Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-06-14
From the Literary Cadet.
GAMING.


From the Literary Cadet.
GAMING.
OF all the vices to which men are given, there
is none which is more dreadful in Its con e.
oucnces, or more certain to involve the unhap-
py devotee in ruin, than that of gaming. 1t
is the harbinger of almost every crime, 1t be-
gets intemperance, it renders the heart callous
to the finer feelings, it produces moral and IN
tellectual it is the author OF disease,
and prostrates man below the level of the brute
creation We we'll remember the fate OF one,
who wa, the companion Of our juvenile days,
and whose dawning genius bespoke for him
the honors of the world Fortune smiled upon
his birth: and ere he had reached his majority,
his father died, and left him handsome for
tune. At first, he devoted himself to habits oi
industry, and was esteemed as one OF the most
promising young merchants OF the communl
": and all who knew him, predicted his future
excellence and greatness. Unfortunately, at
the instance of some associate, he one night
consented to visit gaming house, and i'll a
moment became so enrapmred WI n play, that
he assumed the vocation of protested game
ster. His business was suspended, and the
gaming table was his only place ofresort. Next
came habits of intemperance, and with them the
loss Of reason and responsibility. In little
while his fortune was squandcrcd, and in the
little space of a year, he was Frustrated on a
bed of sickness; and ere he had attained the
age of twenty-five, descended to an untimely
grave, covered with ignominy and disgrace.
A day or two before he babe the waking
world good night, we visited him, when, as he
pressed our hand, his bosom was agonized with
ten thousand throes; & in moment OF phren-
w; he uttered the most appalling curses that
mortal ever listened to-and implored the
wrath of Heaven, to descend upon him, who
first introduced him to the resorts of the game
ster. A young wife, once happy and with a
| fair prospect before her, stood weeping by his
bed side, whilst his infant child wept, as it lis
tened to the phrenzied CALCULATIONS of the lost
and abandoned gamester. This Renaissance
has been recalled to us, by reading the follow
ing essay, which we extract from an interesting
work, entitled "Death's Doings."
"The passion for gaming is as universal as it
| is pernicious; avarice is its origin, and as all
human hearts are more or less avaricious, a
propensity to gambling is confined to no pecu
liar country. The savage and the sons of re-
fnement, the scientific and the ignorant, alike
admit it within their bosoms. There appears
TO be delicious alurement connected with the
anticipation of winning, that counteracts all
! qualmy doubts, and for a while, deprives the
soul of its general sympathies by enslaving it
to obvious selfshness. Some writer's have en-
deavoured to conhne the prevalence of gamb-
ling to those chimes where the lrigid sternness
of the atmosphere occasions a mental torpor,
which is to be relieved only by the perturba-
tons Of the heart But existing facts are a
combination to this limitation; for whether we
cast our eye over the fertile provinces Of Chi
ma, or turn to the uncultivated islands in the
Pacific Ocean, we find man yielding himself up
to the same destructive passion, and entailing
on himself consequences equally appalling.
| A more notwithstanding spectacle Cannot well
be imagined than room rsplete with regular
gambling parties, each engaged at their parli-
cular game; take, for instance, one Of the me-
tropolitan hehs!-An unuitiafed stranger, on his
first entrance there, may learn lesson that will
remain indelible while the soul is capable Of re-
membering former sympathies. The mantling
giimmer of the various lights, the hushful ST.
lence Of the room-rarely disturbed but by the
passive footballs Of walters, s dismal sighs es.
Gaping from sorrowed hearls-,he mournfu
associations that wait on every unhallowed
| spot, and the deepening consciousness that mi.
sery is busted in penslve revels-all commin-
Cling, silk on the vis,an,'s soul with appalling
reality. Though untainted himself, his tender
es; pity and most melancholy presen,iments
! must be awakened for the deluded victims of
selfish passion: While standing by ard gazing
at one Of the attentive gamesters, what room
for moraizng comparison! Observe his gilt
lerng eye that rolls so wildly under its fre,ful
lid, the alternate wrinklins and relaxing Of his
moistened brow, his baking lips, ard their fire.
quent despairing mu,ter Of convulsive anguish!
His coun,enance is the faithful mirror of his
soul: lis internal passions may be seen working
re.-Now,a trepid CLEAN of Joy illumes his
sunken cheek-again the smile dissolves, and
the gloomy sullenness Of disappointment sheds
there lis monotony Of shade. His visage may