The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1883-12-08
BELLS WHO BET,
Young Ladies from the Blue
Grass Belt who Risk their
Cash as Racers.
[Saratoga Cor. Philadelphia Times,1


Neither the vast dining salon nor
Congress park offers so fine an op-
portunity for sketching the varied
scenes indicative of the elemental
life here as the grand stand at the
racecOurse. Foremost among the
women who bet recklessly, often
losing 500 in an afternoon, and often
winning double this amount, are the
Kentuckians. Thev inhale in their
native ozone the feyer for gambling,
in its multifarious phases, as they do
the miasm of malaria. Turf slang is
the familiar vocabulary of the nur-
sery: they read from their betting
tablets at an age when cur little girls
sing Mother Goose's melodies and
quote from Christmas Tales for the
Uninitiated: they discuss horseflesh
and lotteries when the well-ordered
child of the north talks to her doll
and botches baby clothes as a preIi-
minary course in dressmaking. The
bluegrass belle usually takes her
place immediately back of the re-
porters' gallery, where she can re-
ceive all Information in regard to the
favorite, high stakes and the price of
pools as it is handed to the chroni-
clers of each days proceedings.
She is handsome ana, attired in a
modest white gown, presents no
meretricious attractions. She is ac-
companied by a companion. whom
she is heard to address by the title OF
mother and who is only slightly
older and slightly less attractive
than herself, but who is more con-
spicuous in the general brilliant
makeup of her face and personal
paraphernalia. She hands her
money to a mongrel type Of mast u
line nature, the offspring of a COM
bined dude and jockey who is soon
in the v hiring current Of the quarter
stretch and drifting straight 10 the
pool section. While be is taking
stock for her in the fast fy yers of the
turf she has turned her attention to
another market, where speculation
is equally intoxicating and hazard
GUS. She has allowed noted beau
to perceive her languishing dark
eyes rest t'ng interestedly upon him.
Her gaze has been purposely fastened
upon him, until he, by we'll known
physical and psychological law turns
as naturally toward her as the
sunflower to the sun or the willow
to the water; her soft. velvety lids
drop as unconsciousIy conscious
as If the fascinating artitice had not
been practiced hundreds of times and
has been brought to the present
state of artificial perfection through
courses of carefuliy-atttended gesta-
tiou. Accustomed to success in the
ad drOit movement, she continues. to
repeat it until she is satisfied it Is
effective. She rises and with a swift
glance toward him, she ascends tier
by tier of the grand stand until she
has reached the topmost rail, over
which she leans, looking down on
the great dusty entrance park to the
course. # the gentleman does not
follow Immediately there are evil
dences of impatience in the frequent
nervous backward glance. He
approaches her locality and, as
suming q similar attitude, Is also
deeply interested in the ARID, dusty
stretch beneath. Several covert and
fl-eting looks are exchanged as he
draws nearer and nearer, and with
out alteration of position they fall IN
to conversation and talk about-the
weather, the inadvisability of SOW
ing marketable crops where only
tares will grow, and topics of equal
interest. She returns to her seat in
time to receive her winnings from
her speculating envoy and soon the
wooing satyr is at her side with the
bold and confidential bearing of a
lifelong counselor.