The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1893-11-18


made in that direction, offers the most
shining prizes. At this point of agree
ment they were Joined by a friend Of all
three, upon whose face had settled the
look Of one who is extremely bored.
They explained the discussion to him
and asked his opinion.
''There is one field of human inven-
ton" he said with weary sigh, (which
you have not yet c~anvassed. / believe
that the man who should invent a new
form of betting on the elections would
be entitled to, and would receive, the
protoundest thanks of his fellow citizens,
although he might not make any money
out of it. have hardly picked upa pa
per since Nov. Z that did not contain an
account of the payment of some form of
wager that wa invented 20 many years
ago, and has been repeated SO invariably
every year since then, as to make the
stories of its repetition which find their
way into print a WEAKNESS Of spirit to
every man who picks up his favorite
journal in order to read something really
new.
Just before the election | read in one
of the newspapers about a man who had
agreed in case his favorite candidate was
not successful to make a pound of cam
dies by the old fashioned process of Dip
ping and eat them afterward. BY the
terms of another bet, recorded in the
same paper, the loser was to promenade
the streets of his native town with
side of his face painted red and the other
painted green. In yet another case the
losing bettor was to sling a bootblack's
kit over his shoulder and go up and
down the streets, offering to shine the
shoes of every negro he met for 3 cents q
shine.
1.-TWO other foolish citizens, the bored
man went on, made a wager, the pro-
visions of which We're that the loser
should ride 100 miles as tramps often do
on the trucks of a freight car. There was
another bet recorded in the newspapers
providing that the winning man should
be seated upon a bicycle sulky, and the
loser should run around a race track
with him a couple of times. In another
case it vas agreed that the losing bettor
should get a file of The Congressional
Record, read all the senate debates on
the silver question and write a synopsis
thereof, which he should deliver before
the local literary club, and this morning
saw an account of a wager, the loser
of which has to collect and count a mill
ion apple seeds before the LIST of January.
Now, none of these" the wearied
speaker continued, though they are not
quite S tiresome to read about as the
~wheelbarrow, the ot-to-be-shaved-till-
my-side-wins, the wearing of old clothes
and old hats, the long tramp, and such
like bets, is really new and the man, as
| have said, who should evolve from his
inner consciousness some actually novel
form of betting upon elections would be
a genuine benefactor of the race. ann
convinced" he went on, that these
stories of threadbare wagers have caused
more depression of spirits since the cleo
tons than the monetary stringency with
which congress wrestled in such peculiar
fashion during the special session. If l
had my way, l would make it a criminal
offense to make known the terms of any
such wager, and the newspaper publish
ing it should be instantly and relentless
ly suppressed"
THAT reminds me-" said the most Sc
rious of the bored mans three auditors,
that | W. a hat on the result in Ohio
to a friend of mine who does not agree
with me- in politics, and that / have got
to buy a box of gloves for my wife on
the result of the election in New York.
promised 20 take the gloves home with
me when l go to dinner today, and /
shall have to leave You now to go and
select them. By the way" turning to
the man who had expressed his opinion