The Van Buren press., 1898-01-29

one day.
Il should think those things would
damage you some. ] said.
s' Doubtless they do he replied.
MOREOVER, fear the vice Is unanaiaOle
n the nosti'iis Of men not addieted TO
il. Yet j hardly feel equal . the pun
ishment Of abandoning them.
After that first s'isit Stevenson in
sited me to drop around, states fash
ion any evening. and ] was glad Of
the invitation. for he was a good Eel
loW=she spoke the Language Of my
tribe us we sa9 out on The slope. ]
got into the habit of driving ont to
Stevenson Wail1ild house 4 couple OF
times week, always IN the evening
and generally in company with the
newspaper aau Nho presented me to
him This newspaper mau was a Chi
eago boy who nov owns bD0 acres Of
the finest coffee land in bearing on the
main island of Hawaii. The three OF
us would sit on the sseond-story
leranda Of stevenson house. smoking,
slipping whisky and talking. ] think
Stevenson did most OF the talking, al
Though never IN an obtrusiVe sorf Of
way. He talked in SO low 4 tone that
sometimes we'd have 70 bend toward
+ him in the darkness to catch his words.
1 The tlullest man III the wurla eouldnt
/ help see thaf Stevenson was Il first
rater. man among many millions,
after five minutes conversation with
him. He was an admirable story felltr,
toe. and an excellent mimie-Nbteh lat
ter fact I've never seen pointed out by
the people who have written Of him.
j happened to mention one evening that
when ] was a pretty young fellow ]
had fitted up schooner at san Fran
cisco aud done a couple Of years Of
profitable trading in the South Pacific.
The Information / had picked up on
this voyage about the islands below the
line seemed to interest Stevenson a
good deal, aud he asked noe 1nanY ques-
tions that stutpped me bit-for be
wanted to know chiefly about the per
senal characteristics Of the natives. 70
whom ! never paid more attention than
u their eoehineal and eonks for the
smallest quantity Of cotton and beads
when was trading.
One evening uhaD The wind was
pretty high aud sitting on The feranda
was therefore not pleasant, Stevenson
snsited US ia to biz den for game of
eribbsge. The newspaper man didn't
fee Like playing, for bis eye had caught
sight of a lot ef queer books as soon
as we reached Sfesenson's library den,
aud be nrigglea out Of the game In or.
der 10 have chance 10 look them over.
So Stevenson aud ] played. lie was a
pretty good player, without being par
tieularly lucky. ] didn't take much in
tefest IN the game. for never eottonsd
very hard TO any kind OF card game
except poker, anyhow. After We had
played couple of games of crib, each
of Us winning one. said ] TO Stevenson:
whats the matter with two-hand-
ed game of pennyzaDte pokerT
Nothing whatever the matter said
he, except that | can't play the game,
anxious as I've been TO learn IL since
first read Bret Harte. Are you good
piayerT
well, this was kind O mixing il up a
Bit with me, and the best | could do
was TO tell him that knew the diff
ference between an ace full and pair
of foUrs.
American way of saying that you
know all about it, said Stevenson.
Teach me poker, now
Nov, I've taught good many men
how 10 play poker, and it's a pretty
dangerous thing 10 do-for the teacher,
! mean. About every man I ever put In
an evening with teaching him the poker
hands has wound up the night by get
ting everything had on me except ear
or cab fare, maybe. The luck OF the
poker beginner is simply something
that can't be explained. A man that's
got only a general glimmering idea of
the value OF poker hands gets hands
when he's learning the game that
would take the breath away from sea
soned players. ! mentioned this queer
fact jestingly TO Stevenson.
"'You stand In no danger with BE,
said he, smiling. j am as unluelfy ns
an opal
"Weli, ! ran over the deck and told
him what the hands stood for. That's
about all you can teach man of the
game of poker. He's got 10 acquire the
al I'm laa Inf
was remarkably quick 10 grasp the
values Of The hands. The flush pleased
him particularly.
""fhat's an apt and fitting word
said he, 'hush-hush Of diamonds
and he repeated the phrase several
times. Why didn't they term il a
freshet, though? - another fine old
English word perpetuated by you
Americans. However, you shall earn
my gratitude by dealing me a flush Of
diamonds at the outset 1t would be a
good omen
I'VE started 10 play nickel ante
there are no pennies In the islands
using wax matches for chips. Steven.
son became tremendously interested
In the game after awhile. | gave him
the best Of IL at first, Of course, but
after awhile, when he began TO win my
niezels with II good deal Of regularity,
without blufiing at all, but simply on
the strength OF his beginners hands, /
started Ia 10 play with him as would
with man that knew the game. But II
WIS Of no use. Stevenson had three dol
lars Of my money al the end Of an hour.
Not single big hand had yet been out,
but be always had my set Of pairs or