The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-09-23
The Religious Card Player.


The account of it is thus given i'm an
English Journal: a sergeant COM
manded the soldiers ut the chur h, and
when the parson had read the prayers
he took the text. Those who | ad b.
blcs took them out; but this soldier
had neither Bible nor Common prayer
Book, and pulling out II pack of cards
he spread them before him. He first
looked ut one card and then at another.
The sergeant of the company saw him
and said:
"Richard, put up the cards; this is
no place for them" "Never mind
that said Richard. When the SER
vices were over. the con: table took
Richard prisoner, and bro ght him be-
fore the Mayor. "Well," said the
Mayor, "what have you brought the
soldier here for?" "For playing cards
in the church." "Well soldier, what
have you to say foryourself?" "Much,
sir, | hope" Every good; if not, |
will punish you severely"
81 have been," said the soldier,
"about six weeks on the march. /
have neither Bible nor Common Prayer
Book. have nothing but pack of
| cards, and | hope to satisfy your wor
ship of the purity of my intentions:
Then spreading the cards before the
Mayor, he began with the ace: "When
| see the ace it reminds me that there
is but one God. When see the deuce,
it reminds me of the Father and Son.
When see the trey, it reminds me of
the Father, son and Holy Ghost.
When see the four, it reminds me of
the four Evangelists that preached
Mathew, Mark, Luke and John.
When see the five. it reminds me of
the wise virgins that trimmed their
lamps; there were ten, but five were
wise and five were foolish, and We're
shut out. When | see the six, it re-
minds me that in six days the Lord
made heaven and earth. When | see
the seven, it reminds me that on tie
seventh day God rested from the great
work he had made, and hallowed it.
When | see the eight, it reminds me
of the eight righteous persons who
were saved when God destroyed the
world, viz: Noah and his wife, his
| three sons, and their wives. When ]
see the nine, it reminds me of the nine
lcpers that were clcansed by our Saw
Jour There were nine out of ten that
never returned thanks. When | see
the ten, it reminds me of the ten COM
mandments which God handed down
to Moses on the tables of stone. When
| see the King, it reminds me OF the
Great King of Heaven, which Is God
Almighty. When | see the queen, it
reminds me of the Queen of Sheba,
who visited Solomon, for she was as
wise u woman as he was man. She
brought with her fifty boys and fifty
girls all dressed in boys apparel, for
King solomon to tell which were boys
and which were girls. The King sent
for water for them to wash. The girls
washed to the elbows, the boys to the
wrists; so King solomon told by that"
"Well," said the Mayor, you have
described every card in the pack except
one.u "What is that"n "The knave,"
said the Mayor. ~ will give your
honor description of that, too if you
will not get angry 81 Will not,
said the Mayor, "if you do not term
me to be the knave." "The greatest
knave kdow of is the constable that
brought me here" ~ do not know
said the MAYOR, "if he is the greatest
knavc, but l know he is the greatest
fooln
"When count how many spots
there are in pack of cards, iind $50
AS many days ~ there are in year.
When | count the number of cards in
a pack. find 52-the number of weeks
in wear | find there are twelve
picture cards in pack, representing
the number of months IN year, and
on counting the tricks, find l3-the
number of weeks in a quarter Soyou
see a pack of cards serves for Bible,
an Almanac and n Common Prayer
Book
Humboldt Lake, or the Sink of the
Humboldt, is dry. The Ntrer State
says: An area of about thirty square
miles which II few years ago was COW
cred with water, is now as dry rs a
desert. This change has been caused
by diverting the waters of the Hum
boldt river to the lands along the
stream for irrigation purposes. Those
who thought the lake had "A subtcr-
ranean outlet, can now walk dry shod
over what was once the bed Of the
lake, and see that there are no holes
In the ground. Before the water was
diverted from its natural channel, the
water was reduced by evaporation, not
by leakage in the bottom.
A miner in the Cariboo district re-
Gently met with terrific death. He
was plodding along mountain trail
with his pack on his back, weary and
discouraged, when he slipped and fell
over n precipice 1000 feet in height,
striking in small stream at the bot
tom. His body was crushed into u
shapeless mass.