f
1
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"4 V.
, - HISTORICAL SOCIETY. f.
Southern Convention of Con2re5atsnl E&Uza c::.;l.-.
OFEIClAL '.QH'AN ',0$ llHE PROHIBITIONISTS
VOL IV.
.; , ; GBEENSB0B50,i--iC.i xFRmAMO
1
i . "
" TELL ME I HATE THE BOWL !
The following beautiful lines were -writ
tea oy a young laay .wnose fattier, once
one of the brightest intellects in America,
.1- annEing became a besotted idiot.- and
died in a ditch. She was accused of being
v a ianatic on tne subject or temperance.
and she gave her, reply in the following
, nues : ' . ... :. .
CrpV "feel what I have felt
- Go,: bear what I have borne .
- Sink neath the blow a father dealt, .'
- And the cold world's prond scorn ;
Then suffer on from year to year
Thy sole relief the scorching tear.
Go, kneel as I have knelt,
Implore, beseech and pray
Strive the besotted heart to melt, .
The downward course to stay.
Be dashed, with bitter curse aside,, .
Your prayers burlesqued .your tears defied'
Go, weep as I have wept - ' '
O'er a loved father's fall.
See every promised blessing swept
Youth's sweetness turned to gall.
Life s fading flowers strewed all the way
That brought me up to woman's day.
Go, see what I have seen,
Behold the strong man bow ;
With gnashing teeth lips bathed in blood(
And cold and livid brow ;
Go, catch his hopeless glance and see
There mirrowed his soul's agony.
Go to my mother's side.
And her crushed bosom cheer ;
Thine own deep anguish hide,
Wipe from her cheek the tear.
Mark her worn frame and withered brow,
The gray that streaks her dark hair now.
Her palid face and eyes so dim,
All point the ruin back to him,
Whose plighted faith -in early youth
" Promised eternal love and truth ;
Bit who, foresworn had yielded up
His manhood to the cursed cup,
And led her down through love and light,
And all that made her prospects bright,
A ad chained her there'mid want and strife
Tliat lowly thing a drunkard's wife !
And stamped on childhood's brow so mild
Tliat with'ring blight a drunkard's child!
Go hear and feel, and see, and know
All that my soul has felt and known;
Then wonder, if yon can. why I,
A timid woman, dare defy
The world's opinion, and to save
A loved one from the drunkard's grave,
Would on my knees the boon implore
To stop the traffic evermore.
Tell me I hate the bowl!
Hate is but a feeble word;
i.LlQathvabh'5r my very soul
With strong disgust is stirred
Whene'er I see, or hear, or tell
Of that dark beverage of hell.
DR. TALMAGE'S SERMON.
"ACELDAMA,'
A WOra INCARNADINED WITH THE LITE OP
INNUMERABLE VICTIMS.
Text : Acts i, 19 : "Aceldama,
that
is to say, the field of blood."
The money that Judas gave for .sur
rendering Christ was used to purchase
a graveyard. As the money was blood
money, the ground bought by it was
called in the Syriac tongue Aceldama,
meaning "The field of blood." Well,
there is one word I want to write to
day over each, race course where wagers
are staked, and every pool . room and
every gambling saloon and every table,
public or private, where men and
women bet for sums of money, large or
small, and that is a word incarnadined
with the life of innumerable victims
Aceldama. The gambling spirit, which
is at all times a stupendous evil, - ever
and anon sweeps over the country like
an epidemic, prostrating uncounted
thousands. There has never been a
worse attack than that from which all
the villages, towns, and cities are now
suffering. The farces recently enacted
in our Brookling court room, by which'
it was proved that in the City of
Churches there is not enough moral
force to put into the " penitentiary the
gambling jockeys who belong there, is
only a specimen " of the powers gained
by this abomination, which is brazen,
sanguinary, transcontinental, and hem
ispheric. ' . ; 6 , :
While among my hearers are those
who have passed on into the afternoon,
of life, and the shadows are . lengthen
ing, and the sky crimsons with the
glow of the setting sun, a large num
ber of them are in early life ; and the
. morning is coming down out of the
clear sky upon them, and the bright
air is redolent with spring blossoms,
and the stream of life, gleaming' and
glancing, rushes on ; between r flowery
banks, making music as it goes. Some
of you are are engaged in mercantile
concerns as clerks and bookkeepers,
and your whole life is to be t passed in
the exciting world of traffic. The
sound of busy life stirs you as the drum
stirs the fiery -war-horse.- Others are
in the mechanical arts, to hammer and
chisel your way through life, and suc
cess awaits you. Some are preparing
for nrofessional life, and grand oppor
tunities are before vou : nay. some of
you have already buckled on the
armor. ,' ".V--.
