The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-07-08

BY J. LOCKE.

preached by long-nosed, sad looking
man. who propounded tohim the query:
What is remorse?'
To which Abou replied:
THE humiliating sense of an abject
failure"
"What y exclaimed the seeker after
truth, lis there no such word as sor-
row and regret for wrong doing -
Frequently, my aged infant-fre-
quently. There are minds so suscep-
tible to proper impressions, so spiritual
lied, if l may use the expression, rs to
feel a pang or two after they have done
a wrong thing. but they are not COM
mon.'
" Listen to my experience. A great
many years ago, in Persia, l made the
acquaintance of party of men who
met frequently to indulge in game
played with cards, which l presume
you know nothing of here, called in
Persia Drah-Poquier. 1t is a curious
game. The cards are dealt one at time
till each has five. and then those who
are playing put on the centre of the ia
BILE coin, such as has been determined
upon, say a kopeck, then they are allowed
to throw away rs many cards as they
choose. taking from the pack an equal
number; then the man who sits next
the dealer remarks. sarcastically, am
the aged onc-impoverish me ; and the
betting begins. 1t is curious game,
and is fluctuating, the players being
kept in pleasant state of uncertainty
as to what the others have till they
come to what they call showdown.
"Well, I learned this game. and
played it with success for some days,
winning OH an average four or five dir
hens at sitting. As gathered in my
spoils, saw nothing wrong in the game.
1t seemed to me most desirable and
in all respects gentlemanly game.
So am sorry, said to myself. for
HATH, the bellows maker, and for Nadir,
the seller of shawls !; but Allah knows I
risk my substance on the cards, rs do
they, and had they my luck they would
have my money. BE chesm, it is .
highly moral game, and had / hun
dred 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
or cheating in the game, for the cards
are fairly dealt, and we make wagcrs on
our Judgment or our luck. So does the
merchant who buys the wheat of khur
distan, believing that the crop will be
short, and that it will go up. So does
the merchant who sells the corn Of Koh-
null, believing that the crop will he
heavy and the price go down. What is
this but gambling? If they play with
wheat and corn, why should not Hatiz
and I play with cards And then it
strengthens the mind, it develops the
Judgment, quickens the reasoning pow
ers, and brOadens, widens and strength
ems the mental man. 1t is IL noble game
and great pursuit.
"Thus reasoned I, joyously.
" l had no remorse, nor did it occur
to me that it was gambling.
" But one night it so happened that l
had certainty on Hafz. had three
cards alike in my hand--that is to say,
three aces--and when the cards were
helped, as the phrase is, took another.
Hafiz drew one card to the four he had
in his hand, and the betting began.
Now, four aces is a strong hand, there
being but one that can beat t-namely,
a strate-phlush. l waged a kopeck to
help Hafiz on to his ruin. How I
gloated over those four aces! saw
nothing wrong in those four aces, nor
in making out of Hafiz. the bellows
member, all that he could make by his
trade for a year. He saw my modest
kopeck, and said that he would wager a
dirhem in addition. Exulting in the
strength Of my four aces, gladly put
up my dirhem, and remarked that such
was my faith in my hand that would
impoverish him to the extent of ten
dirhems. Hafiz-on whose head light
cures saw the ten dirhems and boosted
me boosted is a Persian phrase) one
hundred dirhems. made sure the
four aces was not an optical delusion,
and went him one thousand dirhems,
thousand dirhems, which, feeling that
it would be cruel to utterly ruin him. /
called without further gymnastics.
Smillingly l laid down my +, ur
aces, and reached for the property.
Smilingly he put away my outstretched
and eager hand, and laid down beside
my four aces his accursed hand, which
was a strate-phlush.
"'The property is mine, said he.
"' It is, said /.
"Then | experienced feeling of re-
morse. Then l felt that drah- poquier
was gambling, and that gambling in any
form was sin of the most heinous
nature. and that had been guilty of a
crime.
"'Oh, why I exclaimed, did
ever permit myself to become infatuated
with the desire for gambling IfIwin,
it is my neighbor's dirhems; if l lose, it
is my own. In any case, there is no.
thing of actual value that passes. While
we use capital in gambling. we produce