Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-27
SUCH FOOLS AS MEN ARE


There is & train that leaves the st. Asaph
station for Washington every evening at
7:12-a trolley train of two cars. This Is
the train that picks up the remnant of the
mixed lot of men who go over to st. Asaph
| every afternoon to- play the races in the
pool room on the old race track grounds.
! Other trains There are a-plenty that come
up to Washington from Alexandria during
the long hours of the afternoon and each
| of them picks up Its little handful of St.
Asaph losers-feliows who have passed their
last dollar over the pool room counter, ex-
perienced the nerve-racking, feverish ex-
citement of hearing the races which
they have put their foolish money called off
by the telegraph operator, and lost. These
straggle up to the city, dejectedly on all
of the afternoon trains. The main crowd
however, wait for the 7:12 train, which en-
ables them to be on hand in the pool room
when the last race of the day is called off
by the operator. 1t is a study to watch the
behavior of the men constituting these
crowds. They are of all sorts and condi-
LONESOME of them very well dressed, but
most of them shabby and down-at-heel.
MOST OF them, idly waiting on the platform
Tor the arrival of the train, pretend to be,
cheerful and philosophical, but a Shrewd
eye may note that it costs many of them
an effort to do this. They know that in
ING Spoi ing WORTH tle llllHS Is 70 DE
game and they strive to make a showing
of this sort 1t may be supposed. though,
tnat beneath the waistcoats of the losers
of their last few dollars there exists good
zeal OF sadness. The men who do not care
whether they be pointed out as "hard
losers or not. separate themselves from
the crowd and wander off to the ends of
the station platform, with their heads down
and their hands thrust deep in their
pockets. Their lips move, and they seem to
a "a Ia tiy,.r
squeeze through tight places, with their
little money Chat they doubtless expected
to amphfy into hundreds) swallowed up in
the afternoons racing maelstrom. The
countenances of these out-an-out hard
losers look pinched and worn, and they
gaze about them at the quiet, serene even
ing beauty of the surrounding woodlands,
the tops of the trees gilded by the final
rays eff the sun. with blank unappreciative
expressions Their minds are not upon
such things. and the cool fragrance that
comes from the fields with the twilight does
not seem to atone to these heavy-hearted
brooders for their losses
Others of the mem as said, try to make it
appear to their companions that while they
nave lost heavily, they don't mind their
losses little bit.
We'll here goes to light my last cigar
smoke pipe now until next pay day"
You can't beat them" Just think of
being beaten out the wire by eye
lash. Wasn't that hard money to lose,
after that horse led all the way into the
stretch and didn't finish one, two, three
Relieve I'll stay away for aWhie-haVen't
got any luck-am on the hog all the time
''ff l could only get back tenth of what
I've blown in against this game I'd never
play another horse as long as L lived
You can't make me believe that horse
wasn't puled"-these are some of the re-
marks the men make TO each other, with
palpably forced cheerfulness as they stand
waiting for the train. They appear to talk
from thinking. There may be two or three
rarely more-winners in the throng. and
these are rega rdet~-with envious eyes by
the others. A young fellows expresses his
regret that he didn't pay his last two
weeks board before starting for the pool
room, and. turning his pockets inside out
significantly, reckiesSly figures on the re-
ception awaiting him at the hands of his
land1ady. The others laugh. but some of
them grow thoughtful enough to warrant
the supposition that they. too, may have
similar dismal experiences in store for
them.
A man wearing a big diamond anxiously
asks the man standing beside him how late
the pawn shops remain open in Washing
ton. and when he is told that they close at
& pm. on all evenings except Saturday he
relapses into othougbtful gloom a young
man who has:~oniy been visiting the pool
room for a week! and who has won COM
fOTtably every day. is boaSting of his abil-
ity to pick en- ri
I've only been at it week. says he.
and L don't know anything. about the
horses but I've won out every day
It's the worst winning you ever made
lad says seedy, haggard-looking man
who is listening. ''1f 1 hadn't won a bun
die of money on the first horse race | ever
bet on. probably when you Were an infant
I'd have-oh, weli,' and he chopped his
homily off short. Such old-timers know the
futility of warning young men with the
horse bug" buzzing in their heads. For it
is an odd thing that. while men abandon
many things that they find are causing
their ruin. they rarely give up their pas
sion for playing horse races until they
almost entirely at the end of their string.
Some of the men waiting for the train
have stunned themselves with drink at the
pool room, and reel about the platform
fOoiishiy. The coiored touts who have been
going to the pool room for years. every day.
rain or shine. and who live apparently, by
some especial benevoience of Providence
since it would appear that their touting
gains them no money, laugh and chatter
merrily. They have had nothing to lose
and so it all makes no difference to them
A man with battered derby hat and
evil-smeliing clothes produces big roll of
money and shows it about. He is a black
smith who shod some of the horses now
scattered at many tracks, that Were quar-
tered a I Benning during the races here and
some stabeman in charge of one of these
horses has sent him tip that has gone
through. The losers-that is to say about
nine-tenths of the walters for the train
look at the blacksmiths roll greediiv and
some of them sigh drearly
Ihen the Whsue OF the approaching train
as it comes around the bend is heard, and
the men stand by to make rush for seats
They are all on in jiffy and the train
starts ahead At the south end of the
Long bridge it stops, and the men who
have won at the pool room drop off at
Jackson City to play their winnings No
against the faro banks. Thus they get it
coming and going" both ends from the
middle. as 1t were.
over in Alexandria they say that every
ticket written in the pool room is bIotted
with some woman tears, Well, it would
not be hard to believe such summing up
after a study of the crowd that takes the
7:l2 train up from St. Asaph.
Disappointed in Him.
From Tit Bits.