. But, whatever your age and calling,
the subiect of gambling, about whi3i
I speak: " to-day, is pertinent, . Same,
vears atro. when an association for the
suppression of gambling waa organized,
an agent of the association came to a
prominent citizen and asked him to
tmtronize the society. He said : "No
t ' can have no interest in such - an
organization. I am in no wise 'affected
bv that evil." . At the very time his
son, who was his partnersin business,
was one of the heaviest flayers :in
"Heme's" famous gambling establish
ment. Another refused his patronage
on the same ground, not knowing that
his first bookkeeper, though receiving
a salary of only a thousand dollars
was loosing from fifty, to one hundred
dollars per night. The president"!of
railroad company refused to 4 patronize
tne institution, Baying : "That society
is gooa ior tne aeiense oi mercnants,
but we railroad people are not -lniured
by this evil,' not feiowing that, at that
very time, xwo oi ms conductors j were
spending three nights of each ? weak ; at'
faro tables in JNew York. Directly or
indirectly this evil strikes at the whole
world.'. , . v.-7n' :Uf. :
Gambling is the risking : of some-'
thing more or less valuable in the hope
of winning more than you hazard. The
instruments of -gaming may differ; but
the principle is the same. Tne shuffl
ing and dealing cards, however full of
temptation, is not gambling - unless
stakes are put up ; while on' the other
hand, : gambling may be "carried no
without cards, or dice, or billiards! or
ia ten-pin alley.- i The man. who. pets, on
norses, , oneieptipn, .on . aaxues tne
man who deals in "fancy" stocks, or
conducts a business which hazards
extra capital, or goes into transactions
without foundation but dependent
noon what men call "luck." is a cam
bier. " '
It is estimated that one fourth of the
business in London is done dishonestly,
Whatever you expect to get from your
neighbor without offering equivalent in
money; or time or skill is either the
product of theft or gaming. Lottery
tickets and lottery policies come into
the same category. Fairs for the
founding of hospitals,- schools, and
churches conducted on the raffling
system come under the same denomi
nation.! 'Do not, therefore, associate
gambling necessarily with an instru
ment, or game, or time, or place, or
think- the; principle depends upon
whether you play for a glass of wine or
100 shares of railroad stock. Whether
you patronize "auction pools," "French
mutuels, or "book making : whether
you employ faro or billiards, rondo and
keno, cards or bagatelle, the very idea
of the thing is dishonest, for it pro
fesses to bestow upon you a good for
which you give no equivalent.
This crime is no newborn sprite, but
haggard transgression that comes
staggering down under a mantle of
curses through many centuries. All
nations, barbarous and civilized, have
been adicted to it. Before 1838 the
French government received revenue
from gaming houses. In 1567 Eng-
and, i-r the improvement of ' her har-
bors, instituted a lottery to De neid at
the front door of St. Paul's Cathedral.
Jb our nundred tnousand tickets were
sold at ten shillings each. The British
Museum and Westminster bridge were
partially built by similar procedures.
The ancient Germans would sometimes
put up; themselves and families as
prizes,, and suffer themselves to be
bound, though stronger than the per
sons who won them.
But now the laws of the .whole .civi
lized world denounce the system.
Enactments have been ph ased, but only
partially enforced, and at times not
enforced at all. The men interested in
gaming houses and in jockey clubs
wield such influence by their numbers
and affluence, that the judge, the jury,
and the police officer must be bold in
deed who would array themselves
against these infamous establishments.
The house of commons of England
actuallyjadjourns on Derby Day to go
out and bet on the races, and in the
best circles of society in this country
to-day are many hundreds of, pro
fessionally, respectable men who are
acknowledged gamblers. r
Hundreds of thousands of dollars in
this land are every day being won and
lost through sheer : gambling. Says a
traveler through "the west: "I nave
traveled; a thousand miles at a time
upon the western water, and seen gam
bling at every; waking moment from
the commencement to the termination
of the jeurney." r The southwest of,
this country reeks with this sin. In
some of those cities every third or fourth
house in many of the streets is a gaming
place, and it may be truthfully averred
that each of our cities is cursed --with
this evil. - -
In themselves most of the games em
ployed in gambling are without harm.
Billiard tables are as harmless as tea
tables, and a pack of cards as a pack of
letter envelopes, unless stakes be put up.
But by their use for gambling purposes
they nave become signincant of an in
finity of wretchedness six hundred
gambling saloons in New York city
when last counted.
