The San Francisco call., 1898-03-18

1 the other day there were at least sixty | or seventy women seated in the rows of chairs, walking about, talking fever
 ishly or scanning the bulletin boaro | which stands on the mantle-shelf | There isn't a happy face among then all Yes-just one. A thin-faced, eager | eyed woman has just made Tong shot" Just as I enter she is gleefull3 l exhibiting $5 piece.
 T put 9 cents on Bonnibel," she l crows like a withered old child. Look l at that!'
 1 And her glee is as painful to witness as the despair written in nearly every other face in the room. For she is ar exception, though only for to-day. Of 1 all those who spoke to me and to whom I spoke-for no introduction is neces- sary at the poolrooms-there was not one who did not bewail her luck.
 Its the same old story" neat. wiry little woman said to me. 'Lose-lose- lose. And when we lose, we play to get 1t back again. And when we win. we're never satisfied
 It's the doIeful dirge of the gambler.
 In the corner the bookseller sits; a large, smooth-shaven man, his brown derby hat on the back of his close cropped, fair head, a cigar between his mobile. glipped mouth. his vest open so that he may be perfectly at his ease. The women cluster about his desk like greedy, foolish flies. The poorer ones bet twenty-five cents. The more reck- less pass over to this mans custody fifty cents or a dollar, sometimes as much as two and a half on one race on different horses.
 It's surprising to note the tone of fa- miliarity between the women who bet and the man who takes their bets. They laugh and joke together in grim way, discussing technically the details of the race and the merits of the horses, but ever coming back to the topic of their losses and his gains.
 Wait" said the sweetest-faced, white-haired old woman, who sat in the corner of one of the smaller rooms where, there being fewer women, con- versation is more unconstrained-"w wait till I can get back from you what you've got from me. If I win two hun dred some day, will you pay 1t to me?"
 "Yes Or five hundred" the little good-natured man answered. We pay right after the race"
 Well" she said signing while me- chanicalIy she plaited together the torn end of her glove-flnger, it'd take all of that to make up to me what have lost here''
 But as rule the poolrooms are any thing but place for merriment- The women sit through the whole afternoon. They make their bets and then relapse into dull, feverish waiting. If any woman speaks with the least intona- ton in her voice of confidence or hope, the woman beside her will open her purse. walk up to the desk and make another bet-merely because she can not resist the thought that her neigh bor might possibly be informed as to the probable result of the race. There ;s no tip so absurd, no source Of 1n- formation so feeble, no prophecy so un- likely to be fulfilled that will not be swallowed by these open-mouthed, greedy fish,
 Think of sitting for five long. weary hours in rooms so packed with women that one gasps and smotherS and sick ems for breath. There are no horses to see, there is not even the small qualification that so many women en- ioy of being among a crowd Of pleas ure- seekers. The delight of blue sky and fresh air is not for them. Of all the relying on chance, of all the forms of wagering this is the unloveliest, the most sordid There isn't a pretense of sport about it. There isn't the smallest use of ones wit or ones skill. It's the drearieSt, the dolefulleSt, the most distasteful. These women sit in a sort of dull enchantment. They bet and then their senses hibernate till the tall, cynical, white-bearded man opens the door. Then there Is an ex- pectant hush He utters a word. the name of the winning horse, and as he walks toward the desk in the corner he speaks the name of second and a third. which are almost drowned in the murrnur and buzz of the disappointed tongues which echo his
 For one who has won there are twenty who have lost. Even the wo- man who played Bonnibel'' has lost two of the five dollars she made on that