The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-07-25
Remorse-The Nature of the Average
Article.


frame of mind one morning. was ap-
preached by along-nosed, sad looking man,
who propounded to him the query: " What
is Remorse?
To which Abou replied, s'The humiliat-
ing sense of an AFFECT failure"
( What!' exclaimed the seeker after
truth |; 90 is there no such thing as sorrow
and regret for wrong-doing
Frequently, my aged infant, frequent
ly. There are minds so susceptible TO
proper impressions. so spirituallzed, II
NAV use the expression, as to feel pang
or two after they have done wrong thing,
but they are not common.
Listen to my own experience. A great
many years ago, in Persia, made the &C
quaintance of party of men who met ne
quently to indulge in game played with
cards, which, presume, you know moth
ing of here, called, in Persia, drah-poquler.
1t is curious game. The cards are dealt
one at time, till each has five-then those
who have taken, put on the center OF the
table coin, such as has been determined
upon-say kopeck then they are allowed
to throw up as many cards as they choose,
| taking from the pack an equal numbers
then the man who sits next to the dealer
! on the RIGHT remarks: 81 am the aged
one. impoyerish me , and the betting be-
gins. 1t is a curious game, and fiuctuat-
! ing one-each player being kept in pleas
ant state of uncertainty as to what the 9th
ers have, till they come to what they call
showdown"
Well, learned this game, and played it
with unvarying success for some days,
winning. on an average, four to five
dirhems at a sitting. As gathered in my
spoils saw nothing wrong ia the game.
II seemed to me most desirable and, In
all respects, gentlemanly game.
81 am sorry said to myself, !" Tor
Hafiz, the bellows-mender, and for Nadlr.
| the seller of shawls, but Allah knows l
ri.k nv substance on the cards as do they,
and had they my luck they would have my
money. Be chesm, it is highly moral
game. and mad | an hundred children L
would teach it them. What is there
wrong in it? 1t is my money which
[ risk; it is their money which they
risk. There is no trickery OF cheating
in this game, for the cards are fairly
dealt, and we make wagers on our judg-
ment, or our luck. So does tn: merchant
who buys the wheat of Khurdistan, be
lieving that the crop will be short, and
that it will go up. So does the merchant
who sells the corn of Kohmul, believing
that the crop will be heavy and the pr1ce
will 90 down. What is this but gambling
If thew play with wheat and corn, why
J. should not Hafiz and l play with cards
And then it strengthens the mlnd-it de
velops the Judgment, quickens the reason
ing powers, and brOadens, widens and
strengthens the mental man. 1t is noble
game, and great pursuit.
Thus reasoned |, joyously.
had no remorse. nor did it occur to me
that it was gambling.
But one night it so happened that had
certainty on HafiZ. | had three cards
alike in my hand-thati is to say. three aces
and when the cards were helped, as the
phrase is, took another. Hafiz drew one
/ card to the four that he held, and the bet
) ting began. Now four aces is strong
, hand. there being but one that can beat it,
namely a strate- phlush. | wagered a
, kopeck to help Hafiz on to his ruin. How
I gIoated over those four aces! L saw
nothing wrong in those four aces, nor in
making out of HafiZ, the belloNs-mender,
! all that he should make by his trade for q
J wear. He saw my modest kopeck and SAID
: he would wager dirhem in addition. Elk.
| ulting in the strength of my four aces,
, gladly put up the dirhem, and remarked
? that such was my faith in my hand, that
would impoverish him to the extent OF ten
dirhems more. Hafiz, On whose head light
curses, saw the ten dirhems and boosted
me boosted is Persian phrase) one hun.
dred dirhems. / made sure that the foul
aces were not an optical delusion, and went
him one thousand dirhems, which he saw
and came back at me five thousand dir
i hens, which feeling that it would be crue
to utterly ruin him, called without furth
!, er gymnastics.
r Smilingly laid down my four aces ano
a reached for the property. Smilingly ht
. put away my outstretched and eager hand
and laid down beside my four aces his ac
cursed hand, which was strate-phlush.
y 1.-The property is mine % said he.
at is!' said /.
: Then 1 experienced feeling of remorse
Then felt that drah-poquier was gambling
and that gambling in any form was sir
of the most heinous nature, and that hao
: been guilty of crime.
: "Oh, why" / exclaimed, " did l evel
/, permit myself to become infatuated with
= the desire for gambling If win, it is my
: neighbours dirhems-if l lose, it is my
!, own. In any case, there is nothing o
q actual value that passes. While we ust
capital in gambling, we produce nothing
!. One side is richer-the other poorer, anC
; there has been waste of precious time
!, Besides it is terribly demoralizing. 1t in
fatuates man and enfeebles his mind
), His mind dwells on the game to the exclu
= sion OF everything that is good-lt crush
II es out everything that is high and noble
and develops everything that is mean ant
If small in ones nature. 1t ruins the lose
1, financially, and ruins the winner morally
:: Wretch that am, why did [ ever permi
l. myself to play at all? Why did permi
n this cruel fnfatuation to grip me?"
= And Remorse sat on me, and beat m,
il breast and pulled my hair. Bewailing m,
e wickedness, determined topurge mysel
g of the unholy thing.
y Would l have so thought and s
h done had / held the strate phlush, and tn
IS accursed bellows-mender the four aces?
y do not know.
sr Once more. In my youth drank deep c
lie pleasure. The wines of ShiraZ were nc
re too good for me, and the strong waters c
the Frank INDUCED in to degree tina
" was astonishing. | had aconstitution c
It iron, and the endurance of an army mule
" could drink all night and disport mysel