The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-07


 holding down a job as ground-keeper
 out west. It was pretty hard luck but
 he started it, and people who undertake to interfere with the development of sci
 ence even in baseball, must be checked,
 Rather an improbable tale? Just as
 you please, but there's part of the nest
 over in the corner, and look out or you Il
 think that all the hornets haven't de-
 serted it." and the man with the crooked
 fingers sent a shower of sparks from a
 bar of hot iron flying about the scepticss
 head.-New York Sun.
 THE GAMBLER AND THE WORM. A gentleman who lives in the Blue
 grass, and who has been a very exten- sive traveller, has silver service, so
 magnificent in design and heavy in weight that it's peers in the whole world
 may be numbered on the fingers of one hand. The owner is even now, when past middle age, a "good fellow" who
 loves convviality, and no game is too hazardous for him if he mas the amount
 of the stakes. He takes pleasure in tell ing the history of his service, as it con- cerns the most audacious game of chance he ever witnessed.
 When I was in Bolivia, some years ago." he always begins, T got in with crowd of men. English and natives, whose passion for gambling knew no
 bounds Strange as it may seem. none of them knew poker, and l made myself solid with them by teaching them, but their great game was roulette, There was a little shop in BOgota where they had miniature Monte Carlo, and many nights did we spend around the great wheel, with our money and prospects hanging on the black or red. The wheel was entirely made of wood, and when 1t was spun around q cover was put over the machine, so that they could keep on betting when it had ceased to turn There Is worm down there in that eli mate that gets into furniture and bores until nothing but shell Is left. You may sit on a chair that looks perfectly strong but at the first touch it collapses. This seems irrelevant but it is not, as you may see later. In fact, that worm plays the title role in the tragedy l am going to tell.
 There was a wealthy Bolivian plant CT, who had been a general in the war between Bolivia and Chilli back in the early sos. He was never absent a night from our games, but he would frequent ly stand about for a week and never make bet larger than ten dollars. Then he would suddenly cry out just as the operator was about to lift the cover and register the highest bet the house would permit, Next he would place all the money he could find takers for among the gentlemen present. Before the season was far advanced he had won great sums, and we had all felt the results of his freakish luck. It seemed that when he played seven-black he could not lose, and he seemed to realize 1t, for when he did call that number he would put all he owned in the balance.
 Still he was a gentleman and a fa- nous duelist, and no one cared to ques- tion his methods. Ii went on this way for two months. Then one night the wheel stopped, and there was the silence of the prairies In the room. We could hear the ball fall into the compartment distinctly; we could hear the distant un- linking of mandolin. The planter leaped up as from a catalepsy 7- black, Senors, I will take all any of you or all of you will bet Well, I had been strong, and was so much to the good that I was reckless.
 Five dollars I said.
 "'Good Senor,' he replied.
 He placed his entire fortune in differ ent wagers. There were number of strangers present, and they all seemed big flush. Then slowly, as priest off ciating at some solemn, barbaric cere- mony, the banker removed the top. We all stood for a moment, and the tension was such that a carriage wheel on the outside made us all start. | Red came the announcement.
 The Bolivian was white as snow, but ! his voice was unshaken as he said: Gentlemen, you shall all be paid. As | for me, I am ruined.
 That night he shot himself, and his | will, which had been written just before his death, arranged for the payment of all his debts. l was to receive the ser | vice for my share, though it is worth much more. But what l valued much { more than that was a note, in which he his attachment for me, and ' asked me to accept the silver as a gift f and not debt
 He left curious manuscript, writ ten some time before, which seemed to | oe sort of private journal He stated | n this that his ears were so accurate hat he could detect the difference be- .ween the fall of a pin and q needle One night, so he says, he heard the ball all into the compartment with hollow hud, and when the machine was opened le made note of the number and color 7-black.' Later, when alone for a mo- nent. he found that the aforesaid worm lad bored under that compartment. He ounded the excavation with a straw. lnd found that it extended no farther han that one number. Then all he had o do was to listen, and when his acute rearing told him that his number had ome, to get all the money possible on
 Yes, gentlemen he had all. his plans aid to perfection; there was only one weak spot in his calculations. He for 'ot that those worms could keep on bor- ng. "-Louisville Evening Post.
 FINE LOVING CUP.
 For the Yale Athletic Association.
 The Vale University Athletic aScooio