The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-10-05

health, loss of home; loss of family, loss
Of immortal soul. Exchange sure
enough and infinite enoughl
There is in many disposition to haz-
ard. They feel delight in walking
near prec1pice because of the sense of
danger. There are people who go upon
Jungfrau, not for the largeness of the
prospect, but for the feeling that they
have Of thinking, What would happen
If l should fall Off?' There are persons
who have their blood filliped and accel-
Grated by skating very near an air-hOle.
There are men who find positive de-
light in driving within two inches of
the edge. of bridge. 1t is this disposi-
tion to hazard that finds development
in gaming practices. Here are $500.
may stake them. If stake them 1 may
lose them; but l may win 5000.
whichever way it turns have the ex-
citement. Shuttle the cards. Lost!
Hearts trump. Head dizzy. At it again
just to crafty this desire for hazard.
Then there are others who go into this
sin through sheer desire for gain. 1t is
| blers. They always keep cool. They
never drink enough to unbalance their
judgment. They do not see the dice so
much as they see the dollar beyond the
dice, and for that they watch as the
| spider in the web, looking as if dead
until the fly passes. Thousands of
young men, in the hope of gain, go into
these practices. They say: well, my
salary is not enough to allow this luxu-
store, office or shop. 1 ought to have
better wines. 1 ought to have more
richly-flavOred cigars. l ought to be
able to entertain my friends more ex-
pensively. l won't stand this any
longer. can with one
brilliant stroke make a fortune.
Now, here goes, principle or no princi-
pie, heaven or hell. Who cares?" When
a young man makes up his mind to live
beyond his income satan has bought
him, out and out, and it is only ques-
ton Of time when the goods are to be
delivered. The thing is done. You may
plant in the way all the batteries of
truth and righteousness, that man is
bound to go on. When a man makes
$1,000 year and spends $1,000, when a
man makes $500 and spends $1,70O, all
the harpies of darkness cry out: "Ha!
hal we have him." and they have. How
to get the extra $500 or the extra 5000
is the question. He says: Here is my
friend who started out the other day
with but little money, and in one night,
so great was his luck, he rolled up hun
dreds and thousands of dollars. If he
got it, why not 1? 1t is such dull work,
this adding up of long lines of figures
| in the counting house; this pulling
down hundred yards of goods and SELL
ing remanent; this always waiting up
on somebody else, when could put 800
on the ace and pick up $1,000"
This sin works very insidiously. Other
sins sound the drum, and flaunt the flag,
and gather their recruits with wild
huZza, but this marches its procession of
pale victims in dead of night, in silence,
and when they drop into the grave there
| is not so much sound as the click of
dice. Oh, how many have gone down
under it'll Look at those men who were
once highly prOspered. Now their fore
head is licked by a tongue of flame that
will never go out. In their souls are
plunged the beaks that will never be
lifted. Swing open the door of that
mans heart and you see coil of adders
wriggling their indescribable horror
until you turn away and hide your face
and ask God to help you forget it. The
most of this evil is unadvertised. The
community does not hear of it. Men de-
frauded in gaming establishments are
not fools enough to tell of it. Once in a
while, however, there is an exposure, as
when in Boston the police swOOped upon
gaming establishment and found in it
the representatives of all classes of citi-
Zens from the first merchants on State
street to the low Ann street gambler; as
when Bullock, the cashier of the Central
Railroad of Georgia, was found to have
stolen 100000 for the purpose of carry
ing on gaming practices; as when
young man in one of the Savings Banks
of Brooklyn, many years ago, was found
to have stolen $4,000 to carry on gam
ing practices; as when man connected
with Wall street Insurance Company
was found to have stolen $1800O0 to
carry on his gaming practices. But that
is exceptional. Generally the money
leaks silently from the merchants till
into the gamester's wallet. l believe
that one of the main pipes leading to
this sewer of inquity is the excitement
of business life. Is it not a significant
fact that the majority of the day gambl-
ing houses Of New York are in prOxim-
ity to Wall streetP Men go into the ex-
eitement of stock gambling, and from
that they plunge into the gambling
houses, as when men are intoxicated
drink. The bowling, screaming, stamp
ing, Bedlamitish crew in the in the old
fashioned Gold Room dropped into the
gaming houses to keep up their frenzy. |
The agitation that is witnessed in the |
stock market when the Chair announces
the word Northwestern" or Fort |
Wayne" or "ROck Island" or New York
CenLTal1 anu Ine EdI1 IdG, LaG OI Gne au-
ctiOueer's hammer, and the excitement
Of making corners, and getting up
''poOls," and carrying stock" and
"break" from 80 to 20, and the excite
ment of rushing about in curbstone
brokerage and sudden cries of Buyer
g." "Buyer TO-" Take 'em." "How
many?" and the making or losing of
$4,000 by one operation units man to
go home, and so he goes up the flight of
stairs amid business offices to the darkly
curtained, wOOden-shuttered room, gay
ly furnished inside, and takes his place |
at the roulette or the fairO table. But |
cannot tell all the process by which men
get into this evil. One man came to our |
city of New York. He was a western
merchant. He went into a gaming
house in Park Place. Before morning
he had lost all his money save 81, and |
he moved around about with that dollar |
in his hand, and after awhile, cGNght |
still more powerfully under the ir or |
nal infatuatiOn, he came up and put |
down the dollar, and cried out until |
they heard him through the saloon, |
"One thousand miles from home and my |
last dollar on the gaming tablep'
/ arraign before God the gift enter |
nrioao Of Our oifioo ,hiob hovo +oDJ |