The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-06-27


stopped and the number is cried there is
a prodigious clink of silver and gold as
the pieces are wheeled in by the banker,
or unceremoniOusly tossed 10 the winners.
The wonder Of it is how the officials Of the
game keep tally Of the winners and the
winnings. The business is done in
twinkling. AS coins fly about the table,
players have TO keep a wary watch so that
they come into their own with usury. For
In the press around the tables, there are
respectable-looklng persons who will take
what does not belong TO them IL they see
a chance. They say at Monte Carlo that
the women who play much are the most
unscrupulous In these trifes. Perhaps
this is SANDER. j would not undertake
TO Vouch for the male habitues, nor VIII
you after you have seen much of them.
You roam from table 10 table. The
groups are everywhere the same. Can
dor forces the confession that the hui
mainly which gathers here is not In the
least prepossessing. 1t is a curious hotch-
potch of odds and ends. There are but
few items that even remotely suggest
membership in the smart set" Of any
country, although every nationality of
Christendom is represented here, and
every age from twenty upward has its
fling. What most impresses you is the
perfect management OF the place. A
woman loses her temper over a run Of
ill-luck and begins to expostulate with
the banker on some preteXt or other,
She has no sooner raised her voice than
one of the superintendent OF the game is
at her side courteously explaining mat
ters, and, by his manner of calm, pre-
else authority, effectually quiets her Or
perhaps it is man who quarrels with
his neighbor over some division Of the
spoils before he can splutter half a
dozen words his indignant eloquence is
checked by the. appearance OF authority
in a frock coat. If the contumacious
player persists in his dnpleasantness he
is asked for his card and ticket Of ad-
mission, and he is shown 10 the door,
and his name is put on the black list.
Perhaps your grave and reverend signior
had Jared thus ILL., They are no re-
specters of persons at Monte Carlo.
Discipline is the order of their day and
night. But scenes" are rare. The ca
sino has its own code Of good behavior,
and you break il at your peril
Al the tables where the wheel spins
the play is usually for small stakes, and
the players are commonplace 70 the last
degree. AT the card tables the game
goes up many nOtches in recklessness
and the gamesters several pegs in APP
pearance. It is at the card tables that
you look for your wicked dukes and
pelld heroes and your adventuresses Of
melodrama and romance. You also look
for the clever fellow who is
breaking the bank" He is a rare bird,
seldom shot on the wing. He is for the
Monte Carlo. 1t is in the dull season. if
seasons are ever dull here. that you read
so much about bank-breakeTs. Neat lit
tie paragraphs are then sent off to the
subsidized press. The syndicate that
manages Monte Carlo keeps a sufficient
share of the continental press in its
pocket. You can receive with liberal
discount most of the reports emanating
from Monte Carlo concerning big win
nings. The men who rule this wondrous
town understand the weaknesses of hui
man nature, and this knowledge is their
most profitable stock in trade.
The aspect Of things is sordid, not eX-
citing. There is not a face at the tables
that looks as II 1t had a joy in life Out
wardly. at all events the players appear
to take both gains and losses calmly
enough. The faces are for the most part
expressionless while the play is on; they
express neither the pleasure Of greed nor
the excitement that comes of sport. 1t
is all cool calculation. If there's any
thing here to tempt people, then people
must be easily tempted. You go away
after half an hour intolerably bored.
But you return after dinner. You wish
to see the casino lighted OF course the
smart folk will come forth then in their
hnery, and the genral note will be fes-
tive. Mankind feels at its ease, having
dined. So you make essay once more
and turn again into the halls of dazzling
light. To be sure the crowd is greater
than il was in the afternoon. But II IS
tie same crowd in different gear. If
you sit near the doors Of the first saloon
and watch the incOmers, I'll be bound
that they strike your sense of the ride
ulous and keep you in a CULVER of mirth.
They comprise the oldest assOrtments Of
"radishes with heads Enthusiastically
carved" as Carlyle said. that you will
encounter on a fOOtstCol. WiCkedneSS!
They do not even suggest it. For the
fe mil y Eirlr
Drained humanity that congregates here,
that part Of noodledum which seems to
take ii for granted that the bank of the
casino exists TO be broken. AS for their
tailoring and dressmanking, the heavens
never looked down upon such a weird
array,
The styles of entrance adopted by the
incomers display an infinite variety. You
recognize your own style in the first
stranger. who dons an ill-ftting, worldly
air as soon as the swinging door is closed
behind him. Then comes young blood
with what he thinks a devil-may-care
manner; he is painfully young. distress
ingly exquisite. assuredly green and
bird to be plucked. He is the kind Of
creature who thinks it the proper thing
TO plunge. He should be taken home,
spanked and put TO bed. Before the
week is over he will be borrowing money
to pay his fare back to oxford or Cam
bridge Then comes the unmistakable
habitue. who goes to a table in the far
corner and looks neither to the right nor
TO the left; then an assortment of drolls,
who have never been in the place before,
but who wish to be thought frequenters;
then a group Of people who have been
many times and who try to look inno-
cent. There is a plentiful sprinkling Of
German dudes with their hair cut POM
padour. their shoulders Of amazing thick
ness. their trousers of phenomenal tight
ness: French dudes with heads like shoe
brushes and boards like the hirsute
adornments Of Nine. Tussauds wax fig
ures; English swells of all ages, with
monocles and spats and American eccen-
tries. dark-sldnned Italians and darker
skinned Turks, and many faded, sadly
faded, beauties of all the European coun-
tries.
Such a prodigious array of plain and
ungainly women can be seen nowhere
outside the casino at Monte Carlo such
legions of podgy, undressing men;
such frumps and frizzled things, such
seedy gentility and shabby vulgarity,
such colors and such cuts of dress can
be equaled nowhere else.
The place is lighted at night by huge
lemps swung from the ceilings to within
three or four feet of the green-coVered
tables. The air gets hot and heavy; they
seem never TO ventilate the gambling
rooms If people do lose their heads here
1t must be from the pervading STIFFNESS.
Very few can lose their heads from eX-
element unless they are weak-brained TO
begin with.
There are no seats from which you can
watch the games The few chairs at the
tables do not accommodate one-tenth of