On Every Other Side There Were
Costly Hotels And Costly Restaurants, Including That Of The Unexampled,
The Insurpassable Giro, Where One Saw People Eating And Drinking At The
Windows Whenever One Passed, By Day Or Night.
Beyond the Casino seaward
were the beautiful terraces, planted with palms and other tropic
growths, where people might come
Out and kill themselves when they had
nothing left to lose but their lives; and against the dark green of
their fronds the temple of fortune lifted a frosted-cake-like front of
long extent. I do not know just what type of architecture it is of, but
it distinctly suggests the art of the pastry cook when he has triumphed
in some edifice crowning the centre of the table at a great public
dinner. What mars the pleasing effect most is a detail which enforces
this suggestion, for the region of the Casino is thickly frequented by a
species of black doves, and when these gather in close lines of black
dots along the eaves, they have exactly the effect of flies clustering
on the sugary surfaces of the cake. At intervals are bronze statues of
what seem a sort of adolescent cherubs, but which have, I do not know
why, a peculiarly devilish appearance. No doubt they are harmless
enough; but certainly they do nothing to keep the flies off the cake.
In fine, as an edifice the Casino disappoints, and if one is not
pressingly curious about the interior, one rather lingers on the terrace
overlooking the sea, and the lines of the railroad following the shore,
and the panorama of the several towns. It is charming to sit there, and
if it is in the afternoon, you may see an artist there painting
water-colors of the scenery. Even if he were not painting, you could not
help knowing him for an artist, because he wears a black velvet jacket
and knickerbockers, and a soft slouch hat, and has a curled black
mustache and pointed beard; there is no mistaking him; and at a given
moment, after he has been working long enough, he puts above his sketch
the sign, "For Sale," as artists always do, and then, if you want a
masterpiece, you go down a few steps from where you are sitting and buy
it. But I never did that any more than I took tickets for the charity
automobile, though there is no telling what I might not have done if I
had broken the bank when at last I went into the Casino.
It seems to open about eleven o'clock in the morning, for gamblers are
hard-working, impatient people, and do not want to lose time. A broad
stretch of red carpet is laid down the steps from the portal and they
begin to go in at once, and people keep going in until I know not what
hour at night. But I think mid-afternoon is the best hour to see them,
and it is then that I will invite the reader to accompany me,
instructing him to turn to the left on entering, and get his gratis
billet of admission to the rooms from the polite officials there in
charge, who will ask for his card, and inquire his country and city, but
will not insist upon his street and his number in it.
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