Page:Brinkley - Japan - Volume 6.djvu/82

 himself as a vicious person. Certain sections of the lower orders, on the other hand, are not restrained by any sentiment of self-respect in this matter. Grooms, drawers of jinrikisha, and carriers of kago often while away the intervals of their toil with a game of cards, and stake their hardly earned coins on the result. One may occasionally see a group of these men, huddled together in some out-of-the-way corner and rapt in their illicit pursuit, while one of their number stands sentinel to watch for the coming of a constable. The law is very strict. Whenever and wherever he is observed, the card-player for money may be arrested. There must be distinct evidence, however, that money changes hands. Gambling-houses do not exist and never have existed. The three-card man, the hunt-the-pea artist, and the roulette board are not seen at public fêtes. They would be promptly "run in." But the professional gambler does exist. So far as his art is concerned, he is generally a poor species of ruffian. Loaded dice and sufficient sleight of hand to substitute them for the legitimate ivories are his stock in trade. There is no scope for skill, nor any redeeming doctrine of chances and probabilities. Youths with money or expectations are enticed into the society of these professionals, and robbed until they are no longer worth robbing. Still the field for exercising talent so rudimentary is very limited. The