Waterbury evening Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1887-1895, 1891-04-24
lGAMBLLNG IN ENGLAND.
It Is Indulged In Largely Among
Fashionable Circles.
A Vice Into Which the Gentlcr Sex Is he
coming Initiated-The Card Table
Fast Becoming POpu-4
lar Resort

Despite all that has been done by the
legislature and the police for putting
down gaming In those forms in which
they ca IL take cogniZance of it, it is now
practiced, under conditions which pre-
cludc the interpretation of the law and
its emissaries, to an extent and in
manner which would have astonished
even the veteran frcqucnters of Crock
forl's and the Cocoa Tree i'll their palny
days. 1t Is true, says the London
World, that cards have supplanted dice
as the leading instruments of specula-
ton, and that baccarat instead of haZ-
ard is the pastime principally in vogue.
But for all practical purposes the first
are not less effective than the second In
running fortunes and regulations, and
lend themselves quite rs readily to the
transfc-crce of large sums of money.
In many respects, indeed, the gamb-
ling of the present is far more open to
objection than the gambling of the past.
In the old time, when gaming-houses,
whether in the shape of clubs or ordin-
airy houses, were tolerated, high play
was for the most part restricted to men.
No doubt few notorious women of
rank and fashion were in the habit of
playing high at one another's own
houses. But nearly all the gambling
was practiced ut gaming-clubs, and to
them women were not admitted. In adj
dition to this, no man either belonged to
a gaming-club or entered except with
the full intention of joiningan the diver
sion there provided for him, and,
whatever his luck might be, he in
| CURED the risks to which he was
exposed deliberately and of malice
prepcnsc. At gaming-clubs public
ity generally, if not invariably, in
surcd fair play, and, save in the way Of
loans from tho proprietary, there was
then no credit. Between the gamesters
themselves every transaction was n
ready-noney one, and thus, while win
ners received their gains at once, losers
were checked in any reckless attempt
that they might be disposed to make in
| order to recover themselves. In private
gambling all this is changed, and, with
every disadvantage, not q single adj
vantage incidental to public gambling
is present In certain wcn-known
London drawing-rooms, and Mt host
of country houses, women are not less
eager than men to hurry to the card
table, and neither in playing nor in
paying can many of them, it is to be
unprecedented, be held up as examples of
rectitude and precision to the other sex.
Whether people will or will not join in
the game, more especially in the seclu-
sion of a rustic retreat, does not de-
pend upon themselves. They are eS-
pectcd to do as others do, and in certain
circles an invitation may be equivalent
to q command.
Moreover, it does not seem to be by
any means clear that even in the Sc
lectcst assemblies the mistakes and
wrongs of fortune are always permitted
to pass uncorrected or unrcpaired. And
further, when everything is fair an6
above board, it is impossible among
friends and acquaintances to refuse
credit, and so to prevent plunging ano
the importation of what may prove te
be impossible sums for the benefit OF
those who may have suffered from 6
run of adverse luck. On the whole, IL
truth, as the late Lord Lanington, the
last survivor Of the gaming committed
of the house of commons, whose repor
suppressed Croclford's and the LondoI
bells generally, stated in Blackwoodi
Magazine shortly before his death, haC
they been aware of the dimension
which private gambling was destined
to assume, they would never have re
commended the abolition of publi
gambling, which OF the two is by ia
the less injurious and liable to abuse.