mized_.

"And there were several offered any bet,
Or that he would, or that he would not come;
For most men (till by losing rendered sager),
Will back their own opinions with a wager."
--_Byron's "Beppo."_

Some people are born gamblers, and resemble Jim Smiley, of Mark Twain's
"Jumping Frog." Jim was "always betting on anything that turned up, if
he could get anybody to bet on the other side; and if he couldn't he'd
change sides. Any way that suited the other man would suit _him_--any
way just so's he got a bet, _he_ was satisfied." If there was a
horse-race, we are told, "you'd find him flush or you'd find him busted
at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, he'd bet on it; if there was
a cat-fight, he'd bet on it; why, if there was two birds setting on a
fence, he would bet you which one would fly first."

Despite all efforts of repressive legislation, games of chance are in
vogue all over the country. Gambling is practiced everywhere. Tourists
to and from Europe engage in draw-poker and other games of chance, while
they make pools and lay wagers on the distance sailed per day, or the
length of the voyage, and on the number of the pilot-boat that will
first be hailed. Gambling prevails on board those splendid steamers that
ply up and down the great rivers of the country, and more than one
passenger, driven to distraction by his losses at the gaming-table, has
thrown himself overboard. Our legislators occasionally while away the
time in traveling between Albany and New York in a poker-game, and they
frequently meet each other at their lodgings around the capitol for the
same purpose. At picnics in summer, when Nature wears her most enticing
garmenture, groups of young men may be discovered separated from the
merry-making multitude, jammed into some nook with a pack of cards,
cutting, dealing, playing, revoking, scoring and snarling, wholly
engrossed in the game.

No game of chance is more extensively played in New York City than
policy. Many people are disposed to regard policy as the negro's game
exclusively, but this is a great mistake. Policy embraces all classes in
its ranks, and the white devotees of the game outnumber the colored five
to one. Among the patrons of the policy-shops which, despite police
raids and surveillance, still flourish in the district, of which the
Post Office may be considered the focus, may be seen lawyers,
journalists, advertising agents,