FIVE-LEAF CLOVER.

Observer, Volume 9, Issue 525, 12 January 1889, Page 13

FIVE-LEAF CLOVER.

This curious advertisement appealed in a K essYork morning paper recently : GAMBLERS, SPECULATORS AXi> BETTIKr, \JT men— Fovsulo— Talisinsni, Iwo iivo-kwred clovers; price, lOOdoh cuoli. Address. _ It discloses one of the weaknesses of some gamblers, who are notoriously addicted to hoodoos talismans, lucky trinkets and the like. It is impossible to get these superstitious players to sit at a game of cards without a lucky silver piece on the table, a knifo blade turned tosvar.l the jac'v pot, a handkerchief tied around their left leg, a bent toothpick alongside their pile of chips or some oC the other multitudinous ' lucky ' devices for wooing the smiles oi' fortune brought into play on the cards. It is something decidedly new, however, for any one to place so high a value as lOOdola on a talisman, and a New York Sun reporter strove to find out whether the alleged ' hoodoo ' was worth as much as that, and whether there was anything substantial about its alleged lucky influence. The advertisement was shown to Al Smith, who has sat at games at which all sorts of talismans have been brought to bear on the game. ' I don't believe in bugs myself,' said he, casually coining a new name for the supposed lucky gambling charms, but I've heard of fiveleaf clovers being used, and. I suppose there are some queer people who might think it worth more than $100 to get hold of one. But an eye on the dealer and keeping your wits about you are better security against ill fortune than any amount of bugs.' Police Captain Eeilly shook his head when asked about the clover. ' Never heard of a five-leaf clover,' he said, ' buo I do know that four-leaf clovers are lucky. They're called shamrocks in Ireland, and the shamrock is always lucky. But when it comes to gambling, I don't believe a five-leaf or a fourleaf or any other kind of clover would influence a game. Everything depends upon the play there. The reporter went out into the country wnere clover is abundant, and asked about the talisman clover. These inquiries revealed that where the clover grows the five-leaf variety is looked upon as being as unlucky to the finder as an opal is regarded among city gamblers. We never pick five-leaf clover,' a farmer said. ' They're bad luck. But the four-leafed clover are a treasure, especially to the girls. They think it means winning a husband inside a year to find a four-leaf clover.