The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-01-17
& D. LAUTER co.,
S57-659 Broad ST., Newark.
TWO SIDES OF A PARTITION.
A Pen Picture Which Carries Its
IL nAO

A PEN Picture Which Carries Its
own Lesson.
In this CITY, not a thousand miles from the
Junction, are situated in the same building a
saloon and a cold water mission. The ante
room of the saloon and the mission are only
divided by a thin partition. All the singing
and praying that goes on in the mission can
be heard in the gin-mill, and all the drunken
curses and bar-room brawls that occur in the
latter are distinctly heard and are the cause
of much sorrow to the miSSlonlteS. They
have prayed continually that the proprietor
of the rum shop might be converted and his
place abolished, but the more they have
PRAYED the more his business has fourished.
But to the story, the incidents of which oc-
Cured a few nights ago. On one side OF the
aforementioned partition the good brothers
and sisters of the mission were praying with
and preaching to "a full house." on the other
side the proprietor of the saloon was playing
poker with IA pair of Jacks" or more pro-
perly, jackasses.
The three were seated around a common
deal table, such as most bar-rooms are fur
nished with. The two dupes sat facing each
other, the proprietor sat at a third side OF the
table, and in the fourth chair was a specta-
tor. The only other occupant OF the room
was a burly looking hummer named "Bil."
On the table beside the proprietor's arm was
a beer mug, in which were several nlckels.
This mug was Kitty" and to her a tribute
of five cents was paid out of every Jackpot.
When kitty" contained twenty-five cents
"Bilr' would go for a round OF drinks, the
agreement being that that tribute money
must be drunk up.
It had. come time for drinks and Bill,
dumping the money into his fist, asked
ssWatcher have.o The proprietor answered
for all with
"Beers, Bill, and make 'em small"
"Give me hot rum" said one of his dupes.
"What yer givin' us, we've got ter take a
five cent drink er nawthing at all, see."
tsI1l have what | like, and if you o like
it you know what you can do. You don't
feed me on none of your small beers"
Bill come to the rescue of his superior
with
eyer can't have yer rum anyhow, cause
the water amt hot.
s'Why the devil amt it hot" yelled the
proprietor.
cause de fires out" answered his minion,
as he started off for the beers.
At mention of the fires being out they all
commenced to shiver, while from the mission
came the strains of 'From Greenland's Icy
Mountains They turned their coat collars
up and the proprietor dealt the cards for a
Jackpot. All passed on the first hand, and
before distributing the cards again the dealer
reminded them chat it was customary to
sugar the green when the pot was not
opened.
"Why don't yer talk English and say ante
up yer dough" queried one of the dupes.
t'Sweeten the pots good enough fer me"
said No. 2.
Eyer blamed high toned with sugar the
green but l don't see anything green round
here . said No. l..
II do" sagely remarked the spectator,
with a sly glance in his direction.
The dealer opened the pot and the others
stayed. He drew one card, the others each
drew three, He bet a quarter and the first
dupe threw down his land in disgust. No.
2, who held a pair of aces, was debating as
to what heishould do, whent the mission organ
began playing and the congregation sang
"'Jesus is calling" :,
'sWell I won't on a hand like this" said
the would-be poker player, and the dealer
raked in the pot.
He had been raking them in all the even
ing, and in twenty minutes more and two
more jack-pots ne had them broke. AS they
rose to go the little organ On the other side
| of the partition again struck up while the
| good people chanted 'Doxology." No re-
| sponsive echo to its sould-thrilling strains
was found in the hearts of the two well
played poker players. AS the proprietor
pocketed their greenbacks his heart opened
and he invited them to have a whiskey to
warm them up, as it was a cold night. 1t
was-for them.