St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-05-18

iHdhtS OiIt leel TIE moral Necessity vi
going into the rooms and depositing a
franc piece before the mouth of the
Mlnotaur to help pay for the music.
THE PEOPLE OF MONTE CARLO.
Monte Carlo has very respectable
population of sober English, American,
German and French people, who live
here to economiZe. For, there being no
taxes to pay, Monte Carlo is very cheap
as to house rent, and in summer it is
not too hot, while in March, April and
May it is transcendently delightful. with
a wealth Of wild flowers and orange
blossoms, its Japanese peach and al
mond flowers, its gray. stony hills. COW
cred with palms and cacti. The eXpe-
ditionS are endless. A breakfast in
pine grove at Cape Martin, drive
thence to Mentone, to hear Strauss
waltZes in the open air, is an ideal way
of spending an April day. What could
be more magnificently picturesque than
the drive to Villefrancke,. where !
breakfasted in villa curiouSly adorned
with old Italian frescoes, and later
dined sal fresco'' in an orange grove.
This is all gift and surprise to
Northern nature. 1t is all vision of
the Garden of Eden-incIuding the
snake.
The ''luck of some people, is as
tonishing, and his majesty of the In
ferno has his favoriteS and treats them
we'll. Although the passion for gam
bling is as great among Anglo-SaXonS
as among Frenchmen, although there is
said to be more money changing
hands" in the American game of poker
than is possible at roulette, still Monte
Carlo would be impossible in either
America or England.
NEEDS FRENCH POLTTENESS.
1T needs the vigilant politeneSs which
is second nature to the French; it needs
that taste for ceremony which is visible
in all their personal intercourse at the
gambling table, where only decent
enamel of outward manner can keep
the strongest passions in check; it
needs, in word, the polished phrase
ology of France. Even the word ''mes-
sieuIS" and the frequent use of
pardon" have their calming influence.
When an Englishman says SSH" it is a
challenge: when Frenchman says
"Monsieur" it is compliment. 1t is
charming to greet this one remnant OF
feudaIlSm in republican France. A
Frenchman of the best class never for
gets his polite manner even in moments
of fatigue and veXation.
1t is well put on at the gaming table,
which is the real republic, the only true
democracy. where the prince elbows the
cOmmOneSt man, where the duchess and
the dreSSmaker sit size by side, where
the most careful Puritan plays high
against the lady of the half-world. Both
are engaged in the most energetic avar-
ice, both stimulated to the last degree
by the passions of hope and despair.
What can enable them to sit there with
safety but that formal ceremonious
polteneSS, which the English people
have discarded, and which America as
nation has never known! The gaming
table may be said to be the place where
the vanishing feudalism of the eight
zenith century and the uniform medioc-
rity of manners, not to say the tendency
toward rudeneSS, of the nineteenth cen-
fury, meet.
RULES OF THE TABLES.
1t is the business of the croupier to
preserve the vanishing feUdalism. He
allows no talking. There is Sabbath
stiffness in the air. The gamblers SUI
perstition is regarded. The duchess
even, if she grasp her neighbours gains,
receives gentle tap on the knuckles.
The only safety to the player is de-
cent self-control. Death and disagree
able images are carefully excluded. Is
I
no statistics of suicide? The History
of Despair" is not on the shelves of any
library of Monte Carlo, but one hears
much of the lucky fellow who is 10000
francs ahead of the bank, of the Won
derful 10 francs that earned 5000, of
success, never of failure.
Meantime the Minotaur has eaten up
so much that he gains 91,0U0,000 ster
ling clear profitat the end OF the year.
and can afford to pay the Prince of
Monaco so handsome rent for the
Casino, that be is declared an admirable
tenant and goes OH eating his victims!
Another reason why Monte Carlo is so
interesting is the presence of kings,
royal dukes, princes and monarchS out
of business. Although that divinity
which doth hedge king is out of
fashion, or ought to be, in the republic
can nineteenth century, still the poetry
of title remains. 1t is especially notice
able in the case of servants and inn
keepers. They stand aside, bareheaded,
when a prince passes, although he
may be impecunious to degree.
HOMAGE TO AMERICAN MANIMON.
The rich Americans, representing
King MammOn, are received with the
next degree of homage by this class. for
there is no such stimulator of politenes,
as an empty pocket. But curiously
enough, it is the newest and freshest
Republican, the most ardent follower of
resident Carnot, or the latest arrival
from America, who is most impressed
with glamOr of title.
To see prince, royal duke. a noble
Of high degree playing aud losing, like
any ordinary mortal, has, to worshiper
of this sort, kind of novel entertain
ment in it. 'Those who are born in
the purple, have they then the same
madness as ourselves? If prince
loses, then why should not | %
That is what they say to themselves,
1t is a revelation of the inevitable snOb-
bishneSs which Thackeray declared I'M
derlaid our common nature. The read
ers of history remember when titles
meant something. when the motto
sNoblesse oblige'' had not lost its
meaning. 1t is to that brilliant moment
mot yet entirely obscured, let us hope)
that we refer, with loud reverence,
when we make reverential room at the
tables for the royal duke that he may
sit next to us.
This is purgatory, but when we come
out of the feverish atmosphere into the
light of Monte Carlo sunset, who shall
say that it is not paradise,
M. E. w. SHERWOOD.