The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-08-02
THE JACK POT TEST.
HOW A MEAN GAMBLER SPRUNG 1T
ON SISTER ABIGAIL.

HOW A MEAN GAMBLER SPRUNG 1T
ON SISTER ABIGAIL.
He Wanted Another Proof Of . Theory
Concerning q womanly Weakness and
Got It at the Expense of Uncle Uriah's
Opponents at Poker.
Bent, but tall, with sparse whiskers
seldom trimmed, nearly 70 years old,
Uncle Uriah used to sit in the poker
game in Omaha, his long, thin fingers
tremblingly placing his chips and his
old eyes glittering as he timorously
skinned his hand. Pathetioally like Lit
tie Nell's grandfather he looked some
times, but he was at no desperate shift
to obtain stake, for he was the pos
SCISSOR Of q competence, and he brought
into the game the saving grace Of thu
parsimony to which he had been habit
mated in his earlier days in q New
Hampshire home. He never bought
more than So worth Of chips at q time
These he would for the most part ante
away waiting for aces OF better, and
when he finally did get q good hand
bare call represented the climax of his
enterprise.
In those days there was always q
game on Sunday afternoons, and Uncle
Urinh, although devout Methodist,
could be counted upon to arrive directly
after service and to sit in until the time
for afternoon Sunday school. The boys
used to joke him at first and ask him if
he had sneaked his stake out of the con-
tribution box, but to this question and
to all Others of similar levity he OPP
posed scared seriousness which showed
that his passion for the game was more
weakness than a vice.
Uncle Uriah lived with his two sis
ters-Abigail, aged 63, and Ann. aged
30. In New Hampshire they had been
called "the girls, . but in Omaha the
irreyerent, with rude directness, referred
to them as Uncle Uriah's old maids. :"
1t did not take the boys in the game
long to discover that Uncle Uriah was
in much fear of Abigail in general and
III mortal dread that she would discover
his besetting weakness. He would al
ways shy at q new player, and he fire.
quently held forth to the boys on the
impropriety of talking on the outside
about the features of the game.
sh'd hate to hev the parson know, :"
he used to say. 81 wouldn't keer so
much bout Ann, cause she's easy
slSeered, but wouldn't hev Sister Abb
gail know fer the biggest jack pot twas
ever played Oh this here table!'
There was never any solution to tho
mystery of how Sister Abigail discover
ed the obliquity in Uncle Uriah's life.
Some officious neighbor may have told
her, or in an excess of caution Uncle
Uriah himself may have aroused her
definite suspicious. AT any rate, on a
particular Sunday afternoon he arrived
at the room at the regular time, but
without the key with which he, in
common with other participants in the
game. had been provided. The negro at
tendant admitted him, and he was soon
engrossed in the play.
There was q good jack pot on tho ia
BILE. Uncle Uriah was in and was deal
ing 1t was nis last say, and the two
men ahead Of him had bet $40 each. He
had drawn one card, and the play was
up to him. He had not, however, look
ed at his draw when the key turned il
the snap lock of the front door, and Sis
ter Abigail, pale With a righteous and
terrible rage, strobe into The room and
up to the table.
"Gamblin!' she cried. ''And on the
Lord S day, with the church bells ringir
outside and decent people hockin to his
worship. l expected to find you here,
you hypccrite!" she went on, turning
to Uncle Uriah. ''You better get or
your buds right now and como home .
| II was comm in jiffy, :" the ole
man said, weak with fear. 81 guess
might as we'll so long with you as with
anybody else. He rose and steadiec
himself by holding the chair
Seth Coe was the coolest hand in the
game. Even Sister Abigail had not dis
concerted him. He reached over arc
turned up Uncle Uriah's hand. 1t wa.
flush
"You better straighten this pot ou
before you go. 1lcle." said Coe "Yo,
call, of course. suppose a flush i
good?'' Coe asked, turning to the othel
players. They nodded assent. Coe stack
ed up the chips. "Forty-three dollar
here, " he said, pushing them toward
Uriah.
The old man started instinctively to
ward the pot and then remembered Sis
ter Abigail. He stopped and waited
tremblingly for her decision.
| 1t seemed to the players, who turned
from the weak and timid old man t.
the dominant woman, that at this cru
cial test something of her moral rigidit,
relaxed. She did not sweep the chips t,
the floor. She said nothing about il
gotten gains. With visible effort sh,
overcame slight nervous construction
OF the throat. She grasped her skirt
firmly and swept toward the door.
Uriah, she said, with great dig
nifty. II will wait for you in the hal
ut the foot of the STAIRS