GAMBLING SPIRIT
(By Henry Wood.)
PARIS, June 10.— (By Mail)—
Every man is born a gambler. Some
succeed in subduing the instinct,
others dabble now and then, tempting
tickle fortune, while the rest are at
it all the time, betting with death
and the devil as to whether their
souls will ultimately go up or down.
I have just been told of a young
soldier who belonged to the last
named class. He is badly wounded
and in a hospital not far from Ver
dun, but they say he tries to bet
with his nurse on his chances of re
covery, be agreeing to take either
end of the. wager. Until he was mo
bilized eight months ago he was a
young clerk at the Bourse, or, as the
soldier who told the story put it,
He pushed a pencil on the stock
exchange.” When he arrived at the
front he brought his passion with
him. He. played bridge, seven-up,
poker, manilia, checkers and chess;
he rolled the bones, pitched pennies,
matched coins, gambled any and all
sorts of ways. He would bet on
anything.
"My ration of spinach against
yours that it rains today before 4
o’clock,” he would say apropos of
nothing any fine morning around
grub time.
' Bet your section gets a grenade
before mine does,” he would offer
in the trenches. And when a shell
fell in the midst of a group of sol
diers he would count those left
standing and instinctively cry out,
"Even!” or “Odd!” as the case
might b’.
When the Germans began their
smash against Verdun the young
clerk found himself with a few
others of his company in a very ex
posed advance post. Shells fell
around them thick as hail, explod
ing and pitting the ground like
you’ve seen rain pitt the surface of
a millpond. "Let’s bet on the cali
bres.” he remarked to a friend at
his left.
“All right,” came the answer.
"For how much?”
"A big sou on each.”
"Bon!”
"The next in our section will be
a 220,” the clerk hazarded.
“I say it will be a 350,” the other
said.
The shell came, a 155 milimeter
calibre, and the clerk cashed, he
being nearest.
And so it went on for ten minuter,
the two exchanging big sous (2-cent
pieces) after each explosion, with
holding payment when in doubt but
doubling on the next. They were
kept busy repairing with pick and
shovel the damage done their earth
works, hut the betting continued,
just the same.
“Two-forty for the next!” sang
out the pencil pusher.
“A 305,” guessed the other.
Bang!
The shell threw dirt all over
them both, so near had it fallen. A
man in their section dropped like a
shot.
“It was a 305! A 305!” yelled
the winner, picking up and exhibit
ing the shell's timer which by
chance stuck in the trench wall near
him.
“You win” the stock exchange
chap said, weakly. He was wobbling
on his legs and was terribly pale.
“The next is a 77.”
Then he fell unconscious, just as
his friend was calling out “155” as
his parry.
Scarcely were the words out of
his mouth before there was a crash
—which the bettor did not hear, for
he. got a fragment of the bursting
shell on his cranium.
In a second line hospital a few
days later the pals found them
selves in adjoining cots.
“You won the last one,” one of
them said. “It was a 77. The sur
geon saved the piece for me as a
souvenir. Lucky thing it didn't
break my hard head, else you’d
never get your sou.”
“That makes me two francs on
you, then,” the clerk replied in a
very faint voice—for he had four
shrapnel bullets still in his torso.
“Let's make it double or quits. Even
money I get out of here before you
do.”
This incident gives you a picture
of one side of Verdun—or any other
sector along the French front. There
can be no doubt about it; the troops
are war-hardened.
Splintering sfde.l, the crash of
high explosives, death, wounds, the
whole smear, has become a habit
out of which race-old instincts, like
love, hate and gambling, rise and
take their place.
MARRIAGE NOT A LOTTERY,
ASSERTS ST. LOUIS PLAYER
There have been quite a number of
St Louis Browns married since that
team was instituted, so it won't be
giving away the name of the player
to repeat the following yarn, which
Jack O'Connor tells of one of the
American league bunch who got tied
up matrimonially:
According to O’Connor, wedded life
went along smoothly for a time, al
though the benedict somewhat resent
ed the demands of his fellow players
that he name his baby Bill because it
! came on the 1st of the month. But
after a couple of years the ties of mar
riage commenced to pall upon the
player.
O’Connor says that Jesse Burkett
tried to condole with the player and to
1 cheer him in the gloom into which he
had fallen.
"Buck up, old man," said Burkett;
"marriage Is only a lottery anyway.”
His teammate looked at him gloom
ily.
“Not much it ain't,” he responded
bitterly. “In a lottery you can always
get another ticket”
__
MATTY A MASTER STILL.
Giants’ Veteran Pitcher, Sixteen Years
In Big Game, Still a Boss.
They call him the "Old Master,”
Christopher Mathewson, who through
the sweep of sixteen years of baseball
| play has endeared himself to New
j York fandom ns no player ever en
shrined himself In the hearts of his
! constituents. -
Fans all over the country have been
Interested In Mathewson this spring.
They cheered him hopefully, for old
time's sake, when he made his debut
on the mound against the Braves at the
Polo grounds before the team left for
the west. They were with him In spirit
every time he went In the box away
from home.
They are content now, for the “Old
Master,” at the age of thlrty-slx, be
ginning his seventeenth campaign as a
Giant, has shown that he Is still one of
the snpermoundsmen of the game.
Fate threatened to end the “Old
Master's" career last year. He Injured
his left shoulder In some way, and It
pained him so much when be raised
Ms arms over his head to pitch that he
lost his effectiveness. As he had
reached the age of thirty-five, it was
not believed by many that he would
recover his form.
Matty went south to Marlin early
Gils spring. He worked slowly. The
weather that the Giants enjoyed was
very warm, yet the “Old Master" did
ittle pitching.
