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

|
elements, and its soft, tranQuiliZing and
indefinable charms.
Martin Luther is said to have OBJ
| jected to the possession in which his
| satanic majesty held all the ''good
| tunes" and ore might with propriety
say, the king of the Internal regions
| shdkid not have laid claim to this health
breathing and otherwise virtuOuS spot,
where every prospect pleases and only
man is vile. Monte Carlo, from its
sheltered situation, its beauty, the ell
tire salubrity of all its conditions, its re-
markable cheapness, is marked out as
the natural refuge for invalids, half
pay officers, widows, the clergy. and the
angels. if indeed these last are not al
ready cOmprehended in the other CLASH
fications. There are, however, carping
critics who would here observe that if
Monte Carlo were given over to the
good only, that it would not be as anus
ing as it now is.
MORALITY OF GAMBLING.
Gambling is vice which it is hard to
classify. 1t is not forbidden in the
decalogue. No man commits mortal sin
by playing or betting, unless the COM
mandment "ThOu shalt not SteaF' may
comprehend it. And yet, not one, but
all the vices are covered by this passion.
1t is everything: decentralization, de-
graduation, despair; it brings all in its
train. Its victims are more haggard
and more moribund than the victims OF
absinthe. No vice brings so certain
doom. The respectable and thoughtful
man, the elderly and careful woman,
are as sure to be ruined as is the young
spendthrift. who has youth and his i'm
pulsive heart-throb to excuse him. In
= If,a IlnA no I1
die age-aS Byron spoke OF avarice, "a
good old gentlemanly vice"
Who can explain therefore the DELHI
crate tampering with this Mlnotaur who
devours his victims, in utter oblivion
of age or sex, daily and hourly, at
Monte Carlo? Who? The philosopher
has not been found. There are several
classes of gamblers. There are those
who come regularly to it as business,
and who make money. There are those
who put aside portion of their income
to play with. just as man decides that
he Will spend $4,000 year on pictures.
There are inyalidS who seek at the
tables distraction from the inevitable
pain and ennui of a mortal disease.
THE LAW SANCTIONS IT.
Every one has right to be there. 1t
is law, and no one can say that it is
IlOl SOSpcl. IL ID NY lilC COu-
sent of mankind pronounced hideOus,
senseless, dangerous. and yet among
its votaries are the most sagacious
bankers, the coolest politicians and the
most respected mothers of families. 1t
would be hard to condemn woman in
Europe for being a gambler: it would
come very near home, in the houses OF
the ariStocrcy. the clergy and amid the
respectable bOurgeoiSie. A famous old
gambler at Baden Baden used to boast
that he had educated a family of SONS,
who had filled high places in Europe,
by his winnings at the gaming table.
But the tables are not put there for
any of these classes. They are arranged
for the fools, as Carlisle said of England.
"139, 100000, mostly FOOLS" So one is
tempted. in the gambling rooms at
Monte Carlo, to thus classify the human
race. 1t is the fool who plays and loses
all he has, who cannot come away when
he has won, who goes on following the
siren, knowing very we'll that she leads
to the edge of gulf, who feeds with
his half-crowns that ever voraciouS APP
petite of the bank. Yet if the respecta-
bic gambler commits sin, it is that by
his presence he encourages and keeps
alive this industry. Who that has seen
the pale face, the knitted brow, the
shocking expression about the mouth of
a female gambler, new to the trade, who
has not wished that some great law
should be passed against this indefinite
crime?
CASES OF SUICIDE.
One thing only arrests the game, that
is when some desperate man blows out
his brains. He had better have done
it before he began to play, but he does it
afterward. If at the table. he is re-
moved so quickly that scarcely his next
neighbOr knows it. The croupier does
not turn pale. A woman screams, per-
haps, and breaks the luck of the gam
bier next to her, who declares nothing
even in its beat. They may then go out
and drown themselves, but no one can
find out who or where. The papers
along the Riviera are all su bsidized to
this item. No reporter makes his bread
by writing up" a suicide.
Many women, the deserted friends of
gamblers, kill themselves; but they
have the decency to go away and poison
themselves out of sight. A woman can
not shoot herself or cut her throat well;
she therefore uses the little bottle of
aconite or laudanum or prussic acid.
One of the Saddest sides of the gamb-
ling story is this OF the ruined favorite,
who Is in such heyday of prosperity.
brilliant in diamonds one day, but who
is so deeply miserable the next week.
A few years ago several philanthropic
English ladies, dressed as Sisters of
Charity, walked the streets of Monte
Carlo at night to try and rescue and
save some of the victims of despair.
Their success was very great. and some
day this little story will be told. These
Sisters of Charity often hear stories
which make all the novels of Ouida
seem poor and colorless, and indeed
sometimes tragedy which Dante or
Milton could alone write out-a Com
media Inferno" or .Commedia
Diyina." which Monte Carlo is, in every
hour of its existence.
A LITERARY VORTEX.
Gambling hells are said to encourage
every kind of industry, particularly
novel wrlt&g. From this spot. there
fore. have all the fertile English novel
writer's drawn their easily cultivated
said about the blue sky, the moonlight
nights, the faciIe climate. fresh. yet
warm. the eternal glare, the dissolute
Russian princess, the actor. the singer,
the prince. All the elements of the
three-volume novel are here i'll perfec-
ion from early dawn to fastest eve.
Perhaps the least emphasized feature
of the Riviera life on its best side is the
cheap villa, the home of the literary
man or artist. where for $1,000 year
man and his family can live most COM
fortably, under conditions of health,
ease and natural scenery, amusement
and quiet unsurpassed in the world. 1t
is only wonder that large sanitariums
tlo not fiorish all along this famed coast
for those who do not care to play. The
delightful concerts at Monte Carlo must
be counted in as one of the best results
of gambling. In where else can one
| he.tr such music for nothing? a clas-
| >ical concert every Thursday. miscel-