The weekly sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1886-1887, 1886-11-11

for gambling purposes they have become sig
nificant OF an infinity of wretchedness-6OO
gambling saloons in New York city when last
counted.
Men wishing to gamble will find places just
suited to their capacity not only in the I'M
foreground oyster cellar, or at the table back
of the curtain, covered with greasy cards, or
in the steamboat smoking cabin, where the
bloated wretch with rings in his ears deals
out lis pack. and winks in the unsuspecting
travelcr-providing free drinks all around
but in gilded parlors and amid gorgeous
surroundings.
This sin works ruin, first, by unhealthful
stimulants Excitement is pleasurable Under
every SKY and il every age men have sought
it. The Chinaman gets it by smoking his
opium, the Persian by chewing hashlsh, the
trapper in a buffalo hunt. the sailor in a
squall, the inebriate in the bottle and the
ayaricious at the gaming table. We must at
times have excitement. A thousand voices in
our nature demand it. It is right. It is health
full. 1t is inspiriting. 1t is q desire God
given. But anything that first gratifes this
appetite and hurls it back i'll terrific
reaction is deplorabie and wicked. Look
out for the agitation that like rough mu-
stefan III bringing out the tune plays SO hard
he breaks down the Instrument 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 a maniac
at the close. At every gaming table sit on
one side Ecstasy, Enthusiasm, Ro,nance-the
frenzy of joy; on the other side, Fierceness,
Rage and Tumult The professional gamester
schools himself into apparent quietness. The
keepers of gambling rooms are generally fat,
rollicking and obese; but thorough and pro-
fessional gamblers, in nine cases out of ten,
are pale, thin, wheeling, tremulous and ex
hausted.
A young man having suddenly inherited
large property, sits at the hazard tables, and
takes up in dice box the estate won by a
fathers lifetime's sweat, and shakes it, and
losses it away. Intemperance soon stigma
tizes its victim-kicking him out, a slavering
fool, into the ditch, or sending him, with the
drunkard's hiccough, staggering up the street
where his family lives. But gambling does
not in that way expose its victims. The gam
bier may be eaten up by the gamblers pas
sion, yet you only discover it by the greed in
bis eyes, the hardness of his features, the
nervous restlessness, the threadbare coat and
his embarrassed business. Yet he is on the
road to hell, and no preachers voice, or start
ling warning, or wife's entreaty, can make
him stay for a moment his headlong career.
The Internal spell is on him; giant is aroused
within; and though you bind him with
cables, they would part like thread; and
though you fasten him seven times around
with chains, they would snap like rusted
wire; and though you piled up in his path,
heaven-high, Bibles, tracts and sermons, and
on the top should set the cross Of the Son of
God, over them all the gambler would leap
like a roe over the rocks on his way to perdi-
ton "Aceldama, the field of blood!'
Again, this sin works ruin by killing in
dustry man used to reaping scores or
hundreds Of dollars from the gaming table
will not be content with slow work. He will
say: "What Is the use Of trying to make these
$50 In my store, when I can get i've times
that in half an hour down 1t Billy'sf You
never knew a confirmed gambler who was In
dustrious Tho mon given to this vice spend
their time not actively employed In the
game in idleness or intoxicntion or sleep, or
in corrupting now vietima This sin has
duIled the carpenters saw and cut the band
Of the factory wheel, sunk the cargo, broken
the tooth Of the farmers harrow and sent Q
stranga lightning 10 shatter the battery Of
the philosopher. Tho very first idea in gam
ing L. at war with all the industries Of society.
ANY trade or occupation that i of use Is en-
nobling The street sweeper advances the in
terests Of society by the cleanliness effected.
The eat pays for tho fragments it eata by
clearing the house OF vermin. The dy that
takes tho sweetness from the drsgs Of tho cup
eompensates by purifying tho air and keep
ing back tho pestilenca But the gambler
gives not anything for that which he takes.
recall that sentence. He does make . ~
turn; but it Is disgrace - the man that be
feeces, despair to his heart, ruin to his bust
ness, anguish to his wife, shame to his chill
dren and eternal wasting away to his soul
He pays in tears, and blood, and agony. and
darkness and wos.
What dull work b blowing TO the
farmer when In ths village saloon Il ono
night he makes and loses the valve - sum
mer harvest! Who VIII want to III tAps
and measure nankeen and cut garments and
weigh sugars when Ia = nights game he
makes and loses, and makes again and loses
again, the profits of seasona John Borack
was sent as mercantile agent from Bremen
to England and this country. After two
years his employers mistrusted that all was
not right. He was defaulter for Isl, 900.
It was found that he had lost in Lombard
street, London, $50, 600; Ia Fulton street.
New York, $4,000, and La New Orleans,
s., 600 He was imprisoned, but afterward
escaped, and went into the gambling profess
sion He died in lunatic asylum. This
crime Is getting its lever under many a mer-
camille house in our cities, and before long
down will come the great establishment,
crushing reputation, home comfort and i'm
mortal souls. How it diverts and sinks
capital may be inferred from some authentic
statement before us. The ten gaming houses
that once were authorized In Paris passed
through the banks yearly 325, 0Oo, 900 francs.
Where does all the money come froma The
whole world is robbed! What is most sad,
there are no consultations for the loss and suf-
fering sntailed by gaming If men fail in
lawful business, God pities and society COM
miserates; but, where in the Bible or in so
ciety IS there any consolation for the gar,b-
Ter? From what tree of the forest oozes there
balm that can soothe the gamester's hearth
In that bottle whore God keeps the tears Of
his children are there any tears OF the
| gambler? Do the winds that como to kiss
| the faded check of sickness and to cool the
| heated brow of the laborer whisper hope
and cheer to the emaciated victim Of the