YANKEE GRAB.

Waipawa Mail, Volume I, Issue 5, 28 September 1878, Page 3

YANKEE GRAB.

(From the Australasias.) Gambling, as a pastime, has been wbin time immemorial. It has prevailed in all ages and amongst all Jieoplcn ; heathen as well as Christian, few and Gentile, high and low’, rich and poor, one with another. The invention of dice-playing, from all accounts, must be very ancient. It is said by one authority to date from the Siege of Troy, and one A lea, a warrior, has ths honor of being the inventor. Another authority mentions Palamides for the honor. It was after having slain the son of Ampliidamas in a game of dice, that PatroclcH was sent from home on a visit to King Peleusof Plithia. Herodotus says that dice were invented by the Lydians, “ Not as a pastime, but for assuaging or at least forgetting the pangs of hunger.” Martial, Suetonius, Ovid, Terence, Cicero, Plautis in their writings all spoke of dice The Homan emperors and the Huns also used dice, but games of hazard were forbidden by the Komans under the Republic. Aristotle says, “ Gamblers are worse than thieves; the latter expose themselves to peril for the sake of gain, but the former rob their friends.’* The drawing of lots, referred to both in the Old and New Testaments, was a species of gambling. It was in this way that Matthias was chosen to be of the number of the apostles, and the Saviour’s garments were divided by the Jews casting lots for them. All through English history we have records of the prevalence of gambling and dice throwing. In the sixteenth century it was found necessary to pass a statute declaring the lawful games, in consequence of the “ many and sundry new and crafty games.” In the reign of Charles 11., and later, in that of Queen Anne, statutes were passed that all bonds and securities for money won at play should be utterly void, and in the tirst decade of the present reign wagers were made no longer exigible in a court of law’. ►Shakspcare in no less than nine of his plays makes reference to dice. “ Do low-rated English play at dice, ami chide cripple, tardy-gaited night.” is in allusion to the English army the night before the battle of Agin court, l'al staff, after lamenting to the hostess the “villanous company which hath been the spoil of him,” declares that he “diced not above seven times a week.” Edward Moore, in his tragedy of “The Gamester,” written in the middle nart of the past century, attacked the vice very powerfully, and wrote the prologue often Quoted; but not withstanding all that lias bet*n said and all that lias been done, gambling is just as prevalent in this nineteenth century as at any period since the world began. In this Melbourne of ours the gambling spirit is very strong, and finds vent in a variety of ways— in backing horses, oil the turf, in card-playing, and in diee-tbrowing, to say nothing of fantan, and the various descriptions of lotteries, from the Chinese to that of the church bazaar. In Melbourne the form of gambling more freely cultivated than any other in dicethrowing takes the shape of “ Yankee grab” is essentially a public-house game, and one that would scarcely be tolerated outside the bar parlour. In nearly every hotel bar a dice box is kept, and the usual “ shilling in ” Jiffords an excuse for the production of the “ box.” Hut the “ shilling in, and the winner shouts,” is generally only the preliminary, the publican being duly appeased by the order of a round of drinks. • The game then proceeds for a “ dry” pool —that is, there is no deduction on account of liquors—and the ball, being once set a-rolling, goes merrily on, sometimes into the small hours of the rooming, but “ Lc jeu n’en vaut pas la chandelle,” for in most instances the Yankee grabbers are not of the class of gamblers to play high, and a whole sitting of several hours may result in only a few shillings in or out either way, unless the tie game is played, and then, indeed, the shillings lost or won may be soon multiplied into pounds. It will be seen that in the “tie game" a commencement of a shilling each with six players may very soon increase the pool to something considerable. In the event of ties, those who have previously thrown out are allowed to “ buy in” at half the amount of the whole pool in tlie event of two ties, and a third if three ties, and so on. A"succession of ties would soon make the process of buying in very expensive, and even in the small games which not unfroqucntly take place under the eyes of the public, as much is paid by young men to buy into a pool as would probably cover their earnings in a month. The young men who spend their leisure in playing Yankee grab are not professed gamblers. Like Sir Harry Bumper, it is not necessary that they should “ diet leniently for gambling,” or place themselves “ under a hazard regimen lmt like Sir Charles Surface, have the better luck when they are merry. Y'ankee grab is a fair and square tme, and, as a rule, occasions but »tle cause for quarrel. A run of oi%a luck will sometimes cause irritation, but a man who sits himself down to play must take fortune how it comes. If dice throwing is to form one of the amusements of the young men of the period, then the game of Yankee grab is the most harmless that can be praci ised, and infinitely less dangerous than hazard, which, being more seductive and inure gambling, is generally

more ruinous in its consequences. There is an old provision still extant against playing in taverns, hut it seems to be a dead letter, certainly so far as concerns Yankee grab, which appears to be permissible in every licensed house, as though it were really not a gambling game at all. In some houses the rattle of the “ bones” is beard nightly, and the game is played openly and in sight of all coiners, the very sight of the dice oftentimes affording a temptation to onlookers t<_ join in. It is this system of public-house gambling that is objectionable, and steps should be taken by the authorities to prevent it by enforcing the penalty, instead of, as at present, tacitly permitting it. It would be an Augean labour, indeed, to attempt to put down gambling in any shape. It cannot be prevented in private circles, but it can be prevented in public-houses, where the police and the licensing magistrate should have some control. The publican benefits by keeping a dice-box handy. It serves to keep customers in the house, and they cannot utilise the time without providing some compensation by spending money on drink. “ Small habits -well pursued betimes May reach the dignity of crimes.”