The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1886-07-10

by some underground telegraph The
gamblers received the tip, and when the
officers Of the law headed by Anthony
Comstock appeared on the race course,
the pool boxes and all the gambling
paraphernalia had disappeared, and
most Of the sports were reading Moody
and Sankey's hymns. Several were
pulled in however, and in the batch was
an ex-alderman and two county officers;
they came very near catching Judge,
but he got out under the grand stand.
There is very general disposition on
the part of the courts to strictly admin-
lister the law, but the gamblers say that
they have pull which will enable them
to set the law at defiance. 1t certainly
would seem so, for at the races on Sat-
urday, a man or woman could buy all
the pools that they might desire. II
necessary adjunct to every racecourse is
a nest of blacklegs, bunco men and
thieves, It will be just as well II the
racecourse is abolished. The truth is
that the gamblers have monopolized the
racecourse, the ball field, and every
manly amusement that we have. There
are thousands Of men and women who
love a fine horse, and who like to see
race, and who are willing to pay their
money for a first class exhibition of
speed, who could never be induced to
bet a dollar. The men who are seen on
every racecourse shaking big bundles Of
bills, and who shout the names of their
favorite, and who follow gambling for
business-these are the men who com.
plain. Among these gamblers, you
never have the assurance that you are
seeing horse at his best. Men like the
Plungcr Walton have shaken the conf
dence of the public in anything like an
honest race, or an honest game of base
ball. When men can make more by
losing than they can by winning, they
are not going to win. Rowing, one of
the most manly of sports has lost caste.
and the oarsman is sinking to the level
of the prize fighter and the wrestler.
Drive the gambler and the bunco men
from the racecourse. Give good purses
for trials of speed. lie. racecourse be
policed as our streets are; make it
place where man can carry his wife or
daughter without the fear that his next
neighbor is harlot or a thief; il can
be done and it ought to be done-let us
see if it will be done.
Passing along the street quite early
in the morning 1 saw little Italian
staggering under the weight of a huge
sack, three times as big as himself. 1t
was not yet seven o'clock, yet this in
dustrious little foreigner had done q
good days work, and he had in his
sack eighty or a hundred pounds of
paper and rags. The paper will bring
him a cent and half or two cents
pound, the rags something more, and
then there are the thousand and one
things thrown out by careless servants
which seem to swell the rag picker's
fortune. There are between three and
four thousand men and women engaged
in the rag picking business; nearly all
of these have families dependent on
them, so that here is an army of 10, 900
people supported by that which the un-
thrifty American throws away. One of
the most remarkable things in connec-
tion with the exploration of an ash bar
rel Is. that five or six Italians will fol-
low each other through the contents of
the barrel, and the last man will always
find something to CLEAN,
One OF the liveliest sensations of the
summer season is the church organ, and
now that the churches are about to
close, hope We may haye a rest. AL
most every church organist from Trini-
ty and Grace down to the fifty dollar
Mason and Hamln, Is either Wagner or
Sullivan mad. Between the verses of a
hymn, when the organist strikes off into
a voluntary, 1t is either blending of
Patience, the Mikado, or the Pirates of
Penzance, or Lohengrin, the Flying
Dutchman, or Die Walkine.
The other Sunday, after the doxology
and the benediction, the congregation
of one of our most fashionable churches
arose and started for the door. The
sublime strains of "Praise God from
whom all blessings fiow," had hardly
died upon the ear, when the organist in
his extacy struck off into "Dancing in
the Barn, changing to "Oh, I'm a
happy little Niger" and winding up
with the march from the Mulligan
Guards. The minister was scandalized
the congregation was shocked, the dea-
cons stood aghast; but the organist held
the fort and holds it still. am not
narrow backed or straight laced, and
like good music on anything from corn
cob fiddle to jewsharp, but do think
there might be reform in this particu-
lar without any detriment to our church
music. If want niger tune, I'll go
the minstrels; If any light opera, I'll go
the theatre; but when get my Sunday
So-to-meetin's on and go to church, III
take my good old psalm tunes straight
every time, and don't want any fool
ishness about it, either. can't tell yet
how we are going to come out of the
dispute, as both parties are as obstinate
as mules, and diametrically opposite in
their opinions. The organsts as body
say that the congregations are narrow
minded and bigoted blockheads, who
have neither soul nor appreciation for
the sublime music of the future, and
the noble aspirations of genius; and the
congregations say that the organists are
paper headed ninnies or drunken fools
to attempt to introduce into God $