Year: 1872

|


From the Pail Mall Gazette.l


Disorder reigns rampant at the gaming


tables, and gross dishonesty lays itself


out for living here. In the old days il


was rarely, indeed, that you saw two


players claiming the same stake, when


the stake was Of any Importance. Cher


alters dindustrie knew the chief crou-


pier was there to protect the customers


as well as the bank, and that a false


claim would probably be punished by


exposure or expulsion. If the director


found himself puzzled to pronounce, or


believed both claims to be made in good


faith, he generally paid both the claim


ants. Now such squabbles are of hourly


occurrence, and over sums so large that
it is difficult to attribute the false claim


to misapprehensions. That is the reason,


perhaps, why the bank has abandoned


the old system OF conciliation as too


costly, and has taken to the cheaper plan


of leaving the rivals to fight it out. But


the result is that the rooms have come


to resemble beer-gardens, while no gem


tleman can seat himself to play except
at the hazard of an alteration with some


brazen-tongued eScroc or brazen-faced


lOrette. Reason the more, surely, for


ladies, and especially English ladies'


staying away. At least, one would fancy
so; for the tradition still linger with us
Of the times when the typical English


woman was regarded as the incarnation


Of a purity approaching to austerity and


ladies of Indifferent character were con-
strained to ape their betters. The Mes


danes Cruchecassee might sneer at the
shy ferocily Of the English woman's vir.
tue and the chilly prudery Of her de,
meanor; the men might admire and sneer
and call her beguenlc. But, on the
whole, when the Englishman could carry
his head high, and declare himself a civis
Romanus, he never felt more proud OF
his country than when he contrasted the
behavior of his countrywomen with that
of their foreign sisters. Now all that is
changed. An Englishman in difficulties
must stand, as well he may, on his indi-
vidual character, and say as little as
may be about his Roman citizenship. If
any one is entitled to boast or to bully
on the strength of his citizenship, it is
subject of that new Holy Roman Em-
pire, whose capital is Berlin, and whose
prophet is Bismarck. We know better
than foreigners that, if Englishuen
abroad have for time lost something of
their self respect, it is owing to the
timid, penny-wise policy and the seuti.
mental delusions Of a government, and
not to any decay of the national spirit.
But morals are known TO deteriorate
when nations suffer in their selfrespect,
and the greater laxity of manners
among our travelling countrywomen is
an unpleasant coincidence, to say the
least of it. Time was when, if you saw
one of them regularly seated at the
tables, you could pronounce off-hand on
her character with little danger
of doing her injustice. Anouyma
risked her rouleaux when out
for her summer tour, or some fallen
Becky Sharpe came down in faded finery
from her garret to try and double the
form or two she had obtained from
doubtful charity. Now every one seems
to make their game, the women as freely
and boldly as the men, They may not
stake so heavily as Jewish bankers from
Frankfort Russian princes, Magyar
boyards, or Mediterranean mongrels,
and pour cause; but they play out to
the limits of their tetheF, and often their
tether appears to be pretty long one |
1t is not a case Of borrowing form or
two from husband father, or brother
throwing them endways on to the cloth,
blushing TO the roots Of the hair, as, see
ing them roll about, they explain to the
croupiers where they desired to place
them, and finally showing white teeth
and dimples when the stakes we're swept
up by the remOrseless rake. Not at all. |
Nova days the English maid or matron
draws in her chair in most business-like |
fashion, smilingly receiving the cards to |
cut from a gentleman with the brand Of
the galleys on his features, and possibly |
the mark of the chain on his ankle. On |
the other side she rubs shoulders with a
lady much better known than respected |
in the Partisan dancing-saloons, and
about whose vocation, indeed, there
could be no manner of doubt, even if
she did not G6icher it by costume ex-
cessively decOlietee and a tawdry blaze
Of Palais Royal jewelry. Not that in
her gorgeous show she has greatly
the disadvantage of her English
neighbor. Except that the jewels
OF the one are real, aud those
Of the other sham that the chains
Of "respectability" are gold, while those
Of disreputability are mosaic-the pair
might be intimates if not sisters. Pos
sibly week or so may bring them yet
nearer identity when the couple Of ladies
have established play-table intimacy,
and the English jewels have gone to the
For in the frankness Of
the excitement Of winning and losing as
the game goes on, the Englishwoman ex-
changes congratulations or condolences,
OF holds counsel with her neighbors, and
so the intimacy warns fast. The young
matrons may show themselves the more
easy at first on the strength Of their ma
tronhood, but in the greater exuberance
Of their girlish spirits the maids soon
make up for lost time when once they
are fairly intoxicated with the excite
ment The intOxication is kept up, for
when their impressionable natures have
been stepped in the spirit Of the game
they can never keep themselves away |
- the tables. There they are the FIRST


i IL