St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-14

hates to''squeal," and,
as matter Of fact. very seldom does.
In America the men who give you a
"cold deck" deal from the bottom and
use marked cards, are. as rule, con-
lined to the class of Skin" gamblers
VINO operate among the great ''shoe-
string" brigade; while, on the other
hand, on the continent of Europe there
is scarcely watering place casino or
"clrcle,. as the clubs are known in the
city, that arefree from these pests of So
ciety. Here they are no low-down men
with flash diamonds or a Western or
down East twang that you would cut
with a knife, but neither Solomon in all
his glory or the lilies of the field were
ever arrayed like one of these ''grecs."
No fear of these men going to any sec
Ond- class tailor or snide jeweler for their
adornmentS. No, the "best or nothing"
is their motto.
As in every well-governed country
nowadays, gambling is illegal in France;
but II 1t is not openly tolerated in Paris
by the authorities. it Is, at least, winked
at with a capital w all over Paris, but
more especially in the neighborhood of
the grand boulevards. clubs or cercles,
abound, where the eligibility of MEN,
berS consist mostly of their wearing good
coats and having sufficient money
to pay their entrance fees. True
the cercle has high sounding title and
q neatly-printed and bound book of
rules and regulations, but that is merely
the gilt on the gingerbread, and the bait
used to attract the poor little fly into
the spiders web. They are ostensibly
purely social clubs, in reality they are
tolerated gambling houses as much as
ever CrOckford's, in England, was in the
haDc Nuhaa hn ird
King"
NOT LIKE THE AMERICAN CLUBS.
They are totally different, too, from
the American ''ciub." A dollar. or
even less, to ''buck the tiger.'' or ''try
your luck, gentlemen: nickel or a
dime," is sufficient to obtain entrance
there, and to their credit be it said, the
games played at these places are gener-
ally Square" On the other hand in
the ''clubs'' on this side you must be
regularly constituted member before
you can enter, or, at any rate, be intro
duced by one, and all the forms of
first-class social club are observed.
Once inside the magic portals, however
gambler in the American clubs, and the
game is not by any means as square"
do not mean by this that the pro-
prietor of the house, or club, cheats:
far from it. their interest lies all the
other way, and their object is to keep
things as clean as possible. But the
players, or many of them, certainly do
when they can. When one gree tum-
bles to another grec'S game, he says no
thing, but stands in with his cOnfTere
as long as he "divvy's." Here the old
Scotch prOverb that "haWks seldom
pick DOT the ither hawks een'' holds
good.
MOST ALWAYS A COUNT.
1t is at these clubs thai the Partisan
'chevalier de L industrie" is in his ele-
ment. Faultlessly dressed, and with
the manners and appearance of a gem
tleman. he moves about, perfect speci-
men of the walking 'white sepulcher,"
like his friend the devil, looking for
some one to devour. He is, for the time
being, known as Count this or that, and,
as titles may be bought for few dol
lars in some of the continental cOun-
tries, no One is exactly able to dispute
his right. AS a rule, however, the
bog us count never takes the trouble to
make even the small investment nece5-
sary to legalize his title. ana dubs HIM
self Count or "Baron," as it suits his
own sweet will.
As rule, it is not for the benefit Of
the native that the bogus title is as
sumed. If native sucker" drops into
the counts net, we'll and good; he is sent
empty away, and the count" is thank
full for small mercieS; but he is really
hunting for big game, and that is to be
found among English and American
visitors to the continent. The average
EngliShman worships a title as the
heathen does his fetch, and Young
America comes in good second. By
young America [ mean the horde of
''sons of their fathers" who make Eu-
rope their stamping ground. Youngsters
who have five parts money and one part
OF brains. and whose great aim in life
seems to be to deny their country, and
ape the manners of the English snobs.
so EASILY PLUCKEO.
A well-known "Grec.'' in a burst of
confidence, said to me the other day that
for choice he preferred this style of
sucker first, last and all the time. He
took the bait so easily, and makes so
little fuss over the plucking process,
that it was quite pleasure to handle
him. And if the dude is easily handled
what must be said of the dudine, the
female specimen of the genus who
bankers after the delights of the title?
If one only knew the humber of in
stances where these bogus counts
and "baronS" had succeeded in marry
ing money" and which are never
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