St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1908-01-01
Tie Trip of a Pair of Docs.
The Conclusion Of a Mighty Interesting
Series Of Letters.
Edito CALIFORNIAN:

ana nal turkey ana trauitlOn galore at
the Grand Bretogne." They had many
American guests and made dinner for
them. The first item on the menu was
"a Fairbanks Operstif," which proved
to be waat think is called cocktail
inAmlrica After dinner he invited us
to 90 9ut and see the Palace of the Prince
ofMouaco. We went out in an hour
ard he took us up through the most
beautiful public garden we ever saw,
AWAY up on a cliff and into a building
built OF marble We were introduced to
a man who took our pedigree and we
we're asked to sign book, after doing
which we were presented with a ticket
good for one day only. All about us
we're r.chly-dressed ladies. who looked
bike they had been out in a shower of
IL diamonds without an umbrella, and men
In evening dress, nearly all wearing a
diamond il their shirt fronts about the
4 size of ten cents worth of ice. We began
4 To feel about as much at home as we
4 Wutld 1T Il meeting of the Standard Oil
directors, when our guide said Lets go
in As we went inside we heard an
orchestra playing and saw more people
loungihg and smoking and having a
social time AS we looked down the
hall we saw crowds about some tables
and as we neared them, we caught the
shine of goid coin. In our bucolic inno-
4 Cence we at once said, This is a meeting
of the Y, Nd C. A. committee and they
are lifting gne debt of the building"
N Soon this Illusion was dispelled. We
N saw a wheel whirled and ball rolled
~ about on The edge of the wheel and as
N it stopped in numbered pocket we
began to imagine we were in the famous
gambling casino of Monte Carlo. This
"a was indeed the case and the next two
hours we spent in studying "the get
something for nothing" side of human
M nature in this gilded haunt of vice
81 Imagine, if you like, table about Is
& feet long and five or six wide with four
& tab keepers, one at the center of each
Isl side and end, piles of gold coin and bills
# in front Of the two at the sides and a
VA wheel in the center with a spinning
Hg arrangement, and ball which, when it
stops rolling, drops into mum nered
# pocket on the rim of the wheel and you
have the device for the gaming. About this
"a cluster all the people who can be seated
III =, c+a ,,1,,7rr
VI and YOU have the players. We saw
vi more gold than it would take to pave all
IN of ST. lohnsbury's streets four inches
N thic5 IN sight in that room. There is
'# very little talking and that only in a
low tone. You hear the Croupier say in
French MAKE your play gentlemen" and
81 Their 1egins, shower CI gold being placed
M on the numbers. He suddenly says mo
M more please" as the ball slows down and
all wait for the announcement. These
men who act as paying tellers then go
81 through the most lightning like mental
calculations and pay off the winners.
"a They are said to never make a mistake.
If two parties claim the same pile of
@ money both are paid and all that is
Nh observed is a look between the keepers
You see men playing at this table whom
YOU might easily expect from their
general appearance to be the ones to
read the service on. Sunday when the
rector was i'll, and old ladies whom you
would not be surprised to have seen
8 teaching a Sunday school class All
classes are represented Titled people
sR are plenty, young and old. This Ameri-
8& can told as that an old lady, nearly
# 70 years old apparently, had been there
q nearly every day it was said tor seven
# years We saw man lose $4,000 in
H 10 plays and SO TAR as giving any out
ward sign was manifest, he might have
bee u buying pound of tripe at grocery
Z store. Young boy hardly out of his
# tee had pile of winnings in front OF
him which must have figured nearly
81 5000 In an hour it was all gone and
"a MOI with it. This man with us said no
81 one yer went away with any great
amc nat Of money. He said he had seen
~ $40 900 won by one man and he would
IA stay a few days and lose it ALL People
Ga com, here from all over the world, many
al like ourselves visiting the place simply
81 to warn Others to stay away, the same
81 as reormers do in other places. We were
N retorners that day only. Many Others
n come without apology to play q
III System they have figured out to break
the bank, but the bank is still there and
opens for business every day at IL m
II The surprising thing about it all was tc
see 50 many elderly people about tht
tables. One is accustomed to foolish
things in youth, but old fools are not
N interesting There are ten tables in tht
II great hall and all are crowded the full
VI II hours when the Casino is open Th'
a Casino itself is a most magni6cen
structure, built Of white marble and it,
interior equals in beauty that OF am
~ building in Europe There is littl
II graveyard just outside the ground
where they always give first class So;
M funeral TO amy who are so ungentle
manly or thoughtless as to blow thei
brains out and soil and muss up tn
81 grounds, after losing all they had. w
were told that the pockets Of suicide
clothing are invariably found well line
with gold and bank notes, placed Their
rs by some thoughtful employer Of tn
ia place, SO that it cannot be said tina
IN financial stringency had anything to d
2# with causing him to take so sudden an
unceremonious departure. There ar
no notices up but it is generally under
stood that the management cor"'Aers
an abuse of their hospitality to hay
their guests commit suicide inside tn
& garden walls.
AZ