Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-10-05

ranean river If there were any rivalry or
sport involved I'M the game. And that's
the spirit I've undertaken to beat con-
cIuded the Irish Knight, shaking his head
refiectiveiy. sys
Women DriAIC to Excess.
Another of the auxiliary features of the
yacht races interesting to those who make
a practice of observing these things is the
"line,' as the sporting folks put it, that
has been given ON the number of women
of the better class who think nothing of
drinking immoderately- in public. On one
of the vessels attending the races that is
patronized by persons pretty high in the
social scale-the steamer charges $40 per
passenger for each trip to tie races-per-
haps 500 of the 1, 400 passengers were wom-
en-, and the vast majority of them young
married women Those of the women who
did not drink more than was good for them
were in the minority. They did not make
any bones about it, as the saying goes. but
swigged their liquor openly on the main
deck. Most of them took champagne
such a good thing for seasickness," they
said-but not few of them tippled raw
whisky, Scotch and rye, from the begin
ming to the end Of the journey. Many of
them-attractfva and obviously refined
women-became positively silly long before
the conclusion Of the race, nor did they
appear to care whether the race was be-
tween coal barge and a mud scow or
not. Others of them, however, young and
graceful-appearing women, got away with
prodigious quantities of liquor like majors.
and by showing no effects clearly exhibited
how used they were to tipping. The writer
saw one very handsome young married
woman, not much above thirty years old.
put away nine quart bottles of champagne
In the course of the day, and she was just
as compaisant and as much in control Of
herself on the run home as her husband,
who had taken nothing but mineral water.
It was observed, by the way, that the men
on this typical vessel did not drink any
Ii H.. lo;r Hol1~
and observant persons who watched the
game on other fashionable public vessels
attending the races say that the same APP
peared to be the state Of the case on their
boats. The wide extent Of public drinking
by the women Of New York has been
touched upon before in this correspondence,
but feminine tippling has never been SO
noticeable as it has been since the begin
ming of the races for the Americas cup
this year.
Women Are Gamblers, Too.
The betting propensities of New York
women Of the so-called better class were
also brought strongly into view on the
vessels Of the attending feet They were
certainly, in many cases. more vociferous
in the expression Of their desire to back
their choice than their men folks. "I'll lay
you $50 the Shamrock rounds the stake
boat first TN bet you 500 Columbia wins
this Leg" "A hundred that they don't I'm
ish within the time limit''-these and other
remarks Of the like were so common among
the women the more exclusive public
vessels that they ceased to attract atten-
ton, although men unused to that sort Of
thing could be noted gazing shrewdly at
the betting women out OF the corner OF the
eye. There was one woman on board the
La Grande DuchesSe who made $500 bets
with man friend on every situation OF
one of the races, and she did this with all
of the sangfroid Of race track plunger
going up and down the bookmakers' Line.
1t happened that she won most of her bets,
but from her general manner it appeared
fairly certain that she wouldn't have mind
ed at all had she lost all of them.
Every man that wears yachting cap
doesn't own yacht" remarked the sage
Billy Baxter. But 1t would seem that many
men, particularly very young men,, who don
races fancy that their headgear converts
them into authorities on all matters APP
pertaining to the yachting game. There
was one Of these. on board the fine large
tug Admiral Dewey, that beat all Of the
tug craft down to and back from the race
on Saturday last. He was a youth of about
twenty-five, and it was plain from his ccn-
versation that he could have given either
Captain Barr or Captain Sycamore cards
and spades and still have beaten them in
knowledge of deep water seamanship.
Moreover he knew all about the history of
the competition for the Americas cup, from
the time that the America had won it.
vi Big Stock of .Misinformation. sss,I.
the Isle of Wight, around which the old
America sailed to capture the prize, and
he had heard all about the Americas race
over there. He told about that great race
with about the most monumental fund OF
misnformation that could possibly be Inn
agined. He had scarcely fact. of the
story straight, but he plunged right on
oracularly, while those In his immediate
neighborhood grinned at each other joy
fully.
The reason why they grinned at each
man was. telling what he didn't know about
the old Americas race they could see old
Captain Henry Hoffman, the commander
of the tug, studying the youth ,curiously
bearded face. They knew that Captain
Hoffman was the only surviving member OF
the crew that sailed the old America ON
that famous occasion. and they conjectured
what he was thinking of the know-ir-all
young mans extraordinary story of the
contest. When the wiseacre had finished
his narrative Captain Hoffman shook his
head sadly and went to the pilot house
without saying anything, but those CT the
tugs party who had watched the little in
cident broke into a roar. When the young
man with the yachting cap was informed
Of the proximity Of a man who had ac-
tually helped to sail the America. and Of
how this man had taken his story in with
such quiet gusto, he fell into the suiks for
the remainder Of the trip.
Captain Hoffman Is hale man CT sixty
six. He was a lad Of sixteen when he went
over on the old America to contest for the
prize, and he had then been sailor for
five years. He is now a rich man. the own
err of a large feet of tugs in New York har-
Dor.
An Incident of the TenderIoin
A party of Tenderloin reporters expert
do che kha nth