdrawn. Probably nine in
every ten of the winter residents of
the enchanting pleasure capital pass
two-thirds of their waking hours at the
Women are the heaviest
winners, both in the hotels and the
public gaming-places. The presence
Of young girl who has never
played evokes a stampede from one es-
to another. Gamblers are
superstitious, and when
they learn that novice is about to
stake her first coin they flock in to fol-
low her lead, confident of success.
what is more singular is that the
novice generally wins, until her gains
sxcite her. Stimulated then to carry
off what she has won, the new hand
generally loses all. The wary gamblers,
however, wait for the decisive moment,
and so soon as the lucky neophyte ex-
aibits an engrossing interest in win
ming she is deserted by the group
Philadelphia Press.