The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1861-02-21
Gambling and Degradation.

Games at chance, 1T which men hazard large
sums Of money, and often risk upon the shutting
of cards, or the turning of dice, whole fortunes,
stands out prominently upon the list Of vices
which 90 TO make up the SUN of human mis-
cries. These games are frequently the cause of
irremediable evil 20 whole families, driving u
desperation ard death the immediate participants
in them, anu scattering blight, mildcw, and
unfathOmable grief To their relatives and friends.
Who can possibly be more wrctchcd than the
victim of the mercilcss and cruel gambling ia
BILE? Observe him Us he writhcs in terrible
anxiety. watching the result of the terrible
move which l. 10 decide whether he i to be
penniless. or 10 recover Il Tittance of what he
has already lost whether he shall be Il begger
OF not. whether he shall wander like an Outcast
through the world. or still retain Il slight foot
hold among the children of men. The die Is
cast. The result Is knewn. lie trcmbles as the
fact of his ruin is made known to him by his
midnight associates. His blanched and tortured
cOuntenance tells of Il horrible convulsion within
his breast. The image of his innocent and
miserable wife, his guiltless lid beggared children,
his disconsOlate and ruined home, his hollow
vows, his broken promises, his cold and cherries
future. all rash Oh his poor brOken-dOwn spirit,
and ne staggers away from his haunt of he'll in
to the gloomy darkness of an unfeeling world,
there to lift his hand against his life. lie falls
within hail Of his wicked comrades. and in the
stiffness Of deaths cold embrace i borne 10 his
home and from thence 20 an unhOnOrcd and un-
Timely tomb. His friends grieve and mourn for
his terrible fate, and the world deigns 10 repeat
for the millionth time how very necessary and
proper IL j. To break up these Infamous dens of
gambling and Of death. Many are the realities
in life not falling ut all short in horror, of the
above picture.
These haunts of gambling are far too hume
rous in the midst of our community. The vic
tins Of gaming 20 about our streets in wretchcd
degradation and horrid infamy. and their cum
ming destroyers are left untouched by this moral
people, still to 20 on, adding vet more TO the
sum of human suffering and crime. This state
of things is known as well Us that the sun rises
and sets each day. Why Is it that nothing is
done To Obstruct this terrible current of ruin?
Are the participants or principals in these vii
famous cOntriyances against the peace of society
among the respectable CLASSES, and therefore, too
to be- called To account? There Is a deep
mystery in this matter. Men daily and nightly
drink ruin and death at these poisonous foun-
tains. They are seen stealing like midnight
plunderers, into the nefarious resorts for robbing
gaming.
The resorts are marked and pointed out by the
passers by, their peStiierOus influence l. seen as
plain a. day, their keepers are prominent before
4 wondering and cOndemning community, and
nothing i done. The first cficctual step Is
to hc taken To abate or DhStruct the villainy.
Gambling is robbery, sly, cunning, villainous
robbery. II dcsIlates and impovrrishcs home,
desccrltes and ruins innocent wives
and helpless children. IL i the common asso-
late of pirates, murdcrers, and desperadoes of
the blacklist stain. IL Is the hand-maiden Of
drunkenness. dehauchery and brutal vengeance.
Il Is cD-eXistent with mems thirst for gain, and
: satisfied only with the lies blood OF its VIC
i'm, his property. and the peace and happiness
IF all his friends.
Let something he done 70 check this cruel and
~nyeteratc vice. Treat the gambler n you would
rOhber. Shun him as You would a peStilence,
him IS you wound the iClOn. Let the
world pass him ~ 1t would "a malignant corta-
ZION. Let the people dcSpi>e him and his works
i they world 4 plague spot upon the body poll
ic. and sink the terrible vice into the eternal
oblivion Of lorgetfulncss. The sin of gambling
yill never cease until good men take hold in
.ctual earnest until all honorable people view
hc evil in all its horrible d~efurmitv and treat it,
,Irticipators as the deepest and mos dangerous
uemies To the wcll-bcing of society. May this
in be- blotted from the long catalogue Of human
nEirny may it be buried from tile eyes uf NOR
and the world have occasion speedily 10
hank Heaven for the extirIdtion Of one of the
lackrst and most terrible of evils from our race
Jrever -B1SfOH Herald.