Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-07-21

and reached for the property. Smlllngly
he pat away my outstretched and eager
hand, and laid down beside my four aces
his accursed hand, which was straite-
plush.
The property is mine, said he.
1t isl' said |.
Then / experienced feeling Of re-
morse Then felt that drah.poquier
was gambling, and that gambling In any
form was a crime Of the most heinous
nature, and that had been guilty Of a
crimea
"Oh, why" / exclaimed, "did l ever
permit myself to become infatuated with
the desire for gambling If l win, it is
my neighbor's dirhems-if lose, it is
my own: In any case, there is nothing
Of actual value that passes. While we
use capital in gambling, we produce
nothing, One side is richer-the other
poorer, and there has been waste of
precious time. Besides it is terribly de-
morhlizing. It ilfatuates a man and
enfeebles his mind. His mind dwells on
the game to the exclusion of everything
that is good-it crushes out everything
that is high and noble, and develops
everything that is mean and small in
ones nature. 1t ruins the loser fnan-
cially, and ruins the winner morally.
Wretch that / am, why did | ever permit
myself to play at ALL Why did permit
this cruel infatnation to grip mep"
And remorse sat on me, and beat my
breast and pulled my hair. Bewailing
my wickedness, / determined to purge
mvsef of the unholv thing
Would have so thought and so done
had l held the straite-plush, and the ac-
cursed bellows-mender the four aces? l
do not know.
Once more. In my youth / drank
deep of pleasure. The wines of Shiraz
we're not too good for me, and the strong
waters Of the Frank / INDUCED in to a
degree that was astonishing. ! had
constitution of iron and the endurance
of an army mule. / could drink all
night and disport myself all day. There
seemed to be no limit to it. Moralists
said it was wicked, but laughed. What
cared for the moralists2 Go to-I said,
life is short and it behooves me to get
the most out of it. A fig for your
preachers and preaching. Wine is good |
Il will drink it. The blackeyed woman
pleases mel will enjoy her society.
The rattle of the dice Is music to mine
ear-they shall rattle. Pleasure l wan
ted. Pleasure / enjoyed, and went for |
it in every possible form. The moments
few by rapidly, each one bringing with |
it fresL delight-the days sped by, each
one crowned with new pleasure.
But finally it came to an end. My |
stomach gave out and dyspepsia set in.
| could drink no more of the rich wines
or of the strong waters. Women pleased
me not. The rattle of the dice was no
longer pleasure, for | was, to use a
Persian phrase, played out. Ny system
gave out all at once. | had hunted |
pleasure, and pleasure was now hunting |
me. / had lived out my vitality, but
time remained.
Then l experienced what is called re-
morse. With dyspepsia gnawing at my
stomach; with my knees weakened and !
my back of no account whatever-inca.
pable of what had delighted me, and /
diseased in every part, was sorry had
lived the life | had lived. Not because
the Koran interdicted it-not because
the life had been of itself wrong, but be-
cause certain pains and penalties fol-
lowed the life which gave me more woe
than the life had given me pleasure. So
long as my health lasted cared nothing
for the violation of the precepts-it was
only when the penalties we're enforced
that felt sorrow for what had done.
There are men-and women-who do,
presume, experience genuine remorse
for the commission of wrongs, great and
small, but, as said, the number is few.
1t is the penalties that hurt them. Sol.
omon, of whom you have probably heard,
did not say vanity of vanities," so long
as he was in good health and could sin
with some zest 1t was only after he was
old and incapable that remorse struck
him. Precisely so it is with the most of
us. When the candle of enjoyment is
all burned out, and the dark, black snuff
alone remains, we look at it with regret
and remorse Possibly it may be grief
at the sin, but, as rule, methinks it is
grief because we cannot do il over again,
or because, now that we have the penal
lies to pay, that it did not pay to do it at
all.
But"
Don't say another word. You have
got all out of me that it is necessary for
you to know. In fact. as have spoken,
you have got all that there is in the topic.
Leave me-
And the sage went YEARLY in to his
r. Locke in National
Monthly.