Men wishing to gamble will find
places just suited to their capacity, not
only in the underground oyster cellar,
or at the table back of the curtain,
covered with, greasy cards, or in the
steamboat j smoking cabin, where the
bloated wretch with rings in his ears
deals out his - pack and winks in the
unsuspecting traveler, providing free
drink all around, but in gilded parlors
and amid gorgeous "surroundings. ,
This sin works ; ruin, . nrst, oy un-
healthful stimulants. v Excitement is
pleasurable. ? Under every sky and "' in
every age men nave sougnt it. ue
Chinaman gets it by smoking his opium;
the Persian by chewing hashish ; the
trapper in a buffalo hnnt ; the sailor in
a souall 3 the inebriate in the bottle,
and the 1 avaricious at the gambling
table.. : We must at times, have excite
ment. A thousand voices in our natures
demand it." It is right. It is health
ful. It is inspiriting. It is a desire
God-giving. ':) But anything that first
gratifies this appetite and hurls it back
is a terrifid reaction is deplorable and
wicked, i Look out ""for the agitation
that, like a rough musician in bringing
out the tune, plays so hard he i breaks
down the inarument J God never made
man strong - enough to ; endure the
wear and tear of gambling excitement, j
No wonder if, after having failed in the
game, men have begun to sweep off
imaginary gold T from the side of the
table. The man i was sharp enough
when he started at the game, but a
maniac at the close. At every gaming
table sit pn one side Ecstacy, Enthusi
asm, Bomance--the frenzy of joy ; on
the other side, Fierceness, Rage, and
Tumult. 1 The professional gamester
schools ' himself into ' apparent quiet
ness. The keepers of gambling rooms
ar generally fat, rollicking, and obese;
but thorough ,and professional aamb
lers, in nine cases put of ten, are . pale:
thin, : wheezing. tremulous, andek
hausted. ,
-a young man naving suddenly , in
herited a lar&e ,protertv:)5Bits'at:4he
hazard tables and -takes: up- !inSai dice
box the estate' won by. a father's ffle-
tizes its victim-kicltinfir'- Mm nnt.'
slavering Xooi inW heditchl prl send
ing him with' the drunkard's hicboti h
Btaggering i-up .the street a Uhere- his
family lives. But ; gambling does hot'
in hat wayjiexpcfso sijviotims; u&i6i
gamDier may be eatfn.upf bytle, gam
bler's passion, yet you onlv ctiscover'it
PjeS tAe ,nardness
of -Oils features theiSjeHvouB. , jestiess-
ness. the threadbare coat, and ' his em
barrassed business, i Yet bei is.ini the
rbaa to hell and -no, preacher's kxAnse:
Ur starffing'.warning,' or wife's entreaty:
una mtute mm sxav ior a moment nis
. i i - t . . - 1 ... . .
headlong career." The infernal spell is
on him ; a giant is ' aroused yithin,5 and
tnongn you Dind nrm with cables they
would part like 'thread,.' and 'though
you fasten Timi seven time's round' with
chains they would snap -' like rusted
wire, "and though you piled .up in his
path heaven high, Bibles, ; tracts, and
sermons and on the top should set the
cross of the Son of God, over them all
the gambler would leap like a roe" over
the rocks onJJusi way to perdition.
"Aceldama, the field of blood 1 "
Again this sin. works ruin by killing
industry. A man used to reaping scores
or hundreds of dollars from the, gaming
taoie wiu not be content with slow
1 . TT - .tin i .
wont, ue win say, wnat is tne use
of trying to make these &50 in my store
when I can got five times ; that in half
an hour Idown ai Billy a?? tOTou never
Jtutsw a cuiiurixieu Kitm uier wno was
industrious. The men .given to this
vice spend their time not actively em
ployed in the game in idleness, or in
toxication, or sleep, or in corrupting
new victims. This sin has dulled the
carpenter's saw, and cut the band of
the factory wheel, sunk the cargo,
broken the teeth of the farmer's har
row,, and sent a strange lightning to
shatter the battery thp JphilosQpher.
The very first idea of graining s at war
with all the industries of societies.
Any trade or occupation that is of use
is ennobling. The street-sweeper ad
vances the interests of society by the
cleanliness effected. The cat pays for
the fragments it eats by clearing the
house of vermin, The fly that takes
the sweetness . from the dregs of the
cup compensates' by ::ptirifying the air
and keeping back the pestilence. But,
the gambler gives not anything fori
that which he takes. I recall that sen-i
tence. He does make a return ; but it!
is disgrace to the man that he fleeces, i
despair to his heart, , ruin to - his busi-
ness, anguish' to his!wife shame to his
: , - ? i. - - . i . .
children, and eternal wasting away to
his soul. He pays in tears, and blood,
and agony, and. darkness, and woe.
