The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-10-05
TALMAGE.
Are Americans a Nation of
Gamblers?
Sermon by the Rev. Dewitt Talmage,
Preached in Brooklyn Tabernacle,
Sunday, Oct. |, 1882.

crowd the Brooklyn Tabernacle as in
| former years, audiences of five thou
sand people occupying the place every.
Sabbath morning. and evening. After
explaining a portion of the Scriptures
this morning, DR.. Talmage gave out the
opening hymn. After this hymn had
been sung by the congregation DR.. Tai
mage began his sermon on the subject,
"Shall the gamblers be triumphant
The text was ii. Kings, xix, %: Be
cause thy rage against me and thy tu-
multi is come up into mine ears, there
fore will put my hook in thy nose, and
my bride in thy lips, and l will turn
thee back" The following is the SER
mon:
Sennacharib, the infamous, had taxed
and outraged the people until 1t was
time for him to be stopped. God,
through the prophet, declares He will
stop him, and that in no smooth OF COM
plimentary style. He will not coax him
back. He will not argue or persuade
him back; but as butcher thrusts an
iron hook into the nose Of an OK to lead
him to the slaughter, so God will turn
this foul Sennacharib. 81 will put my
hook into thy nose, and / will turn thee
back"
The gambling evil has of late taken
on imperial airs. Having for centuries
| in secret taxed multitudes to financial
and moral death, it now becomes blat-
| ant and defiant as l have never before
| seen or heard it. Recent events are as
founding. Shall the gamblers be tri-
umphant in these cities, or shall our
authorities be sufficiently backed up by
public opinion to rOut and eXtirpate
| them, Is one of the absorbing questions
for every good citizen. Sir Garnet
WOlseley promised that he would over
throw Arab Pasha by September 18th,
/ hn bnv kO
know how the Egyptians have been
spoiled. The gamblers of these cities,
for a time squelched, promised that
| they would open their places again by
the 25th of September, and they have
kept their promise to the day, their
prOmptness in the bad an example for
prOmptness in the good. Refreshed
| with the summer recreatiOns of SaratO-
go and other watering places these gam
| blers open their pool rooms at Hunters
\ Point, and the police can do nothing,
| and c. 'Oner suggestiVely allows his
premises to be used as an entrance to
/ one of these pandemOniums, the cOrO-
ner, no doubt, having an eye to busi-
ness, as the way of the gambler is so
often the way of sudden death. On
last Thursday about sixty of these mis-
cTeants were arraigned in New York
and pleaded not guilty. While they are
by talented counsel struggling for res
cue, the District Attorney is sOlemnly
warned by private letter and in other
ways that he had better look out. Poll
ticianS are told that if they take any
part in the suppression of pool rooms or
gambling saloons they shall be neither
SheTiffs, nor CoTOneTs, nor District At
tOrneys, nor Mayors, nor Judges. What
now all good men and women, and all
churches, and all reform associations
need to do is to make strong and vehem-
ent sentiment against all these viii
lainOus practices. l was in Cincinnati
last week, and, passing to the depot l
heard the clatter of dice, and away out
in the country, at an agricultural fair,
group of men gathered in front of the
hotel and all day long gambled, while
their honest neighbOrs were admiring
the products of the earth and blessing
God for great prosperity.
From sea to see this style of iniquity
hasspread itself. This crime is on the
advance, so that it is we'll not only that
fathers and brothers and sons be inter
ested in such discussion, but that
wives and mothers and sisters and
daughters look out lest their present
home be sacrificed, OF their intended
homes be blasted. No man, no woman,
can stand alOOf from such a subject as
this and say: ut has no practical bear
ing upon my life," for there may be in
a short time in your history an expert
ence in which you will find that the
discussion involved three wOrds-earth,
heaven, hell, There are in this cluster
of cities hundreds of gambling estab-
lishments. There are about thirty-five
hundred professional gamblers. Out of
these establishments how many of them
do you suppose profess to be honest2
Ten. These ten protesting to be honest
because they are merely the ante cham
ber to those that are acknowledged
fraudulent. There are first-elass gam
bling establishments. You step little
way out of Broadway. You go up the
marble stairs. You ring the bell. The
liVeried servant introduces you. The
walls are lavender tinted. The mantels
are of Vermont marble. The pictures
are "Jephtha's Daughter" and DOre's
DANTE" and Virgil's Frozen Region
of HelP'-a most appropriate selection,
this last, for the place. There is the
the roulette table, the finest, cOstliest,
United States. There is the banqueting
room, where, free of charge to the
guests, you may find the plate and vi |
ands and wines and cigars sumptuOus
beyond parallel. Then you come to the |
second class gambling establishment. |
To it you are introduced by a card to |
some roper-in. Having entered, you
lnuob Ao4hO4O VI
cards, dice loaded with quicksilver, poor |
drinks mixed with more poor drinks, |
will soon help you to get rid Of all your |
money to tune in short meter, without
staccatO passages. You wanted to see. |
You saw. The low villains of that |
place watch you as you come in. Does |
not the panther, squat in the grass, |
know a calf when he sees it? Wrangle |
not for your rights in that place, or |
your body will be thrown bloody into |
the street, or dead into the East river.
You go along little further, and find |
the policy establishment. In that place |
you bet on numbers. Betting on two |
numbers j. called a "saddle;" betting on |
three numbers is called gigs" bet |
ting on d tour thord numbers Is called
young men leaping into that saddle, |
and mounting that gig, and behind that |
horse riding to perditiOn. The usual |
sign on the door is the word, "Ex- |
change" most appropriate title, for