Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1917-01-12
The Result of a
Friendly Game
BY EDWARD ]. STEWART

Ing cdru5 lOI hohCJ'
cravat and other clerical indications
entered and said:
MY friends, you're making a great
mistake"
How do you make that out, parson?'
.Drop your game for a few minutes
and l will tell YOU"
The players assented, and the clergy
man told the following story:
do you see this white necktie? Well,
| the a I'm wearing it is because OF
| playing for money with a friend. What
| occurred turned my attention to using
what gifts 1 possess to fighting evil.
s.Young fellows from eighteen to
| twenty-one are apt to play these little
| games with each other to pass the
| time. At that age they have to learn
by experience that since no n of them
| wishes to quit loser the game Is end
| less. When they get older they n
| it doesn't pay and usually give it up.
"When 1 was twenty years old l
| was one of q set of young fellows VINO
| played poker In n another's rooms.
| At first none of us was ever out more
| than a few dollars at a sitting. But
| our sittings grew longer n longer.
| There was always some one OF the
| gang that was loser, and he would In
variably oppose breaking up, no mat
| ter how late the hour. Not only DID
| our sittings grow longer, but u
| stakes. our winnings, u losings grew
| larger.
"On one occasion we came together
| at 8 o'clock In the evening, and at d IN
the morning we adjourned till 9 O'Clock
| the same evening. One of the party,
| Dick Collins, was out $50. He seemed
| quite upset over the loss, for he was a
bank clerk on a thousand dollars a
wear. and his mother needed most OF
his salary. | was the principal win
ner and readily assented to giving him
a chance to recoup as soon as the day
was done. We played all the text
night, and, though 1 gave Dick every
chance to get even, my cards ran SO
strong and he bet so high that instead
Of winning he lost. At 6 o'clock In the
morning he owed me about 5000.
ST didn't want his money, and L
didn't wish to spend my nights giving
him a chance to win it back. I offered
to give back all 1 had won. This
made him very angry, and he asked
me If l thought him a child to make
such a proposition. So 1 consented
that after one nights sleep l would
continue the game. 1 was getting anx-
tQus to have him regain what he had
lost, for he seemed to be very badly
shaken up. So 1 made up my mind
when we came together again to bet
high on my low hands and low on my
high hands.
1.-THE next time we sat down to play
the rest Of the party had dropped out.
They seemed to think that b game
was getting too stiff for them. Dick
produced a lot of bills and insisted on
playing for cash instead of on tab. as
we had been playing thus far. I was
surprised, but had enough money to
start in with, SO l assented. Somehow
the cash on the table seemed more tan
gible than 1 o UPS, and, though l
didn't try to win, 1 didn't try to lose.
The luck continued with me, and Dick
was so anxious to win that whenever
he had a fair hand he would bet very
high, and l was sure to overtop him
by one or two points. Once he held
three mines to my three tens. Another
time held a pair Of queens on three
tours. he a pair of kings on three
deuces.
AT 3 o'clock in the morning l had
won all the cash he had brought with
him. He vas the worst broken up
man l ever saw. His nerves were all
on edge.
$50 home, Dick I said, and go to
sleep. Tomorrow evening We'll dine
together, and We'll fix this matter up
somehow to your satisfaction. l don't
want your money, and / only wish to
find u how l can return 1t to you
without trying to lose it to you through
the cards
"'Oh, that's what you have been do
ing-trying to loser he said angrily.
IF you don't want my money l don't
want your generosity
"He was so hot that I feared he
would strike me. l ~endeavored to
soothe him, but failed.
Generosity be hanged!' he kept on
bitterly. More likely the reason I've
lost so heavily to you is that you've
been manip'-
"If | hadn't been so young l suppose
l might have endured the insult that
was coming. l certainly should have
done so without resentment, for he and
l were intimate friends, and it was the
devil speaking through the cards and
not Dick. My right arm went out, and
Dick went over
mo sooner had l struck him than l
was sorry for what 1 had done. He
rose and was coming for me like a
fury when l slipped out through a
door behind me and, darling into my
bedroom, locked the door. He follow
ed me and after calling me coward and
other names went downstairs, and I
heard the house door close behind him.