The citizen. (Frederick City, Md.) 1895-1923, 1900-01-12
A MANIA FOR CHANCE
PRIMITIVE PEOPLE HAVE A LOVE
FOR GAMBLING.

Cinnamon Have a Passion for the
Practice and So Have Negroes, Bur
Indians Seem to Revel In the Varl'
Gus Games Of Chance.
Gambling games of one kind or an
other form a not inconsiderable part Of
the mental life of all savage people
who find in the vagaries Of chance,
aided more or less by skill, the occa-
siOnal exhaltation of mind Wnlch all
men demand in one form or another.
Much has been written ABOUT games
of chance, especial reference TO ther
origin. but this aspect OF the case-tne
part which they play in the life OF to-
day-has been generally overlooked.
Indians. negroes, Cinnamon, have been
hastily classed as inveterate gamblers,
and such indeed from one point OF
view. they are, says the Chicago News.
But there is something more than this
in the universal passion for play which
characteriZes all the lower races, With
out being by any means confined 10
them.
The negro. whose whole soul seems
absorbed in the formula, Come seD-
en-" or Come eleben," in his favorite
game of craps. is yielding to the same
impulse which causes the Chinaman
to spend all his earnings in the never
ending. but to him always fascinating
mysteries of FAINT TAM" and which
iustiiies the Mexican, in his own mind,
for the loss of many hours and a few,
if not many. dollars in the allurements
of monte OH the sunny side of his
adobe shack. The fondness of many
business men for quiet little game"
is an exhibition of the same desire for
mental excitement and change, di1er-
ent. perhaps. in amount, but not i'll
kind. from that which holds a little
band of Indians around a blanket
spread upon the ground for days at
a time while the chances Of the game
are making one man rich and the 9th
ers poor.
From this point of view the gam
bling games of the Indians have GER
tain value aside from the picturesque
ness which is nearly always an accom-
paninent. All kinds of games are to be
found among them, native as well as
imported, and while the latter are
gradually supplanting the former on
account Of greater convenience, and
perhaps because of quicker action, the
strict aboriginal games are by no
means extinct. They can still be found
in full swing in many parts of the
United States which are little re-
mote from the usually travelled lines
and but little changed by contact with
our own civilization.
There is little doubt that in their orr
gin many, if not all, of these games
were real religious ceremonies, de-
signed to foretell the future, but they
also played the same part in ancient
times that they do to-day in supplying
a mental stimulus. Some of the games
have come down practically unchanged
in form, although now played under
entirely different conditions from what
they were originally Among them.
perhaps. the most striking is the game
of moccasin, which seems to be un-
/ questionahly the forerunner of the
little JOKER" which every year proves
so effective at country fairs in turing
dollars from the pockets of the TN.
wary. This game was once widely
distributed among the Indian tribes
and it has been said that it is now eX-
tinct: but it can be seen to-day in its
aboriginal form in any of the out-ly.
ing parts of the Navajo reservation in
Arizona.
The paraphernalia of the game are
very simple and always at hand con
sisting merely of a knife or other hard
substance-a pebble will do-and the
moccasins of the players. The game is
usually played at night, although
sometimes it extends over several days
and in its native setting has a weird.
ness and fascination which the mod
/ ern faliir cannot claim. Five persons
usually participate, four of them ac-
lively, while the fifth acts as a must
clan, but usually much larger mum.
Der watch the progress of the game
and perhaps place 4 bet occasionally.
Picture rude shelter of green
boughs, roughly circular in form
placed in some thicket, or under the
overhanging branches of large tree
In the centre blanket is spread upon
the ground. surrounded by fifteen OF