The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-11-17

generally WesternerS, bucking the Tiger
at the faro layouts alongside sporty
young government clerks over at Jack
son City. a miserable little hamlet de-
voted almost exclusively to gambling
purposes at the Virginia end of the Long
bridge. Not only would they go up
against the Jackson City brand of faro
but they would tackle the skillfuliy-fxed
roulette wheels and go into the keno
games and shoot craps.
The rawest Jedge Waxenl, of Wayback,
in the halls of congress would no more
think Of repairing to Jackson City nowa
days to scatter a stack Of whites or plues
around on the cards than he would of
failing to request leave to print or of
forgetting to avail himself of the priv
ileges of the seed division Of the depart
ment of agriculture. There are still
walking about Washington plenty of
geTuious old chaps wilo two decades
ego, dealt faro hank in Wide-open gamb-
ling houses right here i'll Washington for
lovers of the game among members OF
the two houses of congress, and stories
OF the proves or luck of some of the
legislators of those days are still the
staple OF mellow conversation among
oid-time Waslingtonians.
Old John Lane, an aged but still
sprightly gentleman v~i1o has lived in
Washington ever since the year 1881, mar
rates with gusto many stories of the
gambling and drinking propensities of
some renowned Americans who have oc-
capied exalted stations in Washington
during his long period of observation,
and he is particularly eloquent and inter
esting in his description OF the famous
four-miie heat race in Washington early
in the los between the celebrated run
ming horses Fashion and Boston. the
equine heroes of the North and South re-
spectively.
Both houses of congress were adjourn
ed that the legislators might see the
race, and business in the departments
was voluntarily suspended for the day
The Southern horse lost, and old Mr..
Lane describes unctuously how the
Southern representatives and officials
rode d4jectedly away from the track on
their horses, with their empty and fiat
tened pocketbooks held up on the ends
of their whips as an open and visible
sign that there would be nothing doing
with them, so to speak. until they had
seen the disbursing clerk.
The final public manifestation of what
has been termed legislative sportiness
occurred during the administration of
President Arthur. Gen. Arthur himself
was liberal liver. nor did he care to
sec long faces about him during his resi-
dence in the White house. John Cham
beriins was still great and prosperous
institution in Gen. Arthur's day, and it
dates its long, gradual but inevitable de-
cline from the day Gen. Arthur babe
good-hy to the White house staff. The
feeds which Chamberlin, with the able
assistance of Sam Ward the famous
gastrononie. used to prepare for cronies
like Conkling and Sunset Cox and Sam
Randall and Don Piatt and Ben Butler
and others, all gone new, have often been
inadequately described-it would not be
possible to do justice to them.
Formal and rigid as the general tone
of Washington has become of late years,
it somehow or another seems even more
so now that there is a ITO Let" sign
stuck up on the front of John Chamber
Inns.