Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-01
WAYS OF THE LOSERS
AND THE WINNERS
Amusing Scenes to Be Witness
ed at the Benning Race
Track.


way to the track. say-are pretty much
alike It is when they win or lose, when
they are flushed With victory or plunged in
the doIdrums, that they are differentiated
intotypes.
let US set it down. in the beginning, that
there's a lot Of drivel talked and written
about good losers" and hard losers" Let
US enuncia,e the firm and unshakable con-
viction, based upon long observation and
experience, that rluety-nine thousand losers
out Of a hundred thousand are hard losers.
This. IN spite of all the superheated steam
about good losers ought 10 be as plain as
the band on your hat. II a man really
enjoyed losing his money, he would be an
imbecile. He would be In a mental state
wherein II would be advisable for his family
or friends to invoke the sitting Of lunacy
commission upon him. 1t Is as natural for
the average man TO dislike to lose his
money as II Is for him TO hate TO lose a
fight. The one hundredth thousand man,
the really good loser, is invariably an ice
blooded individual of the type of the late
George Smith, better known as Plttsburg
Phil. Phil could win or lose a hundred
thousand dollars without taking a long
breath. But he was one of the extremely
rare exceptions going to prove the rule.
Most men, then, are hard losers. the only
difference between them being that some of
them beef less over their losings than
others. After all the most wholesome sort
of a hard loser at the race track Is the chap
who explodes when he sees his coin burnt
up and Eliminates against the whole uni
verse from canape to crackers That sort
of fellow gets II out of his system on the
spot without doing any particular harm to
himself or to anybody else But there are
bitter hard losers. who, instead of getting
openly mad and swelling UP about it. keep
II all in their midriffs for the sake of pre-
serving what they imagine to be the proper
poise among their fellows. These chaps
smile wanly when they drop a big bet and
they put on the smuggest imaginable look
OF phOny cheer on their way home from the
track. But, all the same, they're the boys
VINO are literally "hOllerin' murder" as
the saying goes. inside of them. And, hold
Ing their soreness in that way they stake
themselves TO a sort of green stomach, met
aphoricaHy speaking. and the bitterness of
the thing damages them far more than 1t
does the fellows who set up the long wall
and exude the jeTemlade when the good
thing they've fallen for finishes about the
time the patrol judges buggy returns to the
stand
The Exuberrut Winner.
Some race track visitors are so exuber-
autly eXultant over it when they drag down
any old kind Of q bet on a horse that Il
Is nothing less than positive fun to be
standing in their vicinage when the one
they vc bet on cops on the opening day
at Benntng ! stood alongside of a man who
IN the sheer Joy of dragging down his first
bet OF the season. eNuded sounds that were
ms '4ieNtCN
eestaey he emitted noises from his dilated
diaphragm such as might have been made
by "a cave-dWeller over the killing OF q
dinpsaUrus The selling platter he was down
on took the track at the pressing of the
bu.h, and was never headed swinging home
all alone. The man had been standing per-
fectly quiet and composed though obviously
IN a highly wrought-up state of suspense
and expectancy, until, when he saw the
barrier go up and the colors he was look
ing for fash instantly TO the front, the
I'm TY,cf hub Il
woggle-ey-ow-owr he bawIed
''Guroo-blub-wheel Come on home-blug
-bhff-,wowee! Bring it to me-whee-
hugglesy-whoof-w hangy-yee-owi Oh
you Lblub-gwifr- oliabub-cIimb along
now-I wanna see you home. hoss-woggsIy
-wowee-w hiffeey-gl ubby-bing- bing = oh,
yee-ow. yee-ow. yee-ow!' terminating In
bawl when the horse crossed the line that
must have been at least vaguely heard as
far away as the reform school on the hill.
The mans eyes were literally blazing with
centric circles, and, in general, in that first
supreme delight. he looked something like
a Naqul Indian who had beat the rest of
the tribe to Il in making for the puIuue
gourd.
l happened to be right behind that man
when he was collecting his bet. His wager
had been 81 note.
Amusing Self-Depreciation.
The chap who approves OF himself when
his pick catches the judges eye first is no
; less amusing In the fine self-deprecation he
affects. stood in the neighborhood Of one
Of this type after the numbers went up
giving the result OF the second race
group OF fellows with whom he had been
watching the race and began to talk about
himself something scandalous.
oh, no. he said, Il wasn't there with
the kazazza bunch on that thing was l.?
No-o-o! Didn't know a thing about the
way he'd been working around these parts
lately, hey? No-o-oi I'm sound asleep all
CAV and night eight days IN the week yep.
ye-t-es. I'm one o. these boneconks that
heiped to organize the Continues Perform
auce Slumber Association, amt !? Ye-e-es,
And l didn't tell you felers away last
night. did /. that this thing I'D trudge home
all by himself. with the boy on him dream
ing OF loidpOps and jubejube paste. no, l
GidH I. And / didn't beg you TO go to IL
with what you could get on the brass pipe
and nickel trimmings In the bath ROOM
hey No, ! didn't because I'm punk hey?
Because I'm not hep hey? Ye-eh. l guess
m bum when u comes 10 being able
10 deliver the goods when ! make a crack
about a horse, Ne-eh. l guess I've got the
housemaids knee and the bubonic plague
when IL comes 10 the short dope on these
long priced babeskerines, ye-ehr'
Thus he went on pralsing himself by
knocking himself. and the group OF his pals
10 whom he had given the good thing I'M
avaunsIy looked sick and slinky and sheep
ish over Il. and hung around him for one of
his lnfallible hunch-knows on the next race.
He had that on tap, too. He gave 1t to
them. They went TO It. That one ran like
Lower California tortoise bound for the
brink OF Magdalena bay. with thousand
years 10 do It in. Then the wise seif-de-
preciator's friends fell away from him as II
he had just announced to them that he was
suffering from malignant diphtherta and
he didn't depreciate himself nor talk scan
Gaious about himself any more that day
A Pessimistic Winner.
One OF the most mournful pessnists OF
tie track is the chap who Is always roofing
against himself He's a Show Me from
way behind the Ozarks. He wants TO have
a long peek at Exhibit and the blue
prints and the accompanying drawings
Hey whRd die go tor one OF this pes
slmists friends asks him Just before the
race. when the horses are maneuvering at
the post.
oh. I took a fall out o. that Cuttings
horse. replies the dismal pessimist OF the
original Show Me Association But he
hasn't got chance in the world
Hasn't got a CHANGER" repeats the pes
simisrs friend. puzzedly. Well II he hasn't
got a chance. whad d. je play him for?"
oh. a feller's got to play something" re-
fponded the pessimist. Kind o. thought he