The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1891-02-26

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 bis earx
instead of his nose deals the pack and
winks in the unsuspecting traveller
providing free drinks all around-but
In gilded parlors and amid gorgeous
surroundings.
A young man. having suddenly heired
large property, sits at the hazard table,
and takes up in dice box the estate
won by fathers lifetime sweat, and
shakes it and losses it away. Intem-
perance soon stignatizes its victim
kicking him out, q slavering fool, into
the ditch, or sending him. with the
drunkards hiccough, staggering up the
street where his family lives. But gam
bling does not in that way expose its
victims.
The gambler may be eaten up by
the gamblers passion, yet you only dis
cover it by the greed in his eyes, the
hardness OF his features. the nervous
restlessness, the threadbare coat and
bis embarrassed business. Ye: he is on
the read to hell, and no preachers
voice or startling warning, or wife's en-
treaty can make hirn-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 IKE thread; and
though you fasten him seven times
round with chains, they would snap
like rusted wire; and though you piled
up in his path heaven.high Bibles. tracts
and sermons, and onzthe top should set
| the cross of the son OF God. over them
all the gambler would leap, like roe
over the rocks, on his way to,perEtion.
Again, this sin works ruin by killing
industry. A r.an used to reaping
scores, or hundreds, or 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 halt
an hour down at 'Billy's'?" You never
knew a confirmed gambler who was in
dustrious. The men given tostlis vice
spend their time not actively employed
in the game in idIeness or intoxication
or sleep, or in corrupting 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
lightning to shatter the battery of the
philosopher. The very first idea in
gaming is at war with all the industries
Of society.
ITS MIGHTY LEVER.
This crime is getting its lever under
many q mercantile house in our great
cities, and before long down will come
the great establishment, crushing repu-
tation, homo, comfort and immortal
souls How it diverts and sinks CAPT
tai may be inferred from some anthem
tic statement before us. The ten gam
ing houses that once were authorized
in Paris passed through the banks
yearly three hundred and twenty-five
millions of francs Where does all the
money come from? The whole world
is robbed! 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 commiserates, but
where in the Bible or in society is there
any consolation for the gambler2 From
, what tree of the forest oozes there {
balm that can soothe the gamester'
) heart? In that bottle where God keep
: the tears of his children are there an,
tears of the gamble-? Do the wind
that come to kiss the faded cheek o
sickness, and to cool the heated brow
of the laborer, whisper hope and chez
to the emaeiated victim of the game o
, hazard2 When an honest man is il
1 trouble he has sympathy. Poor fel
l loww they say. But do gambler
1 come to weep at the agonies of tn
l gambler?
In Northumberland was one of tn
l finest estates in England. Mr.. Porte
! owned it, and in Il year gambfed it a
away. Having lost the last acre of tn
r estate, lie came down from the saloo
and got into his carriage; went back
. put up his horses and carriage an
d town house and played. He tire,
and lost. He started home, and in
3 side alley met a friend from whom h
! borrowed ten guineas; went back t
g the saloon, and before a great Will
had won twenty thousand pounds. II
died at last, 4 beSgar in st. Giles. Ho,
e many gamblers felt sorry for Mr.. POI
l. tcr9 Who consoled him ON the loss {
i his estate! What gambler subscribe
to put q stone over the poor man
l. gravcl Not one!
n Furthermore, this sin is the source {
!! uncouuted dishoneSties The game {
st hazard itself is often a cheat. Ho
many tricks and receptions in the dea
d ing OF the cards. The opponents han
is oftentimes found out by fraud. Care
are marked so that they may be desi:
D mated from the back. Expert gam,
lie sters have their accomplices, and on
r wink may decide the game The die
Is have been found loaded with platin:
re SO that ''doublets" come up every tim,
re These dice are introduced by the gan
IS blers, unobserved by honest men VIII
Of come into the play; and this account
q, for the fact that ninety-nine out of
he hundred who gamble, however wealth
t, they began, at the end are found to /
le poor, miserable, ragged wretches, tn:
t. would not now be allowed to sit on IL
ne doorstep of the house that they or
Il owned.
Us In a gaming house in San Francis
a young man having Just come fro
s. the mines deposited a large sum upc
re the ace and won twenty-five thousan
ne dollars. But the tide turns. Inten
st anxiety comes upon the countenanc
Is, of all. Slowly the cards went fort
or Every eve is fixed. Not a sonnd