What dull work is plowing to the
farmer when in the village saloon in
one night he makes and. looses the
value of a summer harvest ! Who will
want to sell tape ; and measure nankeen
and cut garments and weigh sugars
when in a night's game he makes and
loses, and makes again and looses
again the profits of a season ? John
Borack was sent as mercantile agent
from Bremen to i England ''and this
country. After s two years his em
ployers mistrusted that all was not
right. 'He was a defaulter for $87,000.
It was found that he had lost in Lom
bard street, London, $29,000; in Ful
ton street, New York, $10,000, and in
New Orleans, $3,000. 'He was im
prisoned, but afterwards escaped, and
went into the gambling profession.
He died in a lunatic asylum. This
crime is getting its levels under niany
a mercantile house in our? cities, 'and
before long down will come the . great
establishment, .- crushing . reputation,
home comeforts s and immortal souls.
How it diverts and sinks capital may be
inferred from some authentic state
ment before us. The ten gaming
houses jthat once were authorized in
Paris passed through the banks yearly
325,000,000, of francs. . ;
Where does all the money come from?
The whole world! is robbed. What: is
most sad, there are no consolations for
the loss and sufferings entailed by gam
ing. If men fail in lawful btissines,
God pities and society commiserates ;
but where in the i Bible or in society is
there any consolation for the gambier?
From what tree, of the forest oozes
there a balm that can sooth the gamster's
heart? i In that bottle where God keeps
the 'tears of His. . children, are there
any tears of the gambler? Do the
winds that come to kiss the faded
cheek of sickness and to cool the heated
brow of the laborer, whisper hope and
cheer tothe emaciated victim of the game
of hazard ? When an honest man is in
trouble he has sympathy. "Poor
fellow !" they say..Butt do ? gamblers
come 'tp i weept at )the agofiifesof the
gainblers? ' In Northumberland was
one of the finest estates in England.1
Air, i'orter owned it, and .m a year
gambled it ail away. Having lost the
last acre, of the estate, he came down
from the saloon and got into his car
riage, went back, put up his horses and
carriage, and town" house, and played.
He threw and lot. A He? 't&rte9u "biome
and on a' side-alley-metf a friend, from
hvhom he borrowed -ten guineas ; went
back to the saloon, and before a great
wnue he had won twenty thousand
pounds. . ue died at last a beggar in
St. Giles. How; manv gamblers felt
sorry for Mm Porter? 1 Who consoled
him on-the iloss VOf his estate? What
gambler, subscribed, to puj a stone over
the poor man s grave? JNot one f
, , x urtnermore, xnis; sin is tne source
of uncounted dishonesty. ; The game
of hazard itself is ! often a cheat. How
many tricks and deceptions in thefdeal
ing of the cards! The opponent's hand
is ofttimes found out by fraud: ' Cards
are marked so that they may be desig
nated from tne pacK. Hixpert games
ters' have their accomplices, and - onO
wink may decide the I game. - The dice
have been foupd loaded, with platina so
that" -doublets come tip veryi time.
These.dice are introduced by. the gam-
biers unobserved .'by the honest men
time s weat and, snaked; it and; jftosses
it away?,. Intemperance 'sbbn : suamra-
i.
who; bayo come into th play r and th.
accounts for the fact that ninetv-nir'
'ut of a hundred "whoJ gamble, howevl
weaLthrvj whena thev -besranl jat , tliA t'
be allowed to sit on the doorsted of th
nousetnat nex lonce ownd:'r ln a
gamingj nouse in can x rancisc syoung
m'an having 'jittsi cOme from thymines
deposited ja large sum . npon te ' ace
ancLwon twenty -two thousands ollajt
But the tide .turns'. '., Intenbcs nxietv
conies upon , the; duntei3tfeiS -jot i &kV
blowlv, i the, cards .went for4- feEvfiA
eye is axed. ,aoi a sound lsaeara on
-11- i j? . ' -.t" i " .' i -
til the ace is revealed favOrableio i&M&maawVa4 v '.Vk j'
it , ' , - , ,m . .
of Foul!,
f fFoul!' but the keepers of the table
prpmnces ineir pisiois, and tne-- upnoar
is,:isirenced,u and . " the bank ha wojj
nin4iiy-fif evj thfanss-id dollars. !' fDo, yOu
Oiui TtrtiaAame- or. finance I -Tneite. is
no chance about it. ? ;
i1 But these dishonesties in 'the ' carry
ing on . of tne game are nothing when
compared witn.the frauds that are com
mitted in order to get money to go on
with - the, nelarious work. 4 Gambling.
with its greedy hand, has snatched
away the widow's mite and the portion
oi tne orpnans; has sold the daughter s
virtue to "get the means to continue
the 'game; has written the i counterfeit
signature; emptied the banker's money
vault," and weilded the assassin's dag
ger. . There is no depth of meanness to
which lfwill not stoop.; There is 'no
cruelty at which it is appalled. & There
is no warning of iioa that it will not
dare. Merciless," unappeasable, fiercer
and wilder.5 It blinds, it hardens, it
rends, it blasts, it crushes, it damns. . It
has peopled our prisons and lunatic
asylums. l : ..
