St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1886-11-20
=" THE FIELD OF BLOOD"
4 Powerful Sermon by Rev. T. De
Witt Talmage, D. D.
What Gambling Is. and the Great Preva-
Ience of the Eyil-The Many Forms
Under Which 1t Is Carried On
Its Ruinous Consequences.

BROOKLYN, N Y, Nov. DIR. Talmage
took for his text this morning Acts 1: 10:
Aceldama, that is to say, the field Of
blood" He then said:
The money given to Judas for surrender
ing Christ was afterward used to purchase
grave-y yard. AS the money was blood
money, the ground bought by it was called
In the Syriac tongue Aceldama, meaning
"the field of blood" Well, there is one
word 1 want to write to-day over every
race-course where wagers are staked, and
every pool-room, and every gambling
saloon and every table, public or private,
where men and women bet for sums Of
money, large or small, and that is a word
incarnadined with the life Of innumerable
victims-Aceldama The gambling spirit,
which is at all times a stupendous evil,
ever and anon sweeps over the country
like an epidemic, Frustrating uncounted
thousands. There has never been a worse
attack than that from which all the viii
lagos towns and cities are now suffering.
Whatever your age or calling, the sub
ject of gambling, about which | speak to-
day, is pertinent. Some years ago, when
an association for the suppression of gam
bling was organized, an agent of the asso-
citation came to a prominent citizen and
said: 'No, 1 can have no interest in 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 in Hernes famous
gambling establishment. Another refused
lis patronage on the same ground, not
knowing that his first book-keeper, though
receiving salary of only one thousand dol
lars, was losing from fifty to one hundred
dollars per night. The president of rail-
road company refused to patronize the in
stitution, saying: "That society is good for
the defonse of merchants, but we railroad
people are rot injured by this evil,' not
knowing that at that very time two of his
conductors were 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 risking of something
more or less valuable in the hope of win
ming more than you hazard. The instru-
ments Of gaming may differ, but the princi-
pie is the same. The shufling and dealing
of cards, however full of temptation, is not
gambling unless stakes are put up; while,
on the other hand, gambling may be carried
on without cards, or 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
business which hazards extra capital, or
goes into transactions without foundation
but dependent upon what men call "luck,"
is gambler.
Whatever you expect to get from your
neighbor without offering an equivalent in
money, Or time, or SKILL is either the prod
uct OF theft or 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 |
principle depends upon whether you play |
for glass of wine or one hundred shares !
of railroad stock. Whether you patronize
ssauction pools" "French mutuals,n or |
"bookmaking,' whether you employ faro or
billiards, rondo or keno, cards or bagatelle,
the very idea of the thing is dishonest, for
it processes to bestow upon you good for
which you give no equivalent.
This crime is no newborn sprite, but a
haggard transgression 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 1867 En-
gland, for the Improvement of her harbors,
instituted a lottery to be held at the front
door of St. Paul's Cathedral. Four hum
dred thousand tickets were sold at ten shil-
lings each. The British Museum and West
minister bridge were partially built by sim
liar 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. Enactments
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 and affiuence 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 adjourns on
Derby day to go out and bet on the races;
and in the best circles of society in this
country to-day are many hundreds of pro-
fessedly respectable men who are acknoWl-
edged gamblers.
In themselves most Of the games en-
pioyed 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
haye become significant of an ininity OF
Men wishing to gamble will find places
Just suited to their capacity, not only in the
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 in his {
ears deals out his pack and winks in the I'M
traveller providing free drinks
oil around-but in gilded parlors and amid