Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-08-24
Of THE EVENING STAR

Correspondence Of THE EVENING STAR
LONDON. August IA.
The perils of the deep nowadays include
something more than dangets Of fogs hidden
reefs and tempests. With the comparative Sc
curlty from the elements provided by the in
creaslng skill and improved management of
modern steamships these dangers can be consid-
ered as Insignificant compared with those which
confront the gay young man. or old man either.
win money In his pocket in the smoking room
OF Transatlantic steamer There the English
men play whist stclidly and silently for hours,
and the American, Of course. has introduced his
little game of poker. The average transat-
IantIc voyager, at least on his outward trip from
New York, is well supplied with money. The
professional gambler has found that the
smoking room of such steamers Is one OF the
best fields he can work. There are likely to
be three or four or more of them on every
steamer that goes out from New York
during the busy season. They are well-dressed,
keen-eyed, fluent. sleek fellows, who do good
deal in the first day or two of the voyage to es-
tabilsh sOclability among the male passengers
who throng the smoking room. They start the
betting pools on each days run OF the steamer
When the card playing begins, as 1t is sure to
do before the second night out, they soon in
sinuate themselves into a game, and probably
from that time on until the end of the trip they
will be reaping their harvest. On the steam
ship in which / crossed several high games
we're played. One mana theatrical manager
from the south, who had played rather heavily
at the card table and exposed the fact that he
well provided with money-was lured into
game OF dice by a thin and sharp-faced young
gambler. The betting became higher and
higher, until the theatrical manager found he
had lost $1,000. Luck was so strong against
him that he suspected something wrong, and
On inquiry discovered that the dice used did
not come from the smoking room steward, as
he was led to suppose, but were furnished from
the pockets of the gambler himself. He imme-
dflta iyv cola a hsaL aIf -
loaded and refused to pay the amount he had
lost. Although he did not prove his case sus-
plcIon was SO strong against the sharp-faced
gambler that he not permitted to play
In any game during the rest of the voyage
Men SIT IN these smoking rooms and are wholly
relieved of their dollars and sovereigns by
nlmble-fingered poker players. Notwithstanding
the fact that about the walls of the rooms-some-
times directly over the heads of the gamblers
are posted warnings informing passengers that
it Is reported that professional gamblers are
accustomed to cross on the Atlantic steamers
and that they should have a care about whom
they played with.
THE ENGLIsHMAS AND HIS PIPE.
The Irishman and his dhudeen are not more
inseparabie than the Engllshman and his briar
1t is not the Englishman of small means only
who smokes br1ar for reasons of economy. 1t
Is form OF smoking that has become national.
On the ocean steamers, on continental railways
IN the smoking rooms of hotels-everywhere if
y
English tourist always betrays himself by pro-
duclng from his pocket short, black briarwood
pipe On the streets of London or of any Eng
hsh city, IN the morning at least every third man
one meets will be putting away at his pipe. The
ANTAGONISTS shops instead of making their
greatest display, as In America, of cigars and
cigarettes, have their windows filled with pipes
and loose smoking tobacco. The English gem
tleman generally carries in his pocket rubber
or leather pouch holding an ounce or two of
EtrlQGv tobacco III him il,ro,
train and he becomes interested in conversation
be will almost inyOluntarily bring out and fill
his little black pipe, and his remarks thereafter
will be punctuated by the rattle of the little
pipe as ne knocks 1t against the window sill to
shake out the ashes or pauses while he strikes
a match and relights the tobacco. for the Eng
hshmans pipe Is always going out The
habit OF smoking in England is so general
that the smoker claims rights everywhere which
are enforced by the might of numbers His
rights on the railways are well defined and
strictly enforced. On most of the trains one
Will find one-third or one-half of the space set
aside Tor smokers No Englishman would
dream OF disturbing the smoker liz his posses-
sion. The regulation is that smoking in such
carriages Is prohibited only when some nom
smoker protests, and ii is found that such nom
smoker cannot be accommodated in any other
carriage. Englishmen. well dressed and an
parently well bred in every other respect
smoke their pipes while walking with ladies.
and have seen them putting away at their
brlars even while with ladies in the reception
room OF fashionable hotel The London
swells and the farm laborer have the briar in
common. One reason for smoking pipes is
that II Is difficult to get good cigars in Eng
lana even at high prices. The cigars offered
for sale at moderate prices so poor that an
American visitor who smokes at all is soon likely
to. take to the briar.
SMOKING on THE CONTINENT.
The rights demanded and accorded to the
smoker IN GERMANY
than those claimed by the Englishman In
Holland and Germany a few railway carriages
have piacards forbidding smoking In all other
carriages IL Is understood that smoking is per-
United. Unless smoking is positively inter-
dlcted IN any place, 1t is generally understood
that one can smoke If he chooses In Holland
and Germany one occasionally sees a peasant
or shopkeeper at his door smoking a long pipe
but cigars of good quality are so cheap that
the poorest men smoke them constantly
The cabman and the street peddler in the
cities smoke their cigars all day with as much
gusto as the nobleman or millionaire banker
As one goes south through Switzerland to Italy
he finds smoking just common among the
poorer people, but they smoke long. black and
vile cherOots. noticeable thing in the win
COWS OF tobacco shops i'll all European cities is
the great display OF elaborate pictorial adver-
tlsements, hnely-colored chromos and photo
graphs. These are the acknowledgements of Amer
lean tobacco and cigarette firms Pictures that
public opinion and Anthony Comstock have
DdhlsHed from the windows of American to-
bacco stores are displayed here in great pro-
fusion
LOTS OF SOLDIERS
Cnaccustomed in his own land to see regular
troops or even citizen soldiery, except ON
some holiday occasion. the constant appear-
snce OF men IN soldiers uniform makes a
strong impression on the American Tourist
II he takes the usual route ne probably sees
more German soldiers than any other kind as
the Rhine cities are filed with them In max
ing "trip up the Rhine by way of Cologne and
COblentZ one sees soldiers lettering about the
railway stations or steam boat landings i'm
every town Toward nightfall he hears
drum beats and bugle calls. The German cav
tlrEman, ofhcer or private. always when in uni
form, goes booted, spurred and armed and the
clanking OF their sabers against the stones of
the street Is a familiar sound in German towns
lhe herman soldiers seem always ready for
the march. In short journey one ia
likely to meet troops on the road
between cities or marching into town
at night with guns and hayersacks
lhey are kept moving and are being constantly
Injured to such hardships as they would have to
endure in time Of war. The German soldiers
that one sees marching on the roads, dust
covered and loaded down with equipments are
generally young fellows from twenty to TWENTY
Owe years old. One cannot help comparing
hly yrtfh h.