He tossed the medicine ball about,
played handball and ran around the
Photo hy American Press Association
MATHBWSON POTTING ONE OVEK.
park. Now and then he warmed up
and threw a few to the batters In prac
tice.
McGraw let him do as he pleased.
But when real hot days came along
and Matty showed no desire to work
an exhibition game even the scribes
with the team began to lose heart
They became convinced that the "Old
Master” himself realized that he was
through and would not try to work.
In Baton Itouge the boys of the Loul
slana university asked Matty to pitch
against them. It was u cold, raw day.
but Big Six went in and worked seven
innings. lie did not try »o put any
thing on the ball, so it was impossible j
to get a line on his form.
Even McGraw did not know Just how
much he could count on the “Old Mas
ter" this season when the Giants reach
ed home. Matty told Mae he would
try himself out the first warm day
Then he went in to pitch against the
Braves.
The Braves beat him in the first hi 1
ning that day because his support wab- I
bled. He went the full distance, how
ever, getting better all the time. He
convinced every one that he had come
back a long way.
The “Old Master” bids fair to prove a
big factor in the Giants' tight for this
year's pennant. He may know the glo
ry of another world’s series before time
ends his career forever. Here’s hoping
GREATEST LOSERS
LONDON, June 27.—Somebody is
going to lose financially by the war,
of course, but authorities are not
agreed as to whether it will be
everybody or not. The answer most
generally given is the affirmative—
that all classes will suffer.
Certain optimists, however, think
perhaps—they are not certain—
that the masses will be better off
after than before the war. Their
hope is that those who have hitherto |
been society parasites will have to !
foot the bills. These theorists j
argue: “'The parasites’ money did
the masses no good when the para
sites had it; it can do the masses
no harm to have it taken away from
the parasites.”
It is further argued that such a
situation would imply an economic
readjustment which must make for
better conditiong bxcept for those
who have lived in the past on pro
duction by file actual workers.
The View is not held by socialists
alone. A number of men who be
long to the class which must do the.
financial suffering, should the fore
cast be borne out by events, think
the same thing, or, rather, are
afraid the prediction is an accurate
one. It looks, as they express it, as
if 'the aristocracy will have to go
to week.”
H. G. Selfridge, the American de
partment store proprietor, for sev
eral years now in business in Lon
don, for example, in effect expressed
this opinion in a recent exclusive in
terview to the United Press. Self
ridge, however, as a man himself
actively in' business, spoke of the
possible development as a thing to
be desired. A good many others
who agree with him - want no such
change because it will be at their
expense, but nevertheless they be
lieve the signs indicate that it can
not be avoided
WHEN INSURANCE DAY
COMES WHO PAYS PREMIUM?
LONDON, June 27.-—Now that
the married meri of England are
drafted to the front, the cry has
arisen from English homes:
"Who’ll keep our life insurance
paid up while we're at the front?”
The government is expected to set
aside a sum to keep up the payments
for married men
EXPERT BAGGAGE SMASHERS
RISCVSS YOUR TRl'XK
BOSTON, June 27.—America’s
expert baggage smashers convened
here to talk about your trunk.
First glance at the. gathering
proved that the baggage smasher at
home is not the baggage smasher on
holiday.
The baggage smasher at home is
very tough. In his native environ
ment, trundling a hand trunk
through canyons of brass bound bag
gage. he affects a uniform cap over
one ear and a pencil over the other.
He carries one shoulder high and
talks in a rough voice out of one
corner of his mouth. At home, in
short, the baggage smasher is a man
all twisted up; but here, today, he
is slick and spick; and just looking
at him you wouldn’t suspect that he
would smash the dickens out of
anything from a hand satchel to an
armored battleship, if it came in as
luggage.
No smasher could be found who
would explain how it is that bag
gageman can find a>» individual
trunk so quickly in the stacks and
stacks of them that daily roll in and
out of the great railroad stations of
the country. But they do it, and
they must have credit for that.
THE MODJX, 4TH, E AND F STS.
Power boat offices at The Model
for Knik and Matanuska, Kern
creek, Hope and way points.
C. F. PETERSON, Agent.
Kept clean, fresh and well venti
lated, and the proper place to take
your frjends to play a game of
pocket billiprds or straight billiards,
bowl a game or buy a cold drink or
smoke a good cigar. We have it
all and courtesy is our motto. Rob
erts’ Billiard and Bowling Parlors.
ALASKA.
The land of opportunity. Gov
ernment building $35,000,000 rail
road: placer and gold quartz, copper
and other minerals abound. Rich in
agricultural resources. Anchorage
Daily Times, Anchorage, Alaska, $1
per month, keeps you posted. Week
ly Times, $3 per year; $1.50 for six
months; in advance.
Boys! Try the Tacoma Cafe.
6-15tf.
I Bi Mil
Opp. Postoffice
Our Big 1-2 Price Slaughtering Sale of
Men’s Suits
Commences tomorrow. You better hurry
if you want to get a Suit at less than out
side Retail Prices. We are cutting prices
in 1-2.
MEN S SUITS, Fancy Tweeds,
the Latest Cut and Style, $20 values,
Sale Price $10.
Men’s Suits, Hand Tailored, $30 values,
Sale Price $15.
Men’s Dress Trousers, $5.00 values
Sale Price $2.50.
Men’s Working Pants, $3.00 values
Sale Price $1.50.
Special Sale on Turkish Towels. 50 dozen
Towels, large sizes, 2 for 25c.
Boy s Suits
The Latest Styles at Outside Prices.
Men’s and Boy’s Hats at Outside Prices.
The BON MARCHE
Opp. Postoffice
>
1