Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1898-09-04
70 GAMBLER.
While Travelling to Accept . Call He
Got Mixed Up With Poker.

BOAT-HE HELD FOUR ACES AND
WHILE THE COLONEL WAS WHIP
ING HIS GLASSES HE SAW FOUR
KINGS REFLECTED IN THE LENS.
THE UNEXPECTED END OF THE
GAME
The hotel keeper sat ON the piazza
mixing mint julep. This was a ia
yorite connection OF his. AS he placed
= teaspoonful OF granulated sugar in
the glass and crushed the sugar
against the mint leaves with the back
OF a spoon he said to his friends sit
ting about the table:
Gentlemen, in mixing a mint jelep
always use graduated sugar. The
sharp edges OF the sugar cut through
the tender mint leaves and cause
them to exude those aromatic juices
which go so far toward gladdening
the heart and stomach of a sinner
Properly concocted,'' he went on, as
he. added about three fingers of
whisky to the glass, there is no de-
coction in the world better calculated
to make man forget the penalty he
ulluoG GlCtAtdbly pay lOl tuC I'LL dNClOn
of law; and that naturally brings me
to the consideration, he continued,
as he inserted large barley straw
down among the drowned mint leaves
4sof why it is that things which are
almost universally considered to be
wrong ethically are always pleasur-
able. Why did Providence put into
alcohol that quality which paints land
- 1c IOyry
can a man be held accountable for
failing to resist the invitation which
rises like the voice of a siren from
that glass ,"
.iBut I started out to tell you
story about gambling which | hope
you will find interesting. 1t will sur
prise all of you, gentlemen, to hear
that began life twenty-five years ago
as clergyman. I was young, mar
ried and struggled hard for fame and
bread, receiving none too much Of
either. I was located at Memphis as
pastor of little Baptist Church. The
salary was small and my labors met
with but little encouragement. when
received a call to a more remunerative
field of labor situated few miles
from New Orleans. After consulta-
ltion with my wife we concluded to
accept the offer, consoling ourselves
with the reflection that the better we
lived the more fit We should be to aid
others less fortunate. Disposing OF
our household effects, we embarked ON
the stuffy little steamer Roanoke,
bound from Memphis to New Orleans.
The voyage down the Mississippi was
monotoncus, as such trips usually are,
until, as was walking back and forth
on the saloon deck, my eye was
caught by the remarkably fine phys
ical bearing of a man seated at one'
of the tables. His chief charm lay in
his large lustrous black eyes. The
colonel, as / afterwards found him to
be, was engaged in conversation with
two men, evidently planters had
discarded my regulation black coat
and tie and wore a mixed tweed, IN
,sxhich u snnea1 karldly than
cared to own. Perhaps it Vas my APP
pearance or my close scrutiny that
ELECTED an invitation from the colonel
to take hand IL a game OF poker he
had just suggested to the planters.
Here the story teller stopped to or
der some more mint and sugar before
resuming his story.
Gentlemen, he continued, Il never
have been able to satisfactorily ac-
count for my actions that afternoon.
/ think that I must have been hypnot-
lied by those wonderful black eyes OF
the colonel, for I accepted his proposal
without a qualm of conscience. l had
in my pocket little more than $500,
which was to furnish our new home
This was the savings of years, and my
wife's last injunction was to guard our
little capital with my life All this
flashed through my mind as we entered
the cabin Partly coming to realiz-
ing sense of my degradation, tried to
offer some weak excuse for not playing
But before could utter my protest the
colonel had literally forced me into
chair and found my fingers nervously
clutching five new, slippery cards. Be
fore / entered the university | had lived
as other men do and, to my horror, L
found that remembered nth apparent
ease the most salient points OF the
game.
ct is curious fact, gentlemen" con-
tinued the narrator after wetting his
epiglottis, chat there is singular
charm in doing something which your
conscience teaches you is wrong. Did
ever watermelon taste so sweet as those
stolen at night at the imminent risk
of lacerated flesh from the teeth OF
watch dog? l did not stop to reason,
and it was too late to retreat At least
so thought. Besides was strang
er to every man on the boat. l re-
member vaguely to have resolved to ex-
plate my sins by unfiagging zeal when
/ arrived at my new passionate.
"The colonel drew from his pocket
a spectacle case, which contained a pair
of spectaclcs of extraordinary size.
Noticing my rather rude stare, the col
onel politely explained that the glasses
were made to order, one lens being
larger and more powerful than the
other to. suit his right eye, the sight of
which was defective. L was ship
wrecked several years ago. said the
colonel, and with several others, was
afoat in an open boat for several days.
AS had lost my hat, was subjected
to the full glare of tropical sun, there
by nearly losing my sight entirely
m-de a sympathetic answer and we
started to play.