Life — March 18, 1886 — page 10: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AT WASHINGTON. ‘THIS 1S NOT AN ALAKM OF FIRE, THE MINISTER HAS INADVERTENTLY ALLUDED TO THE TEMPTATION OF EVE, AND WASHING- TON MODESTY IS SHOCKED AGAIN. . A FAR WEST EULOGY. CORRESPONDENT at Bowie, Arizona, sends to LiFe this eulogy on the death of a noted gambler: “ Again has the death angel made a play in our camp. He swooped down last night and immediately lit out again, and bore away the immortal soul of as square a man as ever turned a card or coppered a bet. «Jim Evans was one of nature’s noblemen, and we feel that nothing can ever again stake us after such a great loss. In the stirring game of life he always played his bets wide open, and if the cards run against him he never beefed. He just took things as they came, without a kick, and now that he has been compelled to jump the game, our hearts are sore and our tears patter in mournful unison on the bar as we stand and silently drink to his memory. “Jim's manhood and true nobility of soul cropped out in his every act. He would never pick up a tenderfoot and play him for a sucker and pull his leg for all his dust, but would take him kindly in hand and teach him how to act at a bar and how to buck at the different games, and do all he could to elevate him and make a man of him It seemed to be his constant aim to get hold of the in- nocent and inexperienced, and by his wise teachings and careful training make them nobler and better. After Jim had taken hold of a tenderfoot who had always drank cocktails and other fancy drinks, and had trained him for a while, the look of real pleasure and proud satisfaction which would light down and camp on his face when he would see his pupil walk up to a bar and call for whisky straight must have drawn forth hearty applause from the angels up yonder. But now he is gone ! “ Death loves a shining mark, and she, hit a dandy when she turned loose on Jim. He never played a short card nor overlooked a bet, a fact that is recorded on the unsullied pages of the Book of Life above. He was square and open in all his dealings, and never weakened on a bluff as long as he had a chip to back it up. “Alas, poor Jim! But why should we mourn, for he is happier now? Away up beyond yonder star-studded battle- ments of glory Jim is standing with his breeches in his boots, sizing up the place and trying to catch onto the points of the game. We lost, and heaven took down the bet, and why should we kick? If the cards run against us, it was n't on account of any funny business on the part of the dealer. “Good-bye, old boy, and may your last sleep be as quiet and peaceful as the noonday snooze of a babe. And when the last trump shakes up the earthly echoes and Gabriel calls court up above, may you go through the cross-examination without making a bad break.” THE MANDOLIN. ANG up the banjo, for it has had its day. The man- dolin has come into vogue. ; Does anybody ask, What ¢s a mandolin? In the guilelesé simplicity of her heart old Mrs. Perkins may suspect that the mandolin is a Chinese officer or a new kind of cosmetic; but itis not. It is a musical instrument. As soon as her hus- band, John, hears the girls strumming in the parlor, however, he seriously asks himself the question, ‘Is life worth living ? Is it?” Then he puts on his hat and goes out drearily into the cold, sable, slippery night in search of an opium-joint, where he may lapse into a state of torpor. comicbooks.com