The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1902-04-20
JOSE MARIE GALLEAG0S Y SALIZAR::

Ati-oi thcSS yefe DEMONSTRATIONS OF "ea-
r.nnas, SON he observed; they amt aimed
AT you none. That's the fact. though; this
amazin' sensation OF shiftlessness is be-
GiTnin' to gnaw at me a heap. Talk OF a
painted ship upon a painted ocean, Same
as that poem person you quotes from t'other
day: that vessels earnestly employed COM
pared TO me. All ! ever does these times is
Sc Oh the tavern stoOp. tell you-all tales.
cuss out my black boy Tom an drink some.
Thars no moral purpose to sech c'reers."
The old fellow had Iured me to his apart
ments on an argument that penny ante in
mode. alton would rebound to the coolness OF
his nerves and serve toward a promotion
" his personal peace.
AN / wants you TO Understand" he had
sud. initiating much violence Of manner.
that when SIS my guest yen embarks with
me In penny ante you've got to conform to
my Tooics. Shore, I've got rooies; an ev-
cry gent who draws kyarIs at 4 board OF
rhine has done got TO bow humbly tharunto.
An these yere Is my ruoles: I've a partic-
lEr Cauteen of whisky that's made doorin'
tho days OF Central jackson; the shore
e-ouEh Old Hermitage. Ny first roole is to
confer or every gent a hooker of this price
lHss drink as VEAL sets down TO play. My
second roole IS that after the first drink no
gent gets another onless he lcses TO me.
That's straight; he can have common every
day rcdeye by the dipper or by the jug.
but If he bankers TO guile himself abou.
moro Hermitage. he's got 10 lose to me-"
Ny talkatiYe friend. after a half hour Of
penny ante. grew tired and threw down
the cards 1t was then he broke into the
above ar-aiEument Of himself.
You've witnessed a vast deal of poker
playing in you- day" I said. The remark
WAS purely experimental. 1 wanted him TO
tax.
Which 1 comedies as muchTn he retorted.
An a~iloodin' to poker, the first time I
sees the father of my black boy Tom, that
colored man is all tangled up In a game.
No he amt playin' none hfmse'f; he's bein'
played fox Which that darky's role IL the
same as the bone in the dog fgnt. Hes
oein' struggled over plumb strenuous, while
passiTely impartial himself. You don't
sasey7 This yere IS in the old days. when
your troo-born Southern gent p'rades his
foe AT ten PAGES. drinks peach an honey
an pays poker two-caIl-ive IN niggera
lis dcorin' that proud epock when I'm on
the Grand Turk from St Looey to Noo
Orleans ThaTs a pasEel of planters en-
CAGES themse'fs at poker in the smokin'-
room I comes bUisin' in. an bein' some
a-thirst. turns TO a Nkeiy-seemin' black
boy who's loiterin' oneasily behind the
CHARS Of the kyard-pla3in' planters. I'm
fggerin' IN send him to the barkeep for
n coboler.
You, boyr I says, p'intfn' at him with
my finger. for a lazy Niger requires a heap
Of Identification that away. II he allows
you're goin' To put him to work. You. boyv
I says, do you-an belong with this ycre
boat
sah.' he replies. a heap p'Hte an
drprecatory; no, sab. I don't belong with
10 boat
whoever does you appertain tn, thenT
I asks
why. sah.' he says boBin' an scrapin',
7 jeS' don't rightly know, sab D. title to
me, it lRoks like, SAN Is mighty ambiguous.
Fusi- / bloDgs to Marse Stallins over thar;
an then Pm d property Of Marse Peters,
who obtains me with a spade flush, sab.
jest at present I'm 4 element, sab, in dish
yere Jackpot; an q problem of whose I
IS will sort o. be in d. air, sab, from nov
ontl d hands been done played out
The aplomb wherew1th he lays bar the
uncertainties Of his ownership makes a
pleasant impression on me. j looks him
over, makes up my mind, gets into the
speculation then ragin'. an by fourth drink
time that evenin' l rakes in that colored
boy on a fve-fuu- An 1 shore retains him
Yes. son; he's the father Of my black Tom
Which, ondoubted. Is the reason why that
ogdacious Tom takea them liberties with
me"
DO you believe In slavery" I asked
NO." he retorted, its a bad game plumb
through slavery is. 1t amt SO bad for the
blacks as it is for the whites. It's too late
TO talk slavery now; It's h Colonel Green
calls in that Coyote paper of his a dead
issue But layn' aside the moral question,
thar's no money in slavery; never Ia. Why?
Because it's cheaper to hire folks than
own en-
''speakin' of slavery, I'm in Washin'ton
when Mister Lincoln promulgates his free !
dom proclamation; she's shore q jo-darter
OF a play. No. L don't stay long in Wash
in'ton; L goes on business I'm never thar
since, for 1 sort o. gets a notion ag'in the
town. |
Which my aversion is doc mainly to the |
thoughtless an ill-advised way In which q |
party named Herbert handles me personal. /,
this yere epock I'm plumb wild an I
an I'm afraid of them giant
hotels To get me inside you has to blind
fold me an back me in You shore can't
lead nor drive, nor even salt me along IL
the destination is one Of them co~mprehen-
sive hotel wickeyups.
HERBERT ! says. bein' he's tho only gent
In town / knows-Herbert,' 1 says. I don't
want to go to none Of these yere ten-story
sdifices. Which I'll lose myse'f IL I does
before 1 submits to sech perils.' 1 says,
take my blankets an camp down on
green: an I p'ints to one of the Jim
crow grass patches about the size OF a
.ablecloth. an which is Regarded East as
park
"Nou-all can't camp thar none.' says
Herbert; the ~constables II put you in the
calaboose. You come with me- he goes on.
I'll do you a particular favor. III nacher-
ally take you-aIl to my own proper board
.n'-house.'
It's night when me an Herbert gets thar,
but for all it's dark ] sees it's a block on
one of these business streets. Herbert says
the three upper stories is the boardin'-
house. the ground floor bein' something
So we trails up a narrer break-your-
neck par OF stars. an 1 pays a month in
an wins out the rar room on the
Iecond floor.