Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-03-13

fused his patronage ON the same ground, not
knowing that his first bookkeeper, though re-
was losing from fifty to one hundred dollars
per night. The president of a railroad COM
pany refused to patrorize the Institution,
saying, ''Tha. society Is good for the defense
of merchants but the railroad people are not
injured by this evii!' not knowing that, at
that very time, two OF his conductors were
spending three nights of each week at faro
tables in New York. Directly or indirectly,
this evi! strikes at the whole world.
Gambling is the risking Of something more
sr less valuable in the hope Of winning more
than you hazard. The instrument o. gaming
may differ but the principle is the same. The
Ghufhing and dealing cards, however Iull o..
temptation, is not gambling, unless stakes
are put while. on the other hand, gam
bling may be carried on without cards or
dice, or billiards or ten pin alley. The
man who bets on horses, on elections. on bat
tles-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
denomination. Do not, therefore, associate
gambling necessarily with any instrument,
Or game, or time, or place. or think the priu-
ciple depends upon whether you play for
glass of wine or one hundred shares of rail
road stock. Whether you patrOniZe 'aucti0ks
pools, French mutuals" or 'oook-making,"
whether you employ faro or billiards, rondo
and keno. cards or bagatelle, the very idea Of
the thing is dishonest, for it processes to be-
call 'luck,'' is gambler. Whatever you ex-
pect to get from your neighbor without Of
fering an equivalent in money or time Or
skill is either the product of theft or gaming
Lottery tickets and lottery policies come into
the same category. Fairs for the founding
of hospitals. schools and churches, conducted
on the rafting system. come under the same
stow upon you goou Ior wnlcn You give no
equivalent.
It is estimated that every day in Chris
tendon eighty million dollars pass from
hand to hand through gambling practices,
and every year in Christendom one hun
dred and twenty-three billion one hundred
million dollars change hands in that way.
There are in this cluster Of cities about
eight hundred confessed gambling estab-
lsShments. There are about three thousand
five hundred professional gamblers. Out
Of the eight hundred gambling establish
ments, how many of them do you suppose
profess to be honest? Ten. These ten pro-
fess to be honest because they are merely
the ante-chamber to the seven hundred
aud ninety that are acknowledged fraud
ulent. There are first class gambling estab-
lishments. You so up the marble stairs.
You ring the bell. The liveried servant in
PRODUCES you. The walls are lavender tinted.
The mantels are of Vermont marble. The
pictures are "Jephthah's Daughter" and
Dore's ''Dante's and Virgips Frozen Region
Of Helr'-a most appropriate selection, this
last, for the place. There is the roulette
table, the finest, the costliest, most exquisite
piece of furniturein the United States There
is the banqueting room. where, free Of charge
to the guests, you may find the plate and
vlandS and wines and cigars SumptuOuS be-
yond parallel.
Then you come to the second class gam
bling establishment To it you are intro
duced by a card through some ''roper-ln."
Having entered, you must either gamble or
fight. Sanded cards, dice loaded with quick
silver. poor drinks will soon help you to get
rid of all your money to a tune in short
meter with staccatO passages You wanted
to see. You saw. The low villains of that
place watch you as you come IN. Does not
the panther, squat in the grass, know a calf
when he sees it? Wrangle not for your rights
In that place, or your body will be thrown
bloody into the street, or dead into the East
River. You go along a little further and find
the policy establishment. In that place you bet
on numbers. Betting on two numbers is called
saddle, betting on three numbers is called
gig" betting on four numbers is called
''hOrse," and there are thousands of our
young men leaping into that Saddle" and
mounting the gig" and behind that
"horse' riding to perdition There is always
one kind of sign on the door, Exchange"
4 most appropriate title for the door, for
there, in that room, man exchanges health,
peace and heaven for loss of health, loss of
home, loss of family, loss of immortal soul.
Exchange sure enough and Infinite enough.
Men wishing to gamble will find places
just suited to their capacity, not only in
the underground oyster cellar, or at the
table back Of the curtain, covered with
greasy cards, or in the steamboat smoking
"a bin, where the bloated wretch with rings
in his ears instead OF his nose, deals the pack,
and winks in the unsuspecting traveller
providing free drinks all around-but in
rril1 cd arI0 and md
mgs.
Again, this sin works ruin by killing indus
try. A man used to reaping scores or hun
dreds OF thousands 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 fifty dollars in my store when l can get
five times that in half an hour down at
'Biily's@" You never knew a confirmed
gambler who was industrious. The men
given to this vice spend their time, not ac-
lively engaged in the game. in ldleness or
lntoxlcatlon or sleep, or in corruptlng new
victims. This sin has dulled the carpenters
saw and cut the band of the factory wheel,
sunk the cargo, broken the teeth Of the
farmers harrow and sent a strange light
ming TO shatter the battery of the philoso-
pher. The very first idea in gaming is at
war with all the industries of society.
This crime is getting its lever under many
a mercantile house in our great cities and
before long down will come the great estab-
ishment crushing reputation, home, COM
fort and immortal souls. How it diverts and
sinks capital may be inferred from some
authentic statement before Us. The ten gam
ing houses that once were-authorized in Paris
passed through banks, yearly, three hundred
and twenty-five millions of francs. Where
does all the money come from? The whole
world is robbei! What is most sad, there
are no consultations for the loss and suffering
entailed by gaming. If men fail in lawful
business, God pities and society commiser-