mon
in the work-a-day world of America.

At that time I was still too new to Far West society, to be able to
distinguish its features. Besides, in the United States, and
particularly in the western portion of the country, those peculiarities
of dress and habit, which in the Old-World form, as it were, the
landmarks of the professions, do not exist. You may meet the preacher
wearing a blue coat and bright buttons; the judge with a green one; the
doctor in a white linen jacket; and the baker in glossy black broadcloth
from top to toe!

Where every man assumes the right to be a gentleman, the costumes and
badges of trade are studiously avoided. Even the tailor is
undistinguishable in the mass of his "fellow-citizens." The land of
character-dresses lies farther to the south-west--Mexico is that land.

I stood for some time watching the gamesters and the game. Had I not
known something of the banking peculiarities of the West, I should have
believed that they were gambling for enormous sums. At each man's right
elbow lay a huge pile of bank-notes, flanked by a few pieces of silver--
dollars, halves, and quarters. Accustomed as my eyes had been to
bank-notes of five pounds in value, the table would have presented to me
a rich appearance, had I not known that these showy parallelograms of
copper-plate and banking-paper, were mere "shin-plasters," representing
amounts that varied from the value of one dollar to that of six and a
quarter cents! Notwithstanding, the bets were far from being low.
Twenty, fifty, and even a hundred dollars, frequently changed hands in a
single game.

I perceived that the hero of the false alarm was one of the players.
His back was towards me where I stood, and he was too much engrossed
with his game to look around.

In dress and general appearance he differed altogether from the rest.
He wore a white beaver hat with broad brim, and a coat of great "jeans,"
wide-sleeved and loose-bodied. He had the look of a well-to-do
corn-farmer from Indiana or a pork-merchant from Cincinnati. Yet there
was something in his manner that told you river-travelling was not new
to him. It was not his first trip "down South." Most probably the
second supposition was the correct one--he was a dealer in hog-meat.

One of the fine gentlemen I have described sat opposite to where I was
standing. He appeared to be losing considerable sums, which the farmer
or pork-merchant was winning. It proved that the