The Brookhaven leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1883-1891, 1886-11-11
THE FIELD OF BLOOD"
A Powerful Sermon by Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, d. d.
what Gambling Il, and the Great Prsva-
Lance of the Eyil-Thc Many Forms
Under which 1t Il Carried On
Its Ruinous Consequences,

ing Christ was afterward used to purchase
graveyard. As the money was blood
money. the ground bought by it was called
in the SyTidc tongue AcC.iaua. meaning
"the field &C blood" Wei, there is one
word l want 70 write to-day over every
race-course whore wagers are staked. and
every pOol-ruom, and every gambling
saloon, and every table. public or private,
where men and women bet for sums of
money, large or smskl and that is word
incarnadlued with the life of iunumcr;. Ole
vIctirs-Aceldama. The gambling spirit
which Is at all times a stupendous evil,
ever and anon sweeps over the country
like an epidemic, prosl -tjng uncUunted
thousands. There has neN been a worse
attack than that from W.T. IA all the viii
lagos, towns and cities are L s. suffering
Whatever your age or calling, the sub
ject Of gambling, about which / speak 20
day is pertinent Some years ago, when
an association for the .sdPpression Of gam
bling was organized< IN agent OF the asso-
citation came to>S prominent citizen and
asked him to patronize the society. He
said NO, lean have no interest III such
an organization. | am in nowise affected
by that evil" At that very time his son,
who was his partner in business. was one
of the heaviest players il Herne's famous
gambling establishment. Another refused
his patronage on the same ground, not
knowing that his first book-keeger, though
receiving salary of only one thousand dol
lars, was losing from>dfty TO one hundred
dollars per night The president Of a rail
road companE TSfused to patronize the in
stitutlOn, saying: That society is good for
the defonse OF merchants, but we railroad
people are not injured by this evil, not
knowing that at that Very time two of his
conductors We're spending three nights of
each week at faro tables in New York Di-
rectly or indirectly this evil strikes at the
whole world
Gambling is the r;sking of something
more or less valuable i'll the hope of win
ming more than you hazard. The instru-
ments Of gaming may differ, but the princi-
PIE is the same The shutting and dealing
of cards, however full Of temptation, is n OF
gambling unless stakes are put up; while
on the other hand gambling may be carried
on without cards'o dice, or billiards. or
ten-pin alley. The man who bets on
horses, on elections, on battles-the man
who deals in fancy stocks, or conducts a
business which hazards extra capital or
goes into transactions without foundation
but dependent upon what men call luck"
is gambler.
Whatever you eXpecs 70 get from your
neighbor without s1ftring an equivalent in
money, or tln3>-,>or skill, IS either the prod
uct OF thet%6r gaming. Lottery tickets and
lottery policies come into the same cate
CORY, Fairs for the founding Of hospitals,
SCHOOLS and Churches, conducted on the
rafting system, come under the same
denomination, Do not, therefore, associate
gambling necessarily with any instrument,
or game, or time, or place, or think the
praCiple depends upon whether YOU play
for glass of wine or one hundred shares
Of railroad stock. Whether You pltronIle
auction pools" French mulaa!s." or
'boukmaklng, whether you employ faro or
billiards, rondo or keno cards or 5agdteile,
the very idea Of the thing is dishonest, for
it processes to bestow upon yoE good for
which you give no equivalent.
This crime is no newborn sprite, but a
haggard transgres sion that comes stagger-
ing down under mantle Of curses through
many centuries. All nations, barbarous
and civilized, have been addicted to it. Be
fore 1898 the French Government received
revenue from gaming houses. In 1861 EN-
gland, for the Improvement OF her harbors,
instituted q lottery to he neld at the front
door of St. Paul's Cathedral. Four hun
dred THOUSAND tickets We're sold at ten shil-
HngS each. The British Museum and West
minister bridge were partially built by sim
ilar procedures. The ancient Germans
would sometimes put up themselves and
families as prizes, and suffer themselves to
be bound, though stronger than the persons
who won them.
But now the laws Of the whole civilized
world denoUnce the system. Euactmeut3
have been passed, but only partially en-
forced, and at times not enforced at all.
The men interested in gaming houses and
in jockey clubs WELD such influence by
their numbers aud afliuence that the judge,
the jury and the police officer must be bold
indeed who array themselves against these
infamous establishments The House of
Commons of England actually ad journs on
Derby day to 20 out and bet ON the races:
and in the best circles of society in this
country to-day are many hundreds of pro-
fesseuly respectable men who are acknowl-
edged gamblers.
In themselves most of the games en-
plOyed in gambling are without harm. Bill
lard tables are as harmless as tea tables,
and pack Of cards as a pack of letter
envelopes, unless stakes be put up. But
by their use for gambling purposes they
have become significant of an infnity of
Indebtedness.
Men wishing to gamble will find places
just suited to their capacity, not only in the
underground oyster cellars, or at the table
back of the curtain, covered with greasy
cards, or in the steamboat smoking cabin,
where the bloated wretch with rings i'll his
ears deals out his pack and winks in the I'M
suspecting travcler-providing free drinks
all around-but in gilded parlors and amid
gorgeous surroundings God never made
man strong enough to endure the wear and
tear of gambling excitement. No wonder
if, after having failed in the game, men
have begun to sweep off imaginary gold
from the side of the table. The man was
sharp enough when he started at the game
but maniac at the close. AT every gaming
table sit on one side Ecstasy, Enthusiasm,
Romance-the frenzy of joy; on the other
side, Ferceness, Rage and Tumult Tn"
professional gamester schools himself into
apparent quictness. The keepers of gam
bling rooms are generally fat, rollicking and
obese; but thorough and professional
gamblers, in nine cases out of ten, are pale,
thin, wheeling, tremulous and exhausted.
A young man, having suddenly inherited
a large property, sits at the hazard tables
and takes up in dice box the estate won
by fathers life-time'sN sweat, and shakes
it, and losses it away Intemperance soon
stigmatizes its Misunderstanding him out, 4
slavering fool, into the ditch, or sending
him, with the drunkard's hiccough, stag
gering up the street where his family lives
But gambling does not III that way expose
its victims.
The gambler may be eaten up by the gam
bler's passion, yet you only discover it BY
the greed in his eyes, the hardness OF his
features, the nervous restlessness, the
threadbare coat and his embarrassed bust
ness. Yet he is on the road to hell, and no
preachers voice, or startling warning, or