The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-06-13

seasiok indeed. (Parthenia Is such
mouthful, you know, and she had bid
den me to call her Party on the third
day of dalliance.) Pepper always calls
me Party" she had observed. / may
explain here that pepper is American
for father.
AS yet had not seen Party's pepper;
but on the fourth day of dalliance, a
gentleman of fifty, looking very green,
indeed, about the gills, was introduced
TO me by Parthenia as that dear rela-
tive.
Party's pepper was evidently gen.
tleman; he was very quiet, he dressed
unobtrusively, he did not talk politics,
and he spoke particularly well, throw
ing in an occasional archaic word or
two, which gave q certain special flavor
and picturesqueness to that clear, cold,
genuine English of his.
was rather sorry to see Party's pop
per- No more moonlight walks on the
saloon deck, thought; the days of
dalliance are over. Perhaps he would
ask my intentions. did not mind that
particularly, for my intentions were
strictly honorable; but-and it was a
very big but, indeed-I had no idea in
the world of the position in life of
Party or Party's pepper. That is the
difficulty about travelling Americans; it
is impossible to Judge of their position
by their Clothes or their luggage, or
their talk Of one thing alone you can
be certain: If an American man or
woman sports jewelry, save at ball
or big dinner, then you may be sure
that he or she is 'shoddy." There was
nothing "shoddy" about Persimmon or
his daughter; the father sported a
three-and-a-half-doll Waterbury and
steel guard. That gave me courage.
81 don't want money" l thought to
myself; ~ am desperately in love with
Parthenia, and l have six thousand
pounds. I'll propose to her."
did propose to her
"You know nothing of me, Mr.. St.
john" she said, in astonishment. She
said great deal more; so did 1. The
interview ended by her telling me to
see as much of her pepper as possible,
and to try and "gct down his back"
understood enough of the American
language to know what she meant.
Mr.. Persinmon and 1 grew very
friendly. We saw good deal of each
olher, and in the evening we went into
the smoking-room and we played at
poker. When l say 1--WE" | mean that
did, for Mr.. Persimmon declared that
| he did not "know enough about cards. :"
l confess that 1 played little higher
than l could afford, with the idea of
| dazzling Mr.. Persimmon and so Great
ing favorable impression, which is
what Parthenia meant by getting down
his back.
If l had not been taken up with Par
ty, might have discovered in time that
Col Jabez Jackpotts, Senator Pat
Straddle and DR.. Clapperton Fudge
were professional sharpers. On one
fatal night they won fve-sixths of my
little fortune, exactly twenty-five thou
sand dollars. 1t happened this wise:
The game of poker stripped of it's de-
tails is very much like the old-fashioned
game of brag AS played in the smoking
room of the Bithynia, the first player
puts up"-i. e., stakes a small sum-
those who decline to play throw down
their cards, and the next man to the
left exercises his option of raising"
the stake, or going better" This goes
on ad infnttum till those who are
betting against the first man decline to
stake more money; when the other
players show their hands in succession,
and the highest hand wins everything,
unless the original player exhibits a
higher one, or puts up n stake so
high that the others refuse to cover it,
in which case they all pay to him and
look as pleasant as they can. If this
takes place, though he takes the money,
he does not show his cards. His hand
may, in fact, contain nothing; in which
case he Is said to have "bluffed the
table"
Now, the highest possible hand is
what is termed a straight flush, or
'fush sequence" to the ace-that is to
say, ace, king, queen, knave and ten of
one suit. This hand it is impossible to
beat when it is held by the person who
makes the first stake; for even should
another player have the extraordinary
good luck to hold an equal hand, ties
pay.
The rules of the game of poker are
extremely strict. All money betted
has to be placed on the table-ruJis su1
r0ngle, as the French have it.
Now / had straight flush in spades
dealt to me; was so astonished at my
great good fortune that my hand shook
as | "planled down" my ten dollars,
and declared that l stood pat
is to say, that I did not want to
better my hand by taking cards. There
were evidently lot of big hands out,
for each of the six men playing, though
it was plain that I held big hand OF
was simply "bluffing," increased the
stakes. put on another one hundred
dollars when it came to my turn, for
knew that / must win. Then one o1
the players was frightened out, and the
stakes went on increasing until hac
three thousand dollars in front of me
for each man went better''-that is tc
say, increased his stake. Two of the
players caved in.
"You can't bluff me, mister" re
marked Col. Jabez Jackpotts "I'l
double the stakes" and he put up
the requisite amount in notes.
Fool that l was, / doubled him
again, partly because l knew that
must win, partly because 1 wished t.
dazzle Parthenia's pepper.
But Col JaclIpotts raised me again
and so we went on till twenty five
thousand dollars in American notes lay
in front of each of us. 1t was five
siXths of my little fortune-fve-siXth'