The Van Buren press., 1868-11-10
MISCELLANY.
A MORNING WITK GAMBLERS.
BY REV. JOHN N cuNroCK, d. d.

In the earlier years Of my ministry, !
formed Il special fellowship with very
intelligent and pious family. The father
and mother were OF the vigorous Scotch.
Irish stock; clear headed and sound
hearted people The children inherited
strong health of mind and body, and were
all quick witted and lively loved them
all desrly, and came at asst TO make their
family destinies, their joys and sorrows,
my own.
One of the sons, EdGard, was fine
fellow of eighteen, exulerant in life and
strength, but full Of swee.ess and good
humor Young as he vas. &c shower
great talent for business, aAd was already
a trusted clerk in large mercantile house
with liberal salary fof those times.
was called out Of led, one morning,
at about O'Clock, TO see this young
man. He was in great distress, and could
hardly tell his story but it came out at
last, and was bad enough when it came.
II have been spending the night at diff
ferent iaro tables, and have lost about
three hundred and fifty dollars"
"Whose money was il"
:" 1t belonged to my employer. | must
go to the Office this morning and account
for it, What shall | do p
! found, on questioning him, that he
had been gambling for two or three
months. He had begun by learning to
play cards of a fellow clerk; played at
first, merely for the pleasure of it, but
soon found that "small stake was nee
essary to give interest to the game" In
short, he had gone the road which thou
sands have trod before him. From Sin
nocent card playing to betting at whist,
and from the whist-table to the faro bank
Ofcourse, was very angry at the boy,
But | was sorry, too, as | looked into
that fair, young face, now agonized with
fear and shame-sorry for him, and still
more sorry for the proud father and fond
mother. who must soon know of their dis
honor.
But / had to brush away these emo
tons and answer the practical question,
What shall do ?" 1t was plain that
the first thing to be done was to get the
money back, ifpossible dressed rapid
ly, went to the house Of a legal friend, and
woke him up. His advice was soon given.
"Don't try law with these people Go
to them yourself, alone, and demand the
money, on the ground that they won it
from minor" decided to try.
Iconiess that this decision made me
nervous | had never handled card, had
never been in gambling house, nor
spoken with professei gambler. More.
over, IL was not vet six CLOCK Ill tue
morning | went home, swallowed a
cup ofcofee, and set out on my strange
Grand .r-...s.. .g
Edward had lost seventy dollars at
Frankjin's gambling house one hundred
and fifty at Ilodgson's and one hundred
and thirty at Dufour & Clarks He gave
me each address, street and number; my
task was to go to these men, talk with
them face 10 face, and get the money!
| could
Franklid was my FIRST man. It was
seven a. IN, when | knocked at his door
there was no bell to pull. A maid al
mitted me, after some parley, and led the
way into a back room, where / found
FRANKLIN shaving before a little glass
hung at the window. His appearance
was not prepossessing a bullet head, GOV
cred with q heavy shock of iron gray
hair, and set strongly on apair of brawny
shoulders a bulldog expression of face
the whole figure indicating animvl force,
brutality and obstinacy His grutr what
do you want at this hour in the morning ?
did not tend to reassure me. The upshot
of my conference with him was blunt
refnsal, 1.-The fellow took his risk and
mus, stand BY it, With that | left him.
Uodcs2n was my next man, His
"pIace ofbusi'ncss' was shut, but ne
gre who was hacging about told me
where he lived, in a distant part OF the
city. A carriage soon set me DOWN III
front of grocery store, with the slSiI!.
"W. b. lIodgson, Family Groceries
\ decent, even handsome woman, with /"
good honest face, presided at the desk
The place was in perfect order, with all
the air of prosperous trade, She told me
that Mr.. llodgson had gone down town
on business. must see him this morn
ing, Madam, on private business The
word private arrested her; an expires.
sion of fear and trouble gathered rapidly
over her honest face. 1t was clear that
she was no partner in the gambling trade,
except to share its shame. ] told my er.
rand plainly. Yon will find my husband
at his place by this time, and he rtil
gre you the money!
found Hodgson q man Of five and
thirty, or whereabouts, with the look Of a
wcll-to do tradesman and an open, frank
expression. My story was hardly begun
when he asked
ado you recognize me 2"
ono"
"Well,' said he, "you paid me my
wages many day, when | worked in the
Methodist Book Concern, and you were
cashier
He told me the steps Of his fall, hoped
"some day to give up this part of his
business" and bore the lecture | gave
him with the best possible feeling.
"As for Edward said he, {" have Of
ten warned the boy not to come into this
orany such place. Here is the money
handing me out one hundred and fifty
dollars
/ told him Of my failure with Franklin
$50 first to Dufour ~ Clark s--yor
will get your money there; they have no
principle, but are arrant towards. Tbot
IN E.anll;n that hath IIn1uann aud I'm