The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-11-24

it all Coming down out or the saloon q!
night, he got into his carria ye, started
for home, turned, back. went up to the
saloon, put up his horses and carriages, pu,
up his house in town, played again, lost all
went down, started on one Of the back streets
homeward met q friend, borrowed from
him ten guineaS went back to the saloon,
plaved again and won. won again and again
until he hsd twenty thousand pounds, then
lost and lost again and again. aud die beg
gar at st. Pauls There is no habit on earth
50 merciless as the gaming habit. :,
IS the source of multitudes of dishonesties In
the worst cases the game itself is a cheat.
How often it is there is a mark on the back
of the card to indicate what is on the other
side Of the card. How often there are de-
captions in tine shuffling Of the cards. How
often it is with the dice that it is loaded with
platinum and doublets come up every time.
How often it is some coadJutor WINS
to his comrade and decides the game. Some
times the gaming house will introduce dice
OF cards unseen to the players, and that a :
counts for the fact that ninety-nine out Of a
hundred men who e, into gambling, however
wealthy they were at the start. lose every
thing. and are poor, miserable nothings, not
permitted even to sit on the steps or
tine door Of the hous, that they once
owned before they went into gambling: In
San Francisco young man who had Just
come from the mines, put down SSO,oOO:
great amount Of money at different times IN
the sane evening he put upon the ace and
others came in and they played, and the time
went on They rattea him on the back and
told him he was good player. He won agan
and aea:p. After while the tide turned
aud he lost aud lost, and the ace was
revealing favorably to the bank, and some
one cried: Foul, TO IL But the controllers
of the hous, presented their pistols and the
tumult was silenced, and during the evening
Sa5. 900 had been won by the bank. You call
that game of chance? No chance about It.
But the dishonssties practiSed at the gaming
ta' le are nothing compared with the dishon-
este, practi5ed in order to get the money to
60 on with these evil habits. The greedy
hand Of gambling has again and again
snat ched away the w:d wv S mite and deSpoiled
the orphans portion, or has sold daughters
virtue to get means to go on with the In
fanny, and has written the counterfeit sig
nature, or has sunk the cargo or has
planted the dagger of a midnight. as
sassin. 1t blinds, it hardens, it rends,
it blasts, it orushes, it damns. How --hany
bank cashiers, how many trustees Of funds
have, through this evil. gone to disgrace, to
incarceration, to suicide. 1t is within the
memory of many people in this house when
for this purpose 900 were taken from O
Brooklyn bank. It is in the memory Of many
who ore here that the cashier of the Gem
tral Railroad and Banking Company, for
the purpose Of carrying on gambling
practices, stole S103,00l. 1t is within the
memory Of most in this house when from
Wall street insurance company were taken
S180, COD for carrying on gambling practices.
One of the saloons in London boasted that it
ruinei nobleman day. But there are sa-
looms in this country, and there are gambling
houses and club houses where gambling is in
dulged in that could make more infamous
boast of having ruined thousand noblemen,
men made in Gods own image blasted for
ever. 1t is an accursed habit.
The evil also goes on its ruinous way In the
destruction of domestic life Oh, this plow-
share has gone though SO many families. and
the wife sits in rags, and the daughter is in
disgrace, and the son ,meS up to the same
infamous practices, or takes short cut to
destruction across the murderer's scat.
fold, What are all the caresses Of
children and q wife's devotion to a gam
bier! How tamely burns the fire on the do
mestic hearth Nothing to win. nothing
to lose. nothing to tillip the blood, nothing to
fire the imagination. He must go out He
cannot stand it there. After all is gone the
family will 60. He will pawn them: II a
crown in Heaven were put in his
hand he would say: "Here, boys,
here goes one more s, game; me.l nST %Iat throw &c
home to gamblers Some ching to cut, some
thing to hew, something to scatter, some
thing to blast. An only son, Of splendid ed.
ucation, exquisite manners, brightness OF
promise, went to New Orleans He had
a large amount of money with him,
and they eaticel him into gambling saloons
aud told him he was splendid player, and
he won large amount Of money; but time
went on aud he lost all, and meanwhile had
got on him other bad habits, and when all
was gone he sat down aud wrote to his father
and mother thee words
"My betoued parents: You will doubtless
feel momentary Joy at the reception Of this
letter from the child Of your bosom, on whom
YOU have lavishel all the favors Of your de-
clining years; but should a feeling Of joy
for a moment spring up in your hearts when
YOU shall have received this from me, cherish
L not. I have fallen deep, never to rise.
Those gray hairs that should have hon.
ored and protected I shall bring down
in sorrow to the grave. l will not curse my
destroyer, but oh, may God avenge the
wrongs and impositions practicsd upon the
unwary in a way that shall test please Him.
This, my dear parents, is tn, last letter you
will ever receive from me- I humbly pray
for forgiveness; it is my dying prayer:
Before you receive this from me, the cold
grave will have closed upon Inc forever.
Life to ME is insupportable. l cannot, nay,
I will not suffer the shame OF having ruined
you Forget and forgive is the dying prayero OF
Your UNFORTUNATE Son."
The father went to the postoftice He got
the letter He opened it. He began to read
and he fell to the floor. They gathered
around him and thought he Yves dead; but
having brushed his gray lo"ks from his brow
and famed him he began to breathe. l
wish he had been dead, for what is life to
father when his son is Destroyed When any
thing gees wrong in a gambling house
they cry out: Foul, FOUL" but over
every gamblin. table in this land
and in all lands ft sry: s+orss Foui; IN fo@i. oa1
cities administer to this evil. You shall have
q piano, or a watch, or valuable piece OF
iewelry as prize Goois unstable in any
otherwise may sometimes be disposed OF IN
that way, and that habit has covere1 ths
population with brass finger rings and hctl-
tious adornments, and is fast turning this
land into a nation of gamblers: Every
gift store on earth Is administrative
every hour of its existence to gamolng
practice. 1t is fraud. Aceldama, the held
Of blood Many Of tie churches Of God are
not willing that the world shall have this sin
all to itself l believe in church fairs. There
are hundreds and thousands Of churches that
never would have been built but for church
fairs. But church fair conducted on
the rafting principle is gambling; it is eccle-
siastical gambling, At the close OF some
fair some valuable articles are not sold.
They rattle for them Good Christian people
go home with prize, thinking it must be all
right for Christian women did the embroid.
cry and Christian men did the rafting, and
then the money is to go to new communion
set You might just as wei have won with
the crack of billiard ball or the toss OF
the dice. Do you wonder that church
which conducts fairs on the rafting principle
goes into spiritual pauperism- Satan says:
II built that church I u1holstered that
church, - and for once Satan tails the truth