Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-04-16
AN EXPENSIVE SPORT

On Thursday evening the worried and
''all-in'' looking man spent an hour or 30
making idle figures on scratch pad
I'm just trying to dope out where
stand" he explained, disconsolately. i've
lost an average Of $50 day during the
nineteen racing days OF the meeting. That
makes s57O OF course, won a few bets,
but I've made allowance for those. and the
average net loss per diem for me was 80.
I neglected my business at the very least
$500 worth, If not more. Let things get
away from me. in my eagerness to make
the track, that Is to say. that would have
brought me in $500 II they'd have fetched
me in a nickel. Then. I've framed up about
nine hundred and twelve different kinds OF
lies, and no two Of them alike, explaining
to customers how 1t was that / couldn't
meet them, In order to make wild dash
for the track as the racing hour are"
nigh. ,.. =. .,o.,e. ona
rain coat and one overcoat and two pairs
of shoes, In the betting ring, being 1ostieo
and Joggled and pushed and pulled ana
tugged and hauled and knocked around and
stepped upon and gouged and elboWed ana
prodded and chucked aside. and SO on NO
kind Of wearing apparel that's worn IN q
race track betting ring for one week stead,
lily is ever worth shucks any more, ana
those buds have all got to go to the scrap
heap.
Il nave SunefeQ the physical eliu AaoAesAA
torture Of having my horse left or nearly
left at the post eight times. and there's no
way of estimating just how much that
taken out Of me. Every time man goes
at the post just so many days are Topped
Off his life. know 1t. You can tell iie
any different.
1--WE been mistaken in the colors Of my
horse four times, SO that on four occasions
/ have presented the idiotic and egregious
spectacle of roofing violently ana noisiiy
for the horse sweeping with long strioeI7
into the stretch when he wasn't the one .
played to win at all. The chagrin which
aff1cts q man who does this Is also OF SO
keen and agonizing nature that II 10
bound to shorten his days ~
II have been grossly insulteo py elsnt NC
ten different heavy-jawed bookmakers
when, after having bet all OF my money eA-
cept a dollar, I have sneaked up to tneir
stools and offered to make dollar Dets: Aw:
I amt takin' no dollar bets from p.Aei -.
growing at me out Of one corner OF Ine ..t
mouths, while people knew standing aoou'
have chuckled at my discontinue.
"I have been compelled to make all sorts
of eroveling explanations Of my weakness
to friends to whom, at the close OF tns
Benning meeting last fall. l swore ina.
never Intended to look at another hofse
race as long as l lived.
az have been so stingy with myself In
order to have all Of the incoming dousn u
bet that I haven't bought necktte y.
pair of SuSpenderS or cOliar siiee .tiS ~.
die of March. and the first thing know,
II I don't buck up, I'll be pointed OUT ny
NV friends as a buzzard who got to MS sao
estate through playing the ponies.
81 have chung to trolley cars Dy my eyS
hrows in my eagerness to get to the track
and on one day got to the track too iate
TO NAV the 80 to 1 shot In the hrst race
that I had been told was sure thing' alu
that I found, when 1 arrived late, nao WI
in a common canter by hfteen iensl
That took at least one year from my span
of life, if not more. -,r;fa
II have growled like blazes when my wiie
told me that she needed SS.Is TO puy d
spring hat that had made nit Win ne,
when I've had in my jeans several hunu' Us
of dollars of money carefully noarueo "
chuck at the bookmakers in order 10 enaole s
them to get their wives hats and thhss VI
the kind that my wife never even Dreams
of. ,on, ~
.'I'ye paid 25 cents apiece for dozens ot
rotten race track cigars that l wouldn
rse for cholera fumigators anywhere else
"J forgot to mention the $1.5O DAY Una.
I paid for badges for straight nineteen uay
in order to get a chance to throw my harp-
Wrung coin at the blrds. z 49,
1--WE got my nerves in such a Jahsieo up
state that I won't be able to TRANSACT any
business until 1 begin to simmer down.
which will take at least week
SIN short, now that the tumuit ana tne
shouting have died away. l feel IKE an III
fnitesmal portion of frontage de prle.
.'C;reat game, the sports of kings, hey'
But what's the use?