How many railroad agents and cash
lers and trustees of funds it has driven
to disgrace, incarceration, and suicide I
Witness years ago a cashier bf the Cen
tral Bailroad and Banking ; Company
of Georgia who stole $103,000 to carry
on nis gaming practices, witness tne
$60,000 stolen from ; a Brooklyn bank
within tne memory of many of you, and
tne $180,000 taken from a Wall street
insurance company for the same pur
pose. These are only illustrations on a
arge scales of the robberies committed
for the purpose of carrying out the de
signs of gamblers. Hundreds of thou
sands of dollars every year leak out
without observation from the merchant's
till into the gambling hell.
A man in London keeping one of
these houses boasted that he had ruin
ed a nobleman a day, but if all the sa-
oons of this land were to speak out
they might utter a more infamous boast
for they, have destroyed a thousand
noble men a year. .
Notice also the effect of this crime
upon domestic happiness. It has sent
its ruthless plowshare through hun
dreds of families, until the wife sat in
rags, and the daughters were disgraced
and ' the "sons ; grew up to the same in
famous practices, or took a short-cnt
to destruction across the murderer's
scaffold. , i -. " ;
Home has lost all charms for the
gambler. How tame are the children's
caresses and the wife's devotion to the
gambler! How drearily the. fire burns
on the domestic hearth! There must
be louder laughter, and something to
win and something to lose; an excite
ment to drive the heart faster, fillip the
blood, and fire the imagination. No
home, however bright, can keep back
the : gamester. ; .The sweet icall of love
bounds back from his iron soul, and all
endearments are consumed in the fire of
his passion. ' The family bible will go
after all oth?r treasures are lost, and if
his crown in . heaven were put in his
hand he would cry: "Here- goes;''one
more. .game, . my . boys. On this one
throw I stake my crown of heaven."
A young man m London, oh coming
of age, received a fortune of $120,600,
and, through, gambling,, in three years
was thrown on his mother, for support.
An only son vrent to New Orleans.
He was rich intellectual, and elegant
in manners, v His ; parents gave him on
his departure from home their last blessing.-
The sharpers got hold of him.
They; flattered him They f. lured ? him
to the gaming table, and let him win
almost every, time for a good -while, and
patted him on the back and said: "First
rate player.',' But .fully in their grasp
they fleeced him, and his !(foO,UUO .were
lost. Last of all he put "up his watch
and lost that. I Then he began to think
of his home, and of his old father and
mother, and wrote thus: '- ' .
"My beloved parentsyou -will doubt
less feel a. mOmentaryi joy at the recep
tion of this letter from the child of your
bosom," on whom you' have lavished all
the favors' of your declining years. -But
should ,a feeling. , of , joy for a moment
spring up in your hearts when you
should s have ' received I ! this ' from me,
cherish it not.-' I have fallen deep, nev
er to rise.'. . Those , gray , hairs that . I
should have honored and protected I
shall bring down in sorrow to the grave.
I will not curse, my destroyer, but, phi
may God avenge the wrongs and impo
sitions practiced upon the unwary- iri a
way that shall best please; Him!: -This,
my dear parents,, is. the last letter you
Fit ' ; 1 1 i - -' t - 1- 11
wm ,ever receive irom me. numDiy
pray;your forgiveness:; It is my dying
prayer."; Long before, you will have re-
ceived this from me the cold grave will
have closed upon me forever.' Life to
me is insupportable. .1 cannotnay, I
will ,not suffer .the, shame of having ,
rumed ybu. Forget and forgive is the
dying prayer of your nnfortunate son.
The. old father came to the postomce,
got the letter, ? and fell to , the 'floor.
