The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-06-19
AT MERRY MONACO.

A Glimpse of the Fevsrish Life Around
the Monte Carlo Gaming Tables
The first visitors are mostly habitues. the
infatuated aemi-professionals who make
gambling the serious business of their lives.
or that brief portion which altsrnates be-
tween feyerish affluence and utter collapse.
II is a curious crowd which gathers round
the still closed doors-of both sexes, of all
creeds and countries. az varied in dress and
outward appearance az in inward charac-
ter'atics. says the London World. Look at
that gaunt, hollow-eyed widow in her rusty
robes q trailing Grape; that stout old
wopan. nlmOSt IN rags, who carrieg her own
rakb and d plethoric courier bag evidently
crammed full OF notes and coin; those
queerly dressed men, in suits that might
have been cut by q carpenter out Of hard
wood, who utilize the moments of waiting
in running over abstruse calculations-long
entries of the previous days fluctuations at
roulette. We recognize this tall, burly man
with the very open shirt collar and the
brawny throat. He is Sig. Tomnson. the
famous baritone, who comes regularly to
Monte Carlo, but not 70 sing. Nor il there
any mistakina Capt. Dasher, q recent re-
cruit to the game, who looks 50 spick and
tie and snowy spats. Dasher has
had good time lately, and
thinks he has found the philosophers atone.
His tailor would rejoice. were il not that he
has already mortraged his gains, present
and to come. to little Blanche FaIaise of the
Gymnase-that plump little partridge of a
woman, with the virginia. costume Of white
serge. who has worked many a friends gold
mine for the benefit of tho administration.
Another friend of hers, for tho moment in
the background, although here waiting to
enter with the rest, Is III. 10 Due de la Tri-
potiere, who has bartered his title against
y pork-packer's h~eiress; she is sat-
ished to leave him to go his own
way OF an allowance, while she
leads society in New York and Newport, r.
/. A more interesting figure is that quiet,
reserved, gentlemanly man, who halls from
North Britain, and who has spent a dozen
and odd winters in Monte Carlo. playing
without ceasing, but only at the best hours
on q carefully elaborated system by
which, rumor says, he has constantly got
the better Of the tables. When the race is
over (thers Ia quite q derby rush through
the rooms, the women gathering up
their skirts and running for their
lives), and all are comfortably seated,
table seems a little family party;
PLAYERS and %croupiers know each other, in
terchange greetings and pleasant badinage
as the ball ratties round and coup succeeds
coup with pleasant rapidity in these early
hours when business il not too brisk. This
is the time when decorous English folk
(who would not gamble for worlds) are
Just to walk through the rooms, a
weakness-cein'es est que le premier pas
qui coute, and within a week or two many
Of them are added to the constant patrons
of the am The fever is quickly caught;
the disease ia epidemic; few can escape it, or,
once undar its influence. shake off it's
intoxicating effects. See the throng MS il
ana thickens around the tables in
the afternoon and after dinner when the
are most crowded, and note at this,
the height of the season, how many familiar
faces, how many more or less notable peo-
pie, are eagerly pursuing the sport.
All women nre gamblers ut heart, and
Monte Carlo soon shows what ia in them.
Now the rumor has spread that there il q run
at the second trente ct quarante table, and
half London seems to be grouped around.
There is her grace of y. who seems to have
gift Of perennial youth, picking up the
''pl0ques'' and rose-coloted billets dc banuue
Street, who has chaperoned q couple OF
young friends, and the three are having the
most phenomenal good fortune; another
beauty has wandered up to this
and would gladly play, but she van
off again; is it that she fears to come
into competition with the more brilliant
freshness Of a younger rival? Down there,
~ Ao hASNs ~ sAS A~NkA~A SbNAay
ing the red, is Mrs. Dandy Wiske. who we
finds trente ct quarnnte in public az
much more profitable as it is und oubte dly
less compromising than baocarat in private
life. Next her is u maiden of ample proper
lions, whose good luck has been proverbial
This winter. Here. posed upon the high
,hair of the chef de partie, is the wife of a
great %financier, dressed to perfection. tho
quiet chic of her black aud gray costume
delightful contrast to the carish and
,howy Nine. de Breda, who faunts her
diamonds and her raddled face close by.
.ais IL Aspasia are very much in evidence
and it makes even hardened
sad to see bright-eyed, honest faced
girls rubbing elbows with them,
breathing the same reeking atmosphere,
nadly following the same demoralizing
game. 'Que diable a~llalent-elies faire dams
galere?" The increasing practice OF
allowing ingenues TO enter the rooms. al
most ut will, cannot BIO too strongly depre-
,ated and re~prehended.