The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1886-11-11

and trustees of funds it has driven to dis
grace, incarceration and suicideg Witness
years ago a cashier of the Central Railroad
and Banking company of Georgia, who stol,
100000 to carry on his gaming practices
Witness the 1000 stolen from a Brooklyn
bank within the memory of many of YOU
and the $780, 900 taken from Wall street in
surance company for the same purpose
These are only illustrations on large scale
of the robberies committed for the purpos,
of carrying out the designs of gamblers
Hundreds of thousands of dollars every yeal
leak out without observation from the mer
chants till into the gambling Lell.
A man III London keeping one of these
gambling houses boosted that he had ruined
nobleman a day but if all the saloons OF
this land were to speak out, they might utter
more infamous boast, for they have de
stroyed a thousand noblernen year.
Notice also the effect of this crime upon
domestic happiness. 1t has sent its ruthless
plowshare through hundreds of families
until the wife sat in rags, and the daughters
were disgraced, and the sons grew up to the
same infamous practices, or took a short cut
to destruction across the murderer's scaffold.
Home has lost ell charms for the gambler.
How tame are the children's caresses and a
wife's devotion to the gamblerl How drear-
lily the fire burns on the domestic hearth
There must be louder laughter, and some
thing to win, ond something to lose;
an excitement to drive the heart
faster, flip the blood and fire
the imagination No home, however bright.
can keep back the gamester The sweet cali
of love bounds back from his iron soul, and
all endearnents are consumed in the fire of
his passion. The family Bible will go after
all other treasures are lost, and if his crown
in heaven were put into his hand he would
cry, "Here goes; one more game, my boys
On this one throw I stake my crown of
heaven"
young man in London, on coming of
age, received a fortune of S120, 900, and
through gambling, in three years, was thrown
on his mother for support.
An only son went to New Orleans He
was rich, intellectual and elegant in manners
His parents gave him ON his departure from
homo their last blessing The sharpers got
hold of him. They hattered him. They
Iured him to the gaming table and let him
win almost every time for good while, nnd
patted him on the back and said, illustrate
player" But fully in their grasp they
fieeced him, and his $50, 900 were lost Last
of all, he put up his watch and lost that.
Then he began to think of his home, and of
his old father and mother, and wrote thus:
NY D6lONeu dTOiilSs lou Will doubtless
feel a momentary joy at the reception of this
letter from the child of your bosom, on whom
you have lavished all the favors of your de
clining years. But should q feeling of jov
for moment spring up in your hearts when
you should have received this from me. cher
ish it not. l have fallen deep, never to rise
Those gray hairs that I should have honored
and protected 1 shall bring down in sorrow
to the grave. l viii not curse my DESTROYER
but, oh, may God avenge the wrongs and i'm
positions practiced upon the unwary in a
way that shall best please himl This, my
dear parents, is the last letter you viii ever
receive from me. humbly pray your for
giveness. 1t is my dying prayer Long be-
fore you viii have received this from me the
cold grave viii have closed upon me forever.
Life to me is insupportable. I cannot, nay,
will not, suffer the shame of having ruined
you. Forget and forgive is the dying prayer
of your unfortunate SON."
The old father came to the postofflce, got
the letter and fell to the floor They thought
he was dead at first, but they brushed back
the white hair from his brow and famed
him. He had only tainted. I wish he had
been dead, for what is life worth to a father
after his son is Destroyed "Aceldema, the
field of bloodr
When things go wrong at gaming table
they shout: Foul FOUL" Over all the
gaming tables of the world cry out: @Foul!
foul! infinitely FOUL"
Gift stores are abundant throughout the
country. With book, or knife, or sewing
or coat. or carriage there goes a
prize. At these stores people get something
thrown in with their purchase 1t may be a
gold watch, or a set of silver, ring, or O
farm. Sharp way to get off unstable goods
1t has filed the land with fictitious articles
and covered up our population with brass
finger rings and despoiled the moral sense OF
the community, and is fast making US
nation of gamblers
The church of God has not seemed willing
to allow the world to have all the advantage
of these games of chance A church fair |
opens, and toward the close it is found that |
some of the more valuable articles are I'M
salable. Forthwith the conductors of the |
enterprise conclude that they viii rattle for |
some of the valuable articles, and, under pre-
tense of anxiety to make their minister |
present or please some popular member of |
the church, fascinating persons are dispatched |
through the room, pencil in hand, to solicit |
shares" or perhaps each draws for his own |
and scores of people go home |
with their trophies, thinking that is all right,
for Christian ladies did the embroidery and |
Christian men did the rafting and the pro-
leeds went toward a new communion set. |
But you may depend on it, that as far as
morality IS concerned, you might as well nave
Won by the crack of the billiard ball or the |
urn of the dice box.
Do you wonder that churches built, light
d or upholstered by such processes as that
ONE to great financial and spiritual decrepi- |
ude7 The devil says: II helped to build |
hat house of worship, and | have as much |
iol,t thorn Won hawaii and for Oncn thn !
evil is right.
We do not read that they had a lottery for |
,uilding the church at Corinth or at Antioch,
r for getting up an embroidered surplice for
It. Paul.
All this I style ecclesiastical gambling.
lore than one man who is destroyed can say
hat his first step on the wrong road was
when he won something at a church fair.
The gambling spirit has not stopped for
ny indecency. There transpired in Mary
and q lottery in which people drew for lots
n burying ground! The modern habit of |
writing about everything is productive of
immense mischief The most healthful and
amusements of yachting and base
all playing have been the occasion of put
ing up excited and extravagant wagers.
hat which to many has been advan-
ageous to body and mind has been to
theirs the means of financial and moral
oss. The custom Is pernfcious in the ex-
RENE where scores of men i'll respect
BILE life give themselves up to betting
low on this boat, now on that; now on this
all club, now on that
Betting, that once was chiefly the accom-
of the racecourse, is fast becoming
national habit, and in some circles any
Dinion advanced on finance or politics is
ccosted with the interrogation: "How much
,;If ,.o., nor ~, hot c;Y.Tf
This custom may make no appeal to slow, /
ethargic temperaments, but there are in the
ountry tens of thousands of quick, nervous,
anguine, excitahle Compartments ready TO
e acted upon, and their feet viii soon take
old ON death. For some months, and per-
APPS for years, they viii linger in the more
olite and elegant circle of gamesters, but,
fter while, their pathway Rill come TO the
atal plunge Finding themselves in the
apids, they will try to back out, and, hurled
yer the brink, they viii clutch the side of
no boat, until their lngerpnils, blood,tipped,
viii pierce the wood, and then, with white
heck and agonized stare, and the horrors of
he lost soul lifting the very hair from the
caip, they viii plunge down where no crap
ling hooks can drag them out.
Young mani stand back from all styles of
ambling The end thereof is death The