THE BETTING YOUNG MAN.

Thames Star, Volume XII, Issue 3982, 3 October 1881, Page 2

THE BETTING YOUNG MAN.

We bad on board, as a matter of coarse, the betting young man. No steamer ever sailed across the Atlantic that did not hare this young fellow aboard, and there are enough of them to last for a great many years. He knew everything that everybody thinks they know, but do not, and his delight was to propound a query, and, when you had answered it, to rery coolly and exasperatingly remark : "Bet you a bottle of wine you're wrong."

The matter would be so simple and one of common repute, and immediately you accept the wager, only to find that in some minute particular you were wrong' and that the knowing youth had won.

For instance: " Thompson, do you know how many States there are in the Union ? "

Now any citizen in the United States who votes and is eligible to the Presidency ought to know how many States there are in his beloved country without thinking, but how many are there who can say offhand P And so poor Thompson answered:

" What a question ! Of course I know."

" Bet yer bottle ye don't!" "Done." "There are—" ■ . . l * ■ And then Thompson would find himself figuring the very important problem as to whether Colorado had been admitted, and Nevada and Oregon, and he would decide that one bad and the other hadn't, and finally state the number, with great certainty that it was wrong. The belting man's crowning bet occurred the last day out. The smoking room was tolerably full, as were the occupants, and everybody is on the last day. The betting man had been silent for an hour, when suddenly he broke oat: " Gentlemen " — ' " Oh, no more bets," was tbe ezclama* tion of tbe entire party. "Give us a rest." "Idon't want to bet, but I can show you something curious." " Well?" " I say it and mean it. I can drink a glass of water without it going down my throat." . . " And get it iuto your stomach P"J . "Certainly." ----- . - There was a-silence of considerably more than a minute. Every man in the room had been victimised by this gatherer ap of inconsiderable trifles, and there was v general disposition to get the better of him in some way, if possible. Here was the opportunity. How could a man get a glass of water into his stomach without its going down his throat P Impossible! And so the usual bottle of wine was wagered, and the betting man proceeded to accomplish the supposed impossible feat. It was very easily done. All he did was to stand upon his head on the seat that runs round the room and swallow a glass of water. It went to his stomach, but did not go down his throat. It went up his throat. And so his last triumph was greater than all.his previous ones, for every man id the room had beeu eager to accept his wager. From that time out had he offered to wager that he would . swallow his own head he would have got no takers.