Oct. 3, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



269 



AN ILLUSTRATED 



MAGAZINE OF SCIENCE 



PLAINUWORDED-EXACTLYDESCRIBH) 



LONDON: FRIDAY, OCT. 3, 1884. 



OONTENTS OP No. 15.3. 



PAOX 



Gambling, Show-Praying, and Lec- 

 turing at Sea. By B. A. Proctor 269 



Pleasant Hours with the Mioroacope. 

 (Illui.) By H. J. Slack 270 



Dreams. IX. Bv E. Clodd 272 



The Philadelphia International 

 Electrical Exhibition 273 



The Earth's Shape and Motions. 

 {Ilhii.) By E. A. Proctor 271 



Dickens's Story left Half Told. By 

 Thomas Foster 276 



International Health Exhibition. 

 XVIII 277 



PAGE 



Optical Recreations, (7f/u«.) By 



I F.E.A.S 278 



Grass of Parnassus. By Grant 



Allen 280 



The Polytechnic. By W. SUngo ... 281 

 The Inflnitelv Great 'and the Infi- 



nitelT Little. By R. A. Proctor... 282 



Editorial Gossip 2«3 



Seriews 283 



Total Eclipse of the Moon on 



October* 'iSt 



Correspondence 285 



I Our Chess Column 288 



GAMBLING, SHOW-PRAYING, AND 

 LECTURING AT SEA. 



By Richard A. Proctor. 



MR. THOMAS HUGHES, Q.C., the author of "Tom 

 Browii's School days at Rugby," arrived in New 

 York on August 31, on the City of Rome, e/a route for 

 Rugby, Tenn. He was intei-viewed by a reporter of the 

 Nev Yorh Herald, who reports that Mr. Hughes was fired 

 with enthusiasm, not so much in relation to the new Rugby 

 and its proposed school, as about a disturbance which had 

 occurred on the steamer coming over. 



The following is the report of the interview : — 



" There are on the deck of the steamer," Mr. Hughes 

 explained, " two rooma — one a smoking-room, and one a 

 reading-room. The reading-room is supposed to be for the 

 use of the ladies as well as the gentlemen. Monday, the 

 third day out, they turned the room into a card-room and 

 smoking-room, going on with cards, draughts, kc, all day. 

 Well, I went off to the smoking-room, and found that 

 there had been a baccarat bank started there. A man 

 from Australia — a perfectly good, honest fellow he was, 

 but he made his living that way — had started the game 

 with three other men, all middle-aged. The bank was a 

 perfectly square one and the play was entirely honest, so 

 far as I know and believe. 



"This was kept up all day, and up to the time of 

 putting out the lights and going to bed, and every day 

 after that, from eleven o'clock in the morning till bedtime, 

 this baccarat bank was kept going ; and there was much 

 of the time a row of players five or six deep around the 

 game. Many of these were mere boys, lads of twenty or 

 less, who were allowed to punt their shillings or dollars, 

 or more. The stake was sometimes up to £f>, I believe. 



"Now, I do not object to the baccarat going on, but 

 what I did object to was its being carried on openly, and 

 boys being allowed to join in the game. And I objected, 

 as many others did, to the reading-room being made inac- 

 cessible to the ladies. So one of the passengers, a friend 

 of mine, drew up a memorial, and I led the signatures with 

 my own. It was signed by a large number of the 

 passengers. 



"This paper was lying on the saloon table, and the 

 passengers were signing it in great numbers, when I was 

 told that a fellow named Lord was up on deck talking 

 about it and telling all sorts of lies about what we were 

 doing. I went right up and spoke to him. I asked him 

 if he had read the memorial, and he admitted that he had 

 not. Then there was some sharp talk, and a friend of mine, 

 a young American gentleman, struck one of the other side. 

 Of course, we stopped them at once, but there were some 

 sharp discussions afterward and a great deal of bad feeling. 



"Since we landed," he continued, " we have presented 

 the memorial to the agents here, and they say they do not 

 propose to do anything about it, so I want the press to take 

 it up. It is going to do a great deal of hurt if our youth 

 are to be exposed to this temptation. A great proportion 

 of the travellers on these steamers are mere boys, and I do 

 not think it right or proper that tliey should be admitted 

 to any game of this kind. Baccarat is not allowed at our 

 clubs in London, and it seems a jiity that it should be 

 played openly on the steamers " 



" Capt. R. D. Monroe, the commander of the ship," adds 

 the New York Herald, " said that many persons at sea like 

 to pass the time by playing cards for money. The amount 

 of gambling on the City of Rome's last trip was not serious. 

 The trouble, he thought, was caused by a young man of 

 twenty losing more money than was convenient, but the 

 circumstances were not such as would justify Capt. 

 Monroe's interference. He thought that his refusal to 

 permit prayer-meetings to be held in the saloon had some- 

 thing to do with the memorial. He did not hear of the 

 paper till the vessel reached quarantine." 



I made my own last journey to America in the City of 

 Ro77ie, and although I made certain betting transactions 

 which took place on that ship the theme of a short article 

 on the inaneness of the method for passing time to which 

 Capt. Monroe refers, I must say the gambling on board the 

 City of Rome was not greater than usual. In the saloon, 

 indeed, there was less gambling than usual — all the whist, 

 for instance, being for " love," whereas usually a good deal 

 of high play takes place in a quiet way. (I remember a 

 case, nine years ago, in which a young New Yorker of 

 moderate means, playing with three merchants who made 

 the points a sovereign apiece with a five-pound note on 

 the rubber, lost a much larger sum in an evening than he 

 could probably earn in a month.) I heard of much poker 

 being played in the smoking and reading-rooms ; but as I 

 was never in the former and only in the latter to get and 

 return books for my family, I can onlv speak from hearsay. 

 I take it, poker is as busy a gambling game as baccarat ; 

 only the latter seems regarded as .suitable for clubs, till 

 forbidden by law, while poker seems an appropriate game 

 for cowboys et id genus omne. 



I must confess I rather pity the captains of ocean 

 steamers, when the rival claims of gambling and show- 

 piety are brought before them. Only, if Capt. Monroe did 

 right, as he unquestionably did, in not allowing the use of 

 the saloon for prayer-meetings, he would have done right 

 in forbidding the use of the smoking-room for a baccarat 

 bank, supposing always be was asked to do so. The saloon, 

 smoking-room, and reading-room of an ocean steamer are for 

 the use of the passengers as a body, not for any particular set. 

 If a large majority of the passengers agree to the use of any 

 of these rooms for a special purpose — the captain and 

 purser assenting — it is fitting for the minority to yipld. 

 For instance, there is always a certain minority opposed to 

 the use of the saloon for entertainments, dramatic, musical, 

 and otherwise : but they generally put up readily enough 

 with what is to them an annoyance so long as it lasts. As 

 regards prayer-meetings (on week-days), they are never 



