Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1866-02-08
It all the ends hou aimt be thy COuny thy Gods and Truths
tue. or Furnishes successful vice?

tue, or Furnishes successful vice?
There lay in piles before me
gold in coin and dust; very small
portion of one of them would
make me happy, and enable me to
relieve from suffering another afar
loft, who was dearer than life to
me, for l came in search Of gold
for a holy purpose. 1t was chang
ing hands constantly; passing into
the possession of those lowest in
the great scales of humanity, who
used it only for the vilest debauch-
cries. Where was any kind Prov
idence to be regarded in all this?
| walked carelessly up to a roul-
ette table, and from the feeling of
the moment--alike indifferent to
the smiles or frowns of fortune
l threw down, as stakes, the three
dollars in loose silver which ] had
in my pockets. 1t was quickly
won by the gambler; and, indeed,
[ afterwards met the very mechan-
ic who made the table, and who
explained to me its secret springs,
nv which other fools, like myself,
were robbed.
Passing along with the crowd, l
found myself at the centre of ex-
citement and attraction-a faro ta-
ble-around which were some
newly arrived and very successful
miners. judging from the many
thousand dollars they had on the
table. Under the influence of
bad whisky, and the vicissitudes of
the game, they were apparently as
reckless as myself to consequen-
ces. Taking from my vest pock-
ct a ten dollar gold piece which
was all | had in the world, | threw
it on a card at random--one on
which the others were not betting
--as my last stake, 1t doubled
and doubled. again and again, ma
nv times, till at length even the
halfdrunken miners, who were
playing for such heavy stakes,
took an interest in my strange
luck; and the marble-face dealer,
whose attention hitherto had been
entirely devoted to them, turned
his eyes with a sinister look upon
me. When my card won for the
ninth time, / took from the table
in coin and dust 5,l20, with a
sto!id GOODNESS / have since many
times wondered at, ard putting 1t
in couple of bags given to me by
one of the miners, | thrust them
into my pockets. As | stepped
aside to leave the table, the deal
er, tnrning round to some one in
the crowd, and giving him a pecu,
liar look of intelligence, said
with laugh:
sThat's a heagy pile to carry.
L soon found out the truth of his
remark. Not wishing to elbow
my way through the crowd direct
ly to the door, | passed round be-
hind the tables in the back part OF
the house. Leadinglrom the room
were a number of badly lighted
passages-one or two were quite
dark. AS went by one OF the
latter. before | had d.turned round
toward the street door, a man
standing in the obscure light,
nearly concealed behind the door
post, beckoned me toward hmm,
with a mysterious gesture. With
out thinking, | stepped through
the door a few feet tOlearn what he
wished, and when within a few
wards of him, as l took another
step, quicker than / can tell 1t, the
floor passed from under my feet and
| was sinking rapidly under the
waters Of the bay. With the IN
stinct of selfpreservation, strug-
gled for the life l had held so cheap.
/ At length after what seemed to me
a long time, almost sllffocated and
weighed down by the fatal gold, l
rose to the surface. a light from
a dark lantern flashed down from
the mouth of what appeared to be
q square well, built on the water
of a bay, and constructed OF smooth
panel boards. In these few mo-
ments of time, by that CHASTITY
light, mid all the despair and hor-
rors of that scene, a whole llie OF
thoughts and memories was before
me. Notwithstanding all my past
misery, / could not, without a
struggle. die a dogs death. |