The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1870-08-18
:.,,';'=
\ Crr-T 77e1 cAEIBLER.


-.
Hong Kong Letter to the Boston Traveller.
I;trI- incident which occurred before /
}eft Hong Kong. and which has : singular ~
+qres. 10 me. and / viii leave tie ILlAesT
Ilars and finish with the European, IL ~
colony Of Hong Kong where INN" s-n1.i7
I'D bav,ly houses are gladly licensed l0s t-,e
80 i,rroreans are not allowed 70 gamble
bv lax. Hence the greater part Of tue spo-t
ira community take trip every DAY CT ~
80 n Macao. where gaming IS the PFihc5t!c
j. hagpengu Ieqth l ID Pns
young man to whom l brought package, l
was directed 10 the back room on the upper
floor Of hotel, and instead Of finding the
young man l found room full OF gamblers.
| do not know that it would be called gambling
among ''professional., - but there was several
round tables. around which We're gathered e
number Of decenrly dressed men betting on
cards. They would bet on the denomination
Of the c2rd drawn NJ random from the pack,
or would deal out hand and each bet on his
chance. Ii was rather Il strange sight &C me,
and SIT down BIZ the doc! TO see the games.
and note the sayings Of the pl.vcrs. At the
table nearest me WAS young man about %
years Old, whom from hi. accent | took 10 be
an American, and all old man somewhat gray.
They had been betting, it seemed. and drink
ing too. 70" the bottles before them were ne rlv
man vas shutting the cards as he said, for
a new del, ana the young man N . Swager-
ing, carles~ way leaning buck in his chair, and
trying his cigar, and finding that it had gone
out, began humming n tune. After while.
as the old man was dealing out the cards, the
young fellow broke out in q low. careless tone,
singing, in Il tune that l had never before
heard, these old words
"Onc sweetly solemn thought
Comes to me DER and Ger,
I'm nearer my home to-day
Than I've eve. been before;
Nearer the crys al g tie
Where We lay our burdens down,
Nearer leaving my cross,
Nearer wearing my crown"
The young man had an excellent voice. an
its sweet tones and those beautiful words had
a strange ring in that gambling den. As for
me II made me sLulder. while several & NIB
lers looked up from their game with surprise.
But the old men who vas dealing the cards
put on a look of melancholy that shall never
forget. He stopped dea ing the cards for
moment, gazet fXedly at the young blasphemcI
and then gathering up the cards he had dis
tributed, he dashed the whole pack on the
floor under the table, evidently in passion.
The young man suddenly stopped his singing
and ooked first at the cards under the t.bl"
and then at the Old man, utterly ct u loss to
know whit it all meant.
Where did you learn that tune - INQUIRED
the old man, il hulI-angry, haif-conclatory
tone. But the young lAun either did not.
or pretended that he did not, know that lie
had been singing at ali.
well, no matter, said the old man Give
played my last game. and that the end Of it.
The cards may lie there till dooms lay, and |
will never pick them up
At this time the yonns man. in a pet, pro-
tested, saying that the old man had won his
money, and now wished to stop without giving
him chance to win it back. The old man
then took out of his pocket the bunch Of Hong
Kong bills he had stuffed in there, and count
ing out so or 500 l could not tell exactly.
said:
There, Harry, IS your money; take it and
do good with it, | shall with minen He
then went to the table or bar as it was called.
paid for the liquor, and waldcd out by me
arlu-in-arm with the young man he md called I
saw them conycrsing by the doorway. ana /
overheard enough to know that the Old man
was saying something about that tune which
the young man had 80 unthnliniy sung.
/ have pondered upon il a great deal since. 7.
ami Guild give much to know whether the ola /
man kept his resolution or whether the Young
man ever played again. Withou; doubt the
words were learned in Il Sabbath school, or at .
a mothers knee, by both, and each teacher
may have felt when they laboTed that, in the
words Of Burns:
perhaps it may turn out song,
Perhaps turn cut sermon :;
and it did turn out the latter.