They thought he was dead at first, but
they brushed back- the white hair from
his brow-and fanned him. Me had only
fainted. . I .wish he had been dead, for
what -is life worth-to a father after ihis
son is destroyed?, "Aceldema, the field
of.biood!. ;: -Kh
. . : W hen things go wrong at; a gaming
table, they shout: "Foul! foul!"" Over
all the gaming tables of the wotIS. I cry
out: rroxuj,' louxij 'innniiei iouii: j
"Gift stores" are abundant through
out tne country. vvnn a cook, or
knife, or , sewing machine, or coat, or
carriage; there goes a prize. ' At these
stores people getI something..thraw.in
with the, purchase.? It may ba a gold
i watch, or q. set of, sUyer, aring,, or a
le
t
ar
muhity, a,nd'is fastv making xasJa
teaxnblersi.'.-. u.A-vi. y- ,J.
i fjWrcivof :God;.as -not, .seemed
willing to allow the world to haye all
tne advantage of these gamerpf cnahce,
A cnUrcJv faayi :openSf : and ( .toward the
cose it ls'f ound. . that some of the more
valuable articles' are unsalable. " Foi-Ui-
with, -the Conductors of the: enterprise
. 1 XI. - X XT . M - m
uoi4iuu8 itat vfley Hm-M- ranje-roj; some
of the valuable articles, and, under prji-
i u iiiubo bxxxj. III IHLPJ
a present, or please some popular mem
ber of the church... facinatinsr .Persona
are isaiciiea inxongn tne room, pea
penciPiri hand! Hd- "solicit5 "sharegl " br
j:! x t - tt-'J- , - "
perhaps eajcif draws; for his own;advari-
wim meir - linropnies, Hunting that is
all right, for Christian ladies did thie
!ir ii . . . m.r . - - w - - -
embroidery and- Christian men did the
ranting, and the proceeds verit towards
a new communion set. ;. But you -may
depend on it,, that as far as morality is
concerned; you" might as well have won
ty the crack of the billiard ball or the
turn of the dice boxj v r -1 ; ,
Do you woiider that churches built.
iignted,' or ' upnolstered br such pro
cesses - as that come to great .financial
and spiritual decrepitude? The devil
says: "I helped to build that house of
worship, and -I nave1 as & much right
there as you have;'-' and for , once, the
devil is right.
We do not read that thev had a lot
tery for building the church at Corinth
or at Antiocn or for getting up an em
broidered surplice for St. Paul. -
ah wis snyie ecclesiastical aram-
Diing. - more tnan1 one man who is de
stroyed can say- that his first step on
tne wrong road was wnen lie won some
thing at a church fair, ,
The gambling spirit has not Stopped
for any indecency. There transpired in
maryiand a lottery in wnich neoole
drew ior lots in a burying, ground!
The modern-hamt of writing about
11 . .
everyxning is productive oi immense
mischief. The most healthful and in
nocent amusements of yaching and base
ball playing have Deen : the occasion of
putting -up excited and extravagant
wagers. JLnat wnich to manv has been
advantageous to body and mind has
been to others the means of financial
and moral loss. The : custom is perni
cious in the extreme, where scores of
men in respectable life give themselves
up , to betting, now on this boat,, now on
that; now on this ball club, now oh
that. ' "
Betting that once was chiefly the ac
companiment of the race course, is fast
becoming a national habit, and in some
circles any opinion advanced cn finance
or politics, is accosted with the interro
gation S. 'How much will you bet on
that, sir?" : "
This custom may make no appeal to
slow, lethargic temperaments, but there
are in the country tens of thousands of
quick, . nervous, sanguine, excitable
temperaments ready to be acted upon.
and their feet will soon take hold on
death. - For some months, and perhaps
for years, they will linger in the more
polite and elegant circle of gamesters,
but after awhile their ; pathway will
come to the fatal . plunge. ; Fmdin&r
tnemselves , in the rapids they will try
to back out, and hurled over the brink
they will clutch the . side of the boat
until their finger nails, blood tipped.
will pierce the wood, and then, with
white cheek and agonized stare and the
horrors of the lost soul lifting the very
hair from the scalp, , they will plunge
down where no grappling" hooks can
drag them out, v- : ' i-' . 'i "i.
Young man 1 , stand back from . all
styles of gambling. The end thereof is
death. fri. The ten-pin; alley affords the
best of physical exercise, and many Tan
hour I have passed in some such placed
getting ' physical invigoration; but
many of the tin-pin alleys are now giv
en ,: up. to gambling .practices. . Hus
bands, brothers! "fathers, enter.' Put
down . your thousand dollars in gold
eagles !, Let the boy set up the pins at
the other end of the. alley ! - Now stand
back and give the gamester full sweep!
