Omaha daily bee., 1886-09-18


government that offers 100, 600 600 francs
n year as prizes for popular passion and
avidity, and makes more than half a
milliard over the annual enterprise In
the chief towns and cities of the kingdom
there is always to be found good, pleth.
ORC supply uf these government gam.
bling hells. Tickets are distributed from
every Monday till Friday, aud the draw.
ing takes place on the afternoon of each
Saturday. The chief-and for many. the
almost sistible-tcmptatiOn in these
otteries, is that any sum OF money as a
bet VIII be accepted on n ticket. The
workingman deposits his soldo, or cent,
and If fortune fayOrs him his cent may
bring him back golden LOUIS. The
well-to-do merchant lays out twenty
franc piece, and his gains, if any, be-
come, OF course, rOpOrtionatCly greater
AT ' O'Clock y. M, last Saturday,
entered one of these bureaus, situated in
dismal, squalid land. hidden away
amid Il labyrinth of streets in the poor,
old fashioned quarter of Milan. Tho
office was a kind of sale, some forty feet
in length by twenty in breadth, and was
crowded to Sultocation Being compelled
to content myself with n place IN the
rear, | could not see how dapper little
fat man, seated behind table at the
other end of the room, was working the
oraclc;' but heard the click of wheels,
and was aftcrward told that the system
of drawing in lotteries prevalent else
where also obtains in Italy. But o We
hoavensl what II scene of filth and moral
deprivation presented itself to my gaze
rs set foot III this legalizcd money pan
demouiuml What pungent odor
of old clothes, pcrsplration, maize garlic
and bad tobacco saluted me even before |
was within six yards reach of the vesti-
bule. If King Cholera were hero Just
now he would certainly leave his palace
and SIT on his skull wrought throne in
such congenial localityl Looking on
the swaying, .tumultuous throng, l could
not detect Il decent hat or coat anywhere
The men wore greasy straw hcadgears or
paper caps and ragged blouses-tattcr-
demalionS, for the most part, whose dark,
torblddlng cOuntenances were such as
Dante might have bcheld in the inner
circles of hell-mcn with thick, sensual
lips, weirdlv emaclated, hunGcr.btten
cheeks, and gaunt, long hands and
elbows, ever moving in violent gcsticua.
ton while the croupicr proclaimed the
lucky number.
And us for the women, with their
bloodShot eyes, partly dsheveled hair,
and tattered raments, some with
wretched, squealing babies, and others
with infants ut the brcast-I hardly ever
they belonged. The viragoes who
marched down from the Faubourg St.
Antoine to Versailles during the great
revolutionary epoch of the last century
and shrieked under Marie Antoinette's
window for bread or blood may have
been very savage in their way, but | do
not think they could hold two.centlmc
rushlight to the amazons with whose
miserable coppers the national eXchequer
OF Italy is being annually replenished
The accents or tones of their voices were
in complete harmony with their far from
prepossossing persons. They had none of
that clear, silvery modulation
which we are wont to asso-
clate with the lips OF the gentler
sex. Hoarse, unmusical, and exceedingly
harsh and grating with every ejaculation
they made use OF; and it was impossible
to conceive how any of these unfortunate
creatures could have in their bosoms IL
single drop OF the milk of human tender
ness. Years of gambling have reduced
them to this low, dismal, demoraiizing
condition, and while the public is so
terers of good families who blow out
their brains at Monaco it might, fancy,
spare little of its commiseration for the
ragged pariahs of Italy who are sinking
month by month and year by
year into deeper depths of depravity,
losing the power of will and senses in the
atmosphere of official gam
bling rooms. If the casino of Monaco
is to be abolished, let the government
casinos of the Italian peninsula be abol-
ished rs well. Let there be no two pairs of
weights and measures in the settlement
of such Il question.