It is the pride of the enterprising "sports" and
"sharpers," who represent the baccalaureate degree of every known
vice. On the west, the "Adelphi" towers, with its grand gambling
saloon, its splendid "salle a manger," and cosey nooks presided
over by attractive Frenchwomen. Long tables, under crystal
chandeliers, offer a choice of roads to ruin. Monte, faro, rouge
et noir, roulette, rondo and every gambling device are here, to lure
the unwary. Dark-eyed subtle attendants lurk, ready to "preserve
order," in gambling parlance. At night, blazing with lights, the
superb erotic pictures on the walls look down on a mad crowd of
desperate gamesters. Paris has sent its most suggestive pictures
here, to inflame the wildest of human passions. Nymph and satyr
gleam from glittering walls; Venus approves with melting glances,
from costliest frames, the self-immolation of these dupes of fortune.
Every wanton grace of the artist throws a luxurious refinement of
the ideal over the palace of sin and shame.
Long counters, with splendid mirrors, display richest plate. They
groan with costliest glass, and every dark beverage from hell's
hottest brew. Card tables, and quiet recesses, richly curtained,
invite to self-surrender and seclusion.
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