Boll the first there!, it strikes!. and
down goes the respectabilty! Try it
again. ,Koll the second there! it
strikes! and down goes the last' feeling
oflhumanityl ,p Try it again, '- J Boll the
third there! it strikes and down .goes
his soul forever! It was - not so much
he the pins. that fell,, as the soul 1 the
soul! Fatal ten, strike for eternity I
AceldamaV the 'field Of blood.' ;: ' "t . ;
- Shall I sketch the history of the gam
bier?. Lured by .bad company,-he finds
his .way into a place where honest men
otight' never to go.'1 He sits ''down to his
first gamOj :but only for pastime a4d the
desire, of being thought sociable.- The
players deal out' the cards. ' They ' un
consciously 'play' -.into; Satan's hands,
who takes all the -tricks and both the
players' s souls , for trumps, he being
a snarper- at any game,
tA' slight ake
is put up just to, add t interest to rthej.ptrjfQ'hlv.
play. Game after game is-played ;;larg
er stakes and still larger they begin t
move nervously on their chairs; thei
brows lower and eyes flash, until ,no
they who win and they" who lose," fire
alike with passion,"" sit with set jaws an
compressed lips, , and j clenched. . .fists
and eyes like nre-balls, that seem start.
turn before- it ' comes; if losing, pal
with! envy and tremulous' with unutter
ed oaths, cast .back red not upon th
heart, or, winning,' with hysteric laugh
"Ha,' ba! I Have iti:.r ' - - vi-
A.fewi years .have passed, . and he il
only the wreck of a man, . Seatinghini
self at the game, rere he" thrOws the fire
card, -he 'Stakes the last .relic of his wif
the marriage ring .which sealed; tl.
solemn vows between them'. ,The ganx
is lost, and; staggering back in exhaui
tion, he dreamsit The. bright hours c
the past mock his. agony, and.; -in ,h?
dreams fiends with eyes of nre and, tei
gues ' of "flame : circle 'about ' him wit
joined handsj to dance and sing the'
orgies with neiiisn chorus,, rchantm;
'.'Hailv brother f kissing his clamn:
forehead until-' their loathsome lock!
flowing- with serpents, crawl into h'
bosom and sink their sharp fangs ar
suck up his life's blood, arid, ccrilir
around, his heart ; pinch i it with chills
and shudders unutterable.
i. Take .warning! You are no stronger
than, tens rof thousands who ' have bv
this practice been overthrow.' No young
man. in- our ciues. can 'escape being
tempted. ' Beware of the - first begin
nings! This road is a down grade; and
every, instant increases the momentum.
Launch not upon- this treacherous sea.
Splint hulks , strew tthe beach. Ever
lasting storms howl up and down, toss
ing unwary crafts into tho hell-gate. I
speak, of. what I have seen with my own
eyes: I have looked off into the abvss.
and have seen the foaming and the hiss
ing-and tne whirling of tne horrid deep
in which the mangled victims writhed,
one' upon another, and struggled, ,b tran
gled blasphemed, and Jied the death
stare of eternal desptir upon, their
countences '. as vthefraters -gurgled Over
iwuwua. jr - . 3--.7--
?earT5
no hope.H -He'.vrill probablv die alone.
His former associates come not nigh his
dwelling. When the hour comea hi
miserable soul Will go out of a miserable
, ... . . . .. . . .
me mio a miseraDie eternity. . as ins
poor remains pass the house where he
was ruined, old companions may look
out a moment and say : "There goes the
oid carcass-'-dead at last i but thev
wiUy not get up - from the ; table. Let
him down now into his ' grave. Plant
no tree to cast its shade there, for the
long, deep, eternal gloom that settles
tnere is shadow enough. Plant no "for
get-me-nots" or eglantines around the
spot; for flowers were not made to grow
on such a blasted heath.. Visit it not
in the sunsine, f or that would be mock
ery, -but in the dismal night, 2 when no
stars are out, "v and the spirits of dark
ness come down . horsed on , the wind,
then visit tne grave of the gambler.
SHOULD THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC
BE PROTECTED ? .
BY W. JENNINGS DEM0KEST.
The whiskey dealers of the -West
are
aroused and mean business,
which gives us .the i best encourage
ment for the success of Prohibition
in the near future. Agitation is the
best evidence of progress. ; At a
meeting of the Liquor Dealers' Pro
tective Association, held in Chicago,
was decide 1 to ignore party lines
in the coming campaign, and to sup
port candidates who would preserve
the rights of saloon keepers. - They
say, . w e are neither with ; the lie
publicans ' nor the - Democrats, but
will take care of our friends." The
call for the convention says that it is
necessary, m order to take
action to repel accusations and check
the growth of public santiment hos
tile to the rights and - business of the
whiskey trade, and that this senti
ment is no longer to be ignored.
