The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-04-25
"HAYSEED" WAS
 FROM MISSOURI Falls Into Gamblers Hands on ! Ocean Liner TAUGHT THEM SAD LESSON Made Nuisance of Himself Watching Games, but Eventually Proved His
 Boast that He Could Beat
 Them at SeVen-up.
TAUGHT THEM SAD LESSON
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
 A little comedy was acted out in the smoking room of one of the ocean grey hounds recently which might have af- forded considerable amusement to the passengers in general, and would have given great satisfaction to one or two of them in particular If they had known 1t was going on.
 The usual complement of two or three professional gamblers was on board, with very stylish blonde woman to as- slst them in the matter of making &C., quaintances. About the second day out they had succeeded in getting up lt- tie game of bridge for the modest points of 10 shillings a hundred, and they were careful to play badly enough to lay the foundation for their revenge at higher points.
 The sixpence-a-point game being once fairly under way and the gamblers being careful not to push their luck too hard it looked as if they could pay their ex- penses fo rthe voyage and leave the last day for the grand coup which would sup ply them with velvet for shore leave, especially as the blonde woman was par- tcularly fortunate in getting acquainted bridge players.
 Among the inevitable spectators in the smoking room was one who seemed to be of the genus hayseed. He looked to be 50, with struggling gray whiskers, which he energetically combed out with his fin- gers whenever he got particularly inter ested in anything.
 He wore a rather seedy looking suit of gray, which he never changed during the voyage, but he always had on clean shirt, although it was surmounted by a celluloid collar and 10-cent ready-made tie of the butterfly persuasion. Except in the dining room, he was never without his hat, which was of the slouch variety, and his only vice appeared to be an in- ordinate love of chewing tobacco.
 Seven-up His Game.
 From the first time that the bridge game was started, this peculiar passen- ger, who was down on the list as Mir Carroll of Marshall Mo. was the most interested spectator. Although he "al lowed" he had never seen the game be- fore, he had .'hearn tell of it." Seven-up was his game, he said, and he "allowed' he could beat any man on the boat playing of it'
 The poker games in the corners had no attractions for him. He had seen that game off and on for nigh on 50 years. he said. "But this here game where one fellow puts down his cards and lets you play 'em" seeemd to take his fancy from the start Allowing the dealer to make a trump after he had seen his cards IL 1.s A.x hAx&nl 1A sport, but he allowed 1t might be all right.
 It took MT. Carroll at least two days to get the hang or the declarations and the scoring, and he soon realized that the piece de resistance was the no trumper. Whenever such a declaration pulled itself out of a smal hole or made a grand slam he would comb his whiskers vigor- ously and exelaim: ''Well, I swan, but this here games most as good as seven up'
 During the course of the explanations which the dummy or the onlookers were good enough to give him while lodging his rejected tobacco juice, it developed that MT Carrolls appreciation of any game depended entirely on its merits or demerits when compared to his standard of excellence, seven-up. He was never tired of insisting that seven-up was the greatest game ever conceived by the mind of man.
 Once sure of his ground in the matter of bridge tactics, he developed an ex- traordinary desire to bet on the result When sitting behind the dealer he would glance over two hands and then offer to bet any amount from a dollar to five hundred on the old trick, at the same time pulling out an immense roll of greenbacl1s and licking his right thumb yas if ready to count any amount de- sired.
 Became a Nuisance.
 At first this thing was amusing, but after a very short time 1t got to be nuisance; so one day immediately after luncheon while puffng their cigars and leaning against the rail on the prome- made deck the gamblers held brief con sultation and agreed that something ought to be done to get rid of the gen tleInan from Missouri.
 After some discussion one of the trio, a MT. Smith, who was not quite as good a bridge shuffier as the others, suggested that he would invite the hayseed to try game of seven-up, in which game he felt sure that he could give very good account of himself.
 Accordingly, when the bridge game be- gan and MT Carroll dropped into his customed seat and began to comb out his whiskers in anticipation, MT. Smith made some remark about being cut out of the 1rSt ruDDer ana WlSHlHS n6 cOulu play a, game of euchre or seven-up or something of that sort to pass the time.
 At first MT. Carroll did not take the hint but the others helped MT. Smith out by saying: There's your chance, air. Carroll You've been blowing about your skill at sew>n-up ever since We started. Take MT Smith on for a game or two and show him how you play 1t in Mis- souri,
 If was with evident reluctance that MT. Carroll left the bridge table and settled down in corner to try his old standby. Mr Smith made a wry face at the way that moistened thumb was applied to the cards, just as it had been to the greenbacks, but as the stake was to be s5 a corner and he knew how to turn jack from the bottom and was even slSillful enough to ring in cold deck with the high hand set up in it he thought he could afford to put up with the hayseed's idiosyncrasies for the sake of handling a little of his wad
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