Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-11-16

Allt WpHutTIu1 aLTE.1uN made in that direction, offers the most shining prizes. At this point of agree ment they were joined by 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- tion," he said with weary sigh, which you have not yet canvassed. believe that the man who should invent a new form of betting on the elections would be entitled to, and would receive, the profoundest thanks of his fellow citizens, although he might not make any money out of it. l have hardly picked upa pa per since Nov. : that did not contain an account of the payment of some form of wager that was invented So 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 weariness 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 q man who had agreed in case his favorite candidate was not successful to make q pound of can dles 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 one side of his face painted red and the other painted green. In yet another case the losing bettOr was to sling bootblack's kit over his shoulder and go up and down the streets, offering to shine the shoes of every negro he met for cents a shine.
 Two other foolish citizens" the bored man went on, made a wager, the pro- visions of which were 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 bicycle sulky, and the loser should run around a race track with him couple of times. In another case it was 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 T. of which has to collect and count q mill ion apple seeds before the 1st of January.
 Now, none of these" the wearieal speaker continued, though they are not quite so tireSome to read about as the wheelbarrow, the not-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 l nave said. who should evolve from his . inner consciousness some actually novel form of betting upon elections would be 1 a genuine benefactor of the race. I am l convinced" he went on, that these stories of threadbare wagers have caused more depression of spirits since the cleo tions than the monetary stringency with which congress wrestled in such peculiar 1 fashion during the special session. If 1 had my way, 1 would make it a criminal l 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 owe a hat on the result in Ohio ] to a friend of mine who does not agree with me in politics, and that have got l to buy box of gloves for my wife on the result of the election in New York 1 promised to take the gloves home with me when l go to dinner today. and ] shall nave to leave you now to go and ! select them. By the way" turning to 1 the man who had expressed his opinion