Daily Richmond Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1861-1862, 1862-01-11

ed 70 be ready with his proof TO establish il whenever
is aversed but 1t beneath the dignity OF argument
aud at with the policy of logic to fret
tridl issues ii Is but rarely you will find veteran
pOlemc guilty of that bunder aud when you sir called
me for the proofhat men did gamble before the flood,
saw in twinking that you belonged to that rsstive
class OF writer's
''Wbo had rather on gibbe dauglc,
Than miss their dear delight to wangle."
What bOotsit, sir, whether gambling had ts origin pri
ubs, quent to tho deuge when ii is bound to be
admitted by yourself that its origin is of inmemoria
antiquity You distract attention here from the niquty
Of the vice. which is OF vest moment and attract il to
the iste Of its orgn which is Of trivial consS quence
wherein you remind Of thai great sicker for style,
who, it once said by celebrated Southern States
man, would, to round period, d--n his grandmothef
when you are luxuriatiDg in pct propensity you are
reckless of the moral quences. point to the
flood, however. aud call for my proof Well, you shall
have it, As matter Of course you will not ,,Ipsct
to produce upon the stand living witness II there are
suy ant duynns in these plrts they are most prob
aby widows bachelors aud too sensitive about their
age to admit that they know anything whatever about
customs aud habits that obtained in those dys bat il
back 10 that long wet spell must CO. you make
up your mind to travel down the highway oil ages by
the lamp of history AID then grOpe your way Noahs
ark by whatever light those sparks make which for over
SIX thousand years have been emitted frm the furnaces
of human nature. L3t US take our mp then, and
thread way at to the ten. of Gsdrey wheu at
the head Of army Of 200 900 men, in the year 1925
be marched AgAins. Jerusalem, and W, shall frd him
playing game of chess for q wager. lterm then, if
leRsp ND auzin L.,
over the eracu!ar groves Of Dsph aud yu will find that
there, abou: the time the Inspired prophet Jeremiah
died, the Pyihean games were established, under the
auspices Of the Aheniln cage Scion. Then turn your
face again towards the flood and let the light of y1ur
lamp fall upon the walls OF Cornth, and you will faS
that in that city 1926 years before the Star of Bsthe
hem had risen, Ssyphus. the reis ming king instituted
the Isthmian games and IL you will then 90 to E you
will find that the very same Olympic games, which that
wise awgver Lycurgus centuries subsequently resor.
cd in the city were 1853 years before the birth Of
Christ, instituted by Itei Dlctyli Now, what we're
these games History informs us that they consisted OF
chariot races horse races foot rac s. wrestling boxing
QUOT pitching, &c, &C. Ia which the victor bore Of a
prz' Some times it was one thin :, times Il was
another, jus: precisely cksy clubJ in these das
sometimes give purse aud at ohe. times pitcher or
cup Who has not heard Of the Derby Stake aud the
GeodWood CupY Well is is gambling to enter a horse
ior a S axe u. NEWMARKET Fairfield and if he wins
pocket the tin II it is not he contestants at Els C6r
inth and Dsphi did no. gam ole but if it is they did
and why, ask, did Oappad ,ca acquire SO much fame
for the cultivation Of dse hrses il nothing was to be
be made out of their sped History also Informs US
these games were Witnessed oy thousands of ex cited pso
n balinva air hat 10
chariot horse race witnessed at any period in this
worlds history by thousands OF excited men, on which
nothing was bsty If sincerely you do must tut
your zug verdanoy to the protection of Provi ence,
for it is greatly to be appeherdsd that DO other DO
compeen; TO take OF it. L1ok into the hiso y of
fallen race, and you win find that from that sriy
hour in the gray dawn Of creation in which the che raj
song of the morning sars fret broke upon the crad ,d
slumbers Of a newborn world down the present
ment the virtues that have adorned and ennobed and
the vices that have degrade and destroyed the human
race have been the sesar identical virtues and vices
That devourng and insaiAble passion to clutch
gold, which makes millions of reckless gamblers to-day
has existed all OF is inf rns ntens6c lton 10 all ages
OF time. Dispute it If you dare; diprove it If you
An absolute freeman neve yet brelhsd the vital sir Of
Heaven. Every mans be som is the throne Of more or
less passion, and all men e to greater less extent
he slaves OF these d,sp otc pisons. IT. them these
pssioIs have been in all ages the sIme must insist
that there fair pc from tho corolary that the
same propenses, which born of these passions to.
day, must have been the natural opriug of the same
passions long before that big shower ever fell Admit
this proposition, and you se the fact not only that
spectators gambled be Olympic, Isthmian aud Py.
thean games but you ar ally sete the aoc business
too Deny it. and that is a; settle you So If you
are foud Of horns, am sppy to be able to congratu
late you that you aboHto get one. Pray, SIR how
do you account for the strange fact that Noah did
not land one Of bis the Western ben isphere-
There is bu: one rational way to account TO- IT, Ham,
being negro, was no ,ubt given to understand that
Africa would ba his legacy and the baan Of the East
ern Hemisphere given to OF the white boys AID
the whole Of ha Westen given to the o,he r.. Allow
me nOE to inquire did you ever max, a sea voyage
If you did Of aid you will not appreciate the
solution that foo's he fact is the ark and dismal
monotony of ulbroksn dunoss that signs over the
broad surface OF mid over the decks Of chip
like Juggling devil ookine th burn ING thirst of the