Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1891-03-06

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
call suck" 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
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 a
glass Of wine or one hundred shares of rail-
road stock. Whether you patronizs auction
pools, h"French mutuals' or ok-makiug,"
whether you employ faro or billiards, rondo
and keno, cards or bagatelie, the very idea Of
the thing is dishonest. for it Processes to be-
stow upon you good for which you give no
equivalent
IL 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 hum
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 DO honestf Ten. These ten pro-
fess to be honest because they ara merely
the ante-chamber to the seven hundred
aud ninety that are acknowledged fraud
ulent. There are first class gambling estab-
lishments. You go up the marble stairs.
You ring the bell. The liveried servant In
troJuces you. Tho walls are lavender tinted.
The mantels are of Vermont marble The
pictures are "Jephthah's Daughter and
Dores "Dante's and Virgirs Frozen Region
Of Helr'-a most appropriate selection, this
last for tho placs. There Is the roulette
table, the finest, tbs costliest, most exquisite
piece OF furniture In the United States. There
is ths bauqueting room. where, free of charge
to the guests you may find tho plate and
viands 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 card through some roper in"
having entered, you must either gamble or
fight. Sanied cards, dice loaded with quick.
silver, poor drinks, will soon help you to get
rid OF all your money to tune in short
meter with staccato passages. You wanted
to see You saw. The low villains of that
place watch you as you come i'll. Does not
the panther, squat in thsgrasS know calf
when he sees it, Wrangle not for your rights
In that place, or your body will be thrown
bloody into the street, or deal into the East
River. You 60 along little further AMI find
the policy establishment. In that place you bet
on numbers. Betting on two numbers is called
a saddle, betting ON three numbers is called
gig" bsttins 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 r-''Exchange,"
q most appropriate title for the door. for
there, in that room, man exchanges health,
peace aud heaven for loss Of health, loss OF
homc loss OF family, loss OF immortal soul.
Exchange sure enough aai 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
abin, where the bloated wretch with rings
in his ears instead of his nose, deals the pack,
aud winks in the unsuspecting traveller
provi ling freq drinks all around-but in
gilded parlors and amid gorgeous surround
tngs
Again, this sin works ruin by killing indus
try. A man used to reaping scores or hun
dreds or thousands OF dollars IRON 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 can get
Ave times that in half an hour down at
'Billy'sy" 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 idleness or
intoxication or sleep, or in corrupting new
victims. This sin has dullsd the carpenters
saw and cut the band OF the factory wheel.
sunk the cargo, broken sthe teeth of the
farmers harrow and sent q 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
q mercantile house in our great cities, and
before long down will come tho great estab-
lishment crushing reputation, home, conf
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
docs all the money come fromf The whole
world is robbie II What is most sad, there
are no consultations for the loss and suffering
entailed by gaming. II men fail in lawful
business, God pities and society commiser-
ates; but where in the Bible or in society is
there any consolation for the gambler From
what tree OF the forest ooZes there a balm that
can sooths the gamester's hearth In that
bottle where God keeps the tears Of His chill
dren are thereany tears Of the gambler Do
the winds that come to kiss the faded cheek
Of sickness, and TO cool the heated brow of
the laborer, whisper hope and cheer to the
0uaciated victim of the game OF hazardf
When au honest man Is in trouble he has
sympathy. "Poor fellowp they say. But
do gamblers come to weep at the agonies Of
the gambler
In Northumberland was one OF the finest
estates in England. Mr.. Porter owned it,
and in year gamblei 1t all away. Having
lost the last acre Of the estate he came
down from the saloon aud got into his car
riage; went back, put up his horses and car
riage and town house and played. he threw
and lost. He started home, and In side
alley met a friend from whom he borrowed
ten guineas; vent back to the saloon and be-
fore great while had won twenty thousand
pounds. He del at lass beJgar in st.
Giles How many gamblers felt sorry for
Mr.. Porter, Who consoled him on the loss
nf his estateP What gambler subscribed to
put a stone over the poor mans gravef Not
one!
Futhermo re, this sin is the source Of un-
countsl dishonesties. The game Of hazard
itseif Is often game of cheat. How many
tricks and deceptions in the dealing Of the
cards. The opponents hand is ofttimes
found out by fraud. Cards are marked so
that they may be designated from the back.
Expert gamesters have their accomplices.
and one wink may decide thegame. The dice
have been found loaded with platina, 80 that
''doublets" come up every time. These dice
are introduced by the gamblers unobserved
by honest men who have come into play; and
this accounts for the fact that ninety-nine
out OF hundred who gamble, however
wealthy they began, at the end are found 10
be poor, miserable, ragged wretches, that
would not now be allowed to sit on the door
step Of the house that they once owned. In
q gambling house In San Francisco young
men having Just come from the mines de-
posted large sum upon the ace and won
twenty-five thousand dollars. But the tide
turns. Intense excitement comes upon the
couhteuances OF all. Slowly the cards went