The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1900-02-10
A MANIA FOR A CHANCE.

Camping games OF one KIM 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 which all
men demand in one form or another.
Much has been written about games
of chance, especial reference to their
origin, but this aspect of the case
the part which they play in the life
of to-day-has been generally over
looked. Indians, negroes, Cinnamon,
have been hastily classed as inveter-
ate gamblers, and such indeed from
one point of view, they are, says the
Chicago Meas. But there is some
thing more than this in the universal
passions for play which characterizes
all the lower races, without being by
any means confined to them,
The negro, whose whole soul seems
absorbed in the formula, Come seb-
en-, or Come eleben," F" in his favor
ite game Of craps, is yielding to the
same impulse which causes the China
man to spend all his earnings in the
never-ending, but to him always fas-
cinating mysteries of "fan-tan," and
which justifes the Mexican, in his
own mind, for the loss Of many hours
and few, if not many, dollars in the
allurements of monte on the sunny
side of his adobe shake. The fond
ness of many business men for a
''quiet little game" is an exhibition
of the same desire for mental excite
ment and change, different, perhaps,
in amount, but not in kind, from that
which holds a little band of Indians
around blanket spread upon the
ground for days at time while the
chances of the game are making one
man rich and the others poor.
certain value aside from the pictur-
equeness which is nearly always an
accompaniment. All kinds of games
are to be found among them, native
as we'll as imported, and while the lat
ter are gradually supplanting the
former OH account Of greater conve-
nience, and perhaps because of quick
er 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
a little remote from the usually trav-
elled lines and but little changed by
contact with our own civilization.
There is little doubt that in their
origin many, if not all, of these games
were real religious ceremonies, de-
signed to forete1l the future, but they
also played the same part in ancient
times that they do to-day in supply
ing a mental stimulus. Some of the
games have come down practically
unchanged in form, although now
played under entirely different condi-
tions from what they were originally.
Among them, perhaps, the most
striking is the game of moccasin,
which seems to be unquestionably the
forerunner of the little joker, " which
every year proves SO effective at coun-
try fairs in Turing dollars from the
pockets of the unwary. This game
was widely distributed among the In
dian tribes, and it has been said that,it
is now extinct but it can be seen to-
day in its aboriginal form in any of
the outlying parts of the Navajo res
ervation in Arizona.
The paraphernalia of the game are
very simple and always at hand, con-
sisting merely of knife or other
hard substance pebble will do
and 'the moccasins of the player. The
game is usually played at night, al
though sometimes it extends over
several days and in its native setting
has weirdness and fascination. Five
persons usually participate, four of
them actively, while the fifth acts as
a musician, but usually much larger
number watch the progress of the
game and perhaps place bet occa-
sionally.
Picture a rude shelter of green
boughs, troughly circular in form,
placed in some thicket, or under the
overhanging branches of large tree.
In the centre a blanket is spread upon
the ground, surrounded by fifteen or
twenty Indians squatting about it, or
leaning over, intently watching the
play. Over all the ftful glow and
play Of light from huge fire on one
side. The effect is heightened by a
weird song, which is a constant ac-
compartment of the game, and which
rises and falls as the excitement grows
and wanes, reaching, sometimes, such
frenzied accents that the casual pass
er-by might easily mistake it for a
war song.
The players take their places at the
four corners of the blanket, and are
paired off by couples. Each player
contributes one of his moccasins, and
the winner of the toss lays them on a
blanket upside down, and about six
inches apart. with the toes pointing
forward. Then, with his left hand
he lifts each moccasin in turn and
makes pretence of putting the knife
under it, making many passes and us
ing every precaution to deceive his
opponents and the spectators. Dur
ing all the time the musician keeps
up continuous drumming which he
accompanies with "a song. In the song
the others all join in but the oppo-
nents of the players eagerly watch for