Sixteen Years Of Euchre

lwenty thousand games of euchre! This is the record of the play of the four Chicago gentlemen who have sat every Saturday evening for the past 16 years and engaged in that game which generally marks the initiation of every novice into the never ending mysteries of cards. Daniel Westervelt nd C. L. Root have played against Thomas Benton James and James Taylor. They have been urged many times to play whist or casino or pinochle or seven np, but never for one moment have they swerved from their devotion to euchre. To be absolutely correct, these four euchre players, these two pairs of faithful adherents to the powers of bowers, reached their nineteen thonsand six hundred and fif tieth game of euchre Saturday evëning, and upon the occasion of the twenty thousandth game each of the players intends arriving at the scène of play smoking a 50-cent cigar. Except on holidays or anniversaries, it is said, they are snpreinely indifferent to the quality of the tobáceo they burn. Thomas Itenton James is a pensioner of the wholesale house of Marshall Field & Co. He was a general salesman for that firm and its predecessors for 28 years, and about two years ago was placed upon the retired list with continued pay for services rendered. He is a sprightly gentleman of mature years, which he places at 69, but which his friends usually speak of as being somewhere ander 100. Mr. James' partner is James Taylor, a congenial companion with a life record of 70 years. It is said that James Taylor can indícate by a graduated system of pressure upon the foot of Thomas Benton -James whether he is holding right, left and ace, ten spot and queen, or no trumps at all. Daniel Westervelt is 73 years old. . He was a salesman for Field, Leiter & Co., afterward for A. T. Stewart & Co., and finally for Storm & Hill, retiring when the latter firm retired. C. L. Root is the "boy" of the quartet. He is only 63 and is considered rather wild and frisky by his companions. Mr. Root drove stage between Blue Mand and Chicago during the period between 1830 and 1840 and took no stock whatever in the future of the city. Every Saturday night as vegularly as the week roils around these four cronies meet and play euchre. They shift about, like Kittings of the supreme court, from one house to another, but they always sit in the same chairs and in the same relativo positions. Almost eight years ago Mr. James brought to a meeting a copy of "Cavendish on Whist," for which he carne near being expelled from the society. The four players have become so attached to the simple game of euchre that it is now a part of their very natures, and in the 16 years of their weekly contests only on an occasional case of sickness, to the number of three or four times in all, has canceled the engagement of either player. A complete record of the games is kept to show which side leads from year to year. At present Mr. James end his partner are 15-1 games ahead of their opponents. At the ten thousandth game they were 193 games in the lead, but have been losing for the last two years. For a period of five years there was no material gain for either side. All four of these lifetime euchreists are gentlemen rather simple in their customs, disinclined to adopt the intricacies of whist or the novelty of cinch, and are unwilling to concede that some Saturday night three of their number will meet at the appointed place, light their cigars, get the cards in readiness and wait for one who will never deal the cards asrain.