The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1899-04-15
THE JACK POT TEST.
HOW A MEAN GAMBLER SPRUNG 1T
ON SISTER ABIGAIL.

concerning q WOneaniy weakness ana
Got 1t at the Expense Of Uncle Uriah's
Opponents at Poker.
Bent, but tall, with sparse whiskers
seldom trimmed, nearly 20 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. Pathetically like Lit
tie Nell's grandfather he looked some-
times, but he was at no desperate shift
to obtain a stake, for he was the pos
SCISSOR of a competence, and he brought
into the game the saving grace of the
parsimony to which he had been habit
uated in his earlier days in a New
Hampshire home. He never bought
more than So worth Of chips at a time.
These he would for the most part ante
away waiting for aces or better, and
when he finally did get a good hand a
bare call represented the climax of his
enterprise.
In those days there was always a
game on Sunday afternoons, and Uncle
Uriah, although a 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 op-
posed a scared seriousness which showed
that his passion for the game WA more
a weakness than a vice.
Uncle Uriah lived with his two sis
ters-Abigail, aged So, and Ann, aged
3D.. In New Hampshire they had been
called ''the girls" but in Omaha the
irreverent, 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
in mortal dread that she would discover
his besetting weakness. He would al
ways shy at a new player, and he fire.
quently held forth to the boys on the
improperly of talking on the outside
about the features of the anne.
81 sh'd hate to hev the parson know, +"
he used to say. "I wouldn't keer so
much bout Ann, cause she's easy
Ekeered, but I wouldn't hev Sister Abb
gail know fer the biggest jack pot twas
EVER played on this here tablet"
There was never any solution to the
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 a good jack pot on the ia.
BILE. Uncle Uriah was in and was deal.
ing. 1t was his last say, and the two
!, men ahead of him had bet $40 each. He
had drawn one card, and the play wa
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 ant
terrible rage, strobe into the room anG
up to the table.
"Gamblinp' she cried. "And on the
Lords day, with the church bells ringi1
outside and decent people fockin to hi
worship. I expected to find you here
you hypocrite p she went on, turning
to Uncle Uriah. "You better get OF
your buds right now and come home
81 was comm in a jiffy," the ole
man said, weak with fear. 81 guess
might as we'll go long with you as will
anybody else." He rose and steadiet
himself by holding the chair.
l Seth Coe was the coolest hand in thu
> game. Even Sister Abigail had not dis
. concerted him. He reached over anC
turned up Uncle Uriah's hand. 1t wa
a flush.
} "You better straighten this pot GU
before you go, uncle" said Coe. "Yol
; call, of course. l suppose a flush i
good?" Coe asked, turning to the othe
l players. They nodded assent. Coe stack
ed up the chips. "Forty-three dollar
here" he said, pushing them towar,
y Uriah.
The old nan started instinctively to
> ward the pot and then remembered Sis
o ter Abigail. He stopped and waited
tremblingly for her decision.
It seemed to the players, who turnes
from the weak and timid old man tt
the dominant woman, that at this cru
t 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 a visible effort sh
overcame a slight nervous construction
of the throat. She grasped her skirt
; firmly and swept toward the door.
n "Uriah, she said, with great dig
k nifty, 81 will wait for you in the hal
at thu foot of the stairs"
n After Uncle Uriah had obtained hi
$43 and departed Seth Coe said in hi
If leisurely way:
e "The old man didn't have a flush.
\ slipped in a card to fill it out for him
I reckoned you fellows wouldn't min'
payin once more for positive proof that
nc matter what kind of a woman she is
she's always in with your play whel
you win the pot. New York Sun.
. Careful.