The brewers and whiskey J dealers
would be justified in their demands
or protection it their business was a
harmless or healthful employment of
capital ; but instead of being a; nse-
ul business, it is not on'y injnriotis,
but is so detrimental that it.' is con
ceded by all who haye - opportunities
know, that" not less than nine-
tenths of all the crime, wretchedness
and pauperism of our country is di
rectly traceable to this liquor traffic,
so that we are not justified in a eon
demnation of the, business, but all
good motives .and "generous F sympa
thies should . prompt our -humane
efforts to-oppose ; it. : Besides, lour
ust claim to self-protection demands
that, we- should- not withhold Tour
time and influencp to put down this
horrible traffic, -but should use our
best eiforts; to banish this mon
ster of vice and corruption from the
and, we being, otherwise, responsi
ble for the woe and misery it produ-
We are not only justified v in
w'aging a war of. extermination, but
we cannot afford to stoop to the low,
groveling plane of , expediency, ; or
study only our personal comfort ; or
the loss of some. of our old and cher
ished sentiments, ; We must have the
courage of strong convictions , and
J devotion to pnncip e, which will in
Jbrethe conclusion - that
If am stopped on the street with the
threat, "Your money or your life,"
shall I say, "I know this is a free
country and. : I ' shall not interfere
with your liberty' and hand over my
purse without ' an jr, protest rV; Must
this be done again and again, until
it becomes so common a practice
that any interferance would be call
ed: a "sumptuary law" that interferes
with the rights of the criminal ? '"'
bhall the.criminal practices of bad
men, especially those whose crimes
are most injurious to our homes . and
secieiy-fiucii cruel crunest that Vring
lamentation, woe anq wretchedness
in evtrhoasexxTL'a iustlfied S.ith
egal : saiiction7 Shall
we tell
these criminals thatfo
or a money con
sideration we will give them ' a mo
nopoly in certain districts to carry on
their ' terrible depredations on the
lives and property of the people
without our, protest or molestation ?
Is it not on account of this wicked
concession to the rumseller that otir
land. is now flooded with crime and
wretchedness ? and is it not the rum-
seller who makes most of the hell
we have on earth? Could
we sup-
pose it possible that iri any
civilized
community this heinous -debauchery
of the people could find so much
justification and sanction without an
entire destruction of the people ?
The great wonder is that there i3 any
virtue left, or that we are saved from
our own recklessness ; that we are
not left to disintegration, even arini
hilation, of all that there is in life .
worth living. It would seem that
nothing short of demorilization, an
archy, riot and destruction could
follow such debauchery : for what
are the elements of anarchy, if not
justice dethroned," selfishness let
loose on society," crime sanctioned by
the people, law made the pretext and
vehicle for violence ?
Where,' when and how are the ter
rible evils that flow from this liquor
traffic to be averted, if not by Prohi
bition? Prohibition is our only
salvation ; it is demanded by the
most sacred and imperative claims of
justice and humanity. The saloon
interest comprises a vast army of
vampires that have, their clutches on
our most vital energies ; all the moral
sentiments of the people are benumb
ed and paralyzed by these alcoholic
demons, v These rapacious monsters
of vice must be annihilated by the
strong hand of a willing, .noble and
valiant combination of the conscien
tious voters of our country What is
now required is a combination of the
people to vote on the right - side,; be
cause it is right, and not sanction the
liquor-sellers because they will ad
vance the interest of our party. We
must rise above old party prejudices
if we would have this monster crush
ed. The law must not only be made
effectivo by new restrictions, but we
must have, a party behind the law to
secure ittf enforcement. The ballot
must be our new reaper to gather in
this grand, harvest for God, home,
and humanity. -Demoresfs Monthly
for Dgeember. ; I . : - -
DRIVING 130YBFROM HOME.
Mothers who are disturbed by the
noise and untidiness of boys at home
must be careful ? lest 4 by their re
proaches they drive children from ft
in search1 of pleasure elswhere. "There
ar4 ftiose banisters all finger-marks
agaih said; Mrs... Curry, as she made
baite with a soft linen loth to polish
down t he shining oak aain. "George,"
sh.a-Baid,iilf a flushed face,! as she
gave the cloth a decided wrench out
of the basin , of suds "if you go up
those" stairs again before bedtime, you
shall be punished." 'I should like to
know, where I am to go," said George;
I cannot stay in the kitchen I am so
much in the way; and I cannot- go
into the parlor for fear Til muss that
up; and now yon say I can't go up to
my own room. I know of; a grand
place where I can, go," he added to
himself; "boys are never told they are
in the way there, and we can have lots
of fun. I'll go down to Nil s corner. I
can smoke a cigar as well as any boy,
if it did make me awful sick the first
time. They shall not laugh at me
again about it" And so the careful
housekeeper virtually drives her son
from the doortto hang about the steps
and sit under the broad, inviting por
tico of the village grog-shop.
National Bullcton.
. Mrs. A. T. Stewart, of New York,
bequeathed $75,000 to her servants.
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