Leaves from a Madeira Garden 



It pays for the croupiers and the lights, and for 

 sweet music to soothe your sorrows ; that if 

 you commit suicide on the premises it will 

 charge itself with your burial ; surely for all 

 these services it is a small thing that when you 

 back a winning number, one of the 37 on the 

 board, it pays you 35, instead of 2)^^ times 

 your stake. This is a very modest deduction 

 from such noble winnings ; and if (as is more 

 probable) you lose, you have nothing further 

 to pay whatever. And think of the possi- 

 bilities ; in a few minutes a sovereign may 

 gather to itself hundreds. But you cannot 

 expect that to happen every day ; and if you 

 are here for some time, and wish to make the 

 most of your opportunities, you will play a 

 " system." This is a very certain method of 

 losing in the end ; but it is quite possible that 

 you may take a long time dying. And you 

 will be able to find occupation for your morn- 

 ings in looking over your system in the light 

 of yesterday's results, in darning holes in it, as 

 it were, in readiness for the evening's en- 

 counter ; or if it be worn too threadbare, in 

 inventing a new one. 



I hope that other readers of Wordsworth 



46 



