The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-03-04

hundreds OF thousands of our population,
in the authentic words of him who said:
Il will be thou clean ~
All this / premise in opening this
course of sermons on the ten plaques of
these three cities lest some stupid man
might cay l am depreciating the place of
my residence. l speak to you today con-
corning the plague of gambling. Every
man and woman in this house ought 10
be interested in this theme.
Some years ago, when an association FOR
the suppression OF gambling was organ
lied, an agent OF the association came to a
prominent citizen and asked him TO pat
ronize the society. lie sald "No, can
have no interest in such an organization.
l am in nowise affected by that evil" At
that verv time his son, who Was his part
ner in business, was one of the heaviest
players in Hearne's famous gaming es,ab-
lishment. Another refused his patronage
on the same ground, not knowing that his
first bookkeeper, though receiving a sal
ary of only 1000, was losing from $50 to
500 per night. The president of n rail-
road company refused to pslroni2e the in
stitution, saying: THAT society is good
for the defense of merchants, but We rail-
road people are not injured by this evil; ;"
not knowing that, a. that very time, two
of his conductors were spending three
nights Of each week at faro tables III New
York. Directly or indirectly this evil
strikes at the whole world.
Gambling is the risking of something
more or less va liable in the hope OF win
ming more than you hazard. The instru-
ments of gaming may diiIer, but the prin-
ciple is the same. The shutting and deal
ing 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 a 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. Whstever you
expect TO get from your neighbcr without
Offering an equiva ent in money or time or
skill, is either the product of theft or gam
ing. Lottery tickets and lottery policies
come into the came category. Fairs for
the founding of hospitals, schoo and
churches, conducted on the railing system,
come under the same denomination. Do
not, therefore, associate gambling neces-
sarily with any instrument, or game, or
time or place, or think the principle de-
ponds upon whether you play Tor glass
of wine or 100 shares OF railroad stock,
whether you pa:ToniZe auction pools"
French mutuals" or 'book-making"
whether you employ faro or billiards,
rondo or keno, cards or bagatelie, the very
idea of the thing is dishonest; for it pro-
fesses 10 bestow upon you a good for
which You give no equivalent.
IL is estimated that every dav in Chris
tendon SSOO00,0O0 pass from hand to
hand through gambling practices, and
every wear in CnrIstendom Sl23, 100. G00,-
600 change hands ia that way. There are
in this cluster of cities about 500 con-
fessed gambling establishments. There
are about $500 professional gamblers.
0ut Of the so gambling establishments,
how many OF them do you suppose pro-
fess to be honest? Ten. These ten pro-
Tossing to be honest because they are
merely the ante-chamber to the 79O that
are acknowledged fraudulent. There are
first-class gambling establishments. You
20 up the marble stairs. You ring the
bell. The liveried servantintroduces you.
The walls are lavendeT-tinted. The man
tells are OF Vermont marble. The pictures
are 'Jephthah's Daughter" and Dore's
dante and NirgiPs Frozen Region of
He'll, q most appropriate selection, this
last, for the place. There is the roulette
table, the finest, the costlest, most ex-
qu!siIe piece OF furniture in the United
States There is the ban9ueting room,
where. free OF charge to the guests, YOU
NAV find the plate. and viands. and wines,
and cigars, sunptuous beyond parallel.
Then you come to the secOnd-class
gambling establishment. To it You are
introduced by card through some roper
in" Having entered, you must Their
gamble or fight. Sanded cards, dice
loaded with quicksilver, poor drinks, will
soon help you TO get rid OF all your money
to a tune IN short metre with siacCato
passages. You wanted to see. You saw.
The low Williams of that place watch you
a. you come in. Does not the panther,
SQUAT in the grass, know a calf when he
sees il? Nrangle not for your right 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 :" bet
ting on three numbers Is called a ''gig :"
betting on four numbers Is called
horse" and there are thousands OF our
young men leaping into that SADDLE"
and mounting that "gig," and behind that
''horse." riding to perdition. There is al
ways one kind of sign on the door-''Ex-
change" most appropriate title for the
door, Tor there in that room, q man ex-
changes 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 for their capacity, not only in
the underground oyster cellar, or at the
table back OF tho cur.ain, covered with
greasy cards, OF in the steamboat smok-
ing cabin, where the bloated wretch with
rings in his ears instead of his nose deals
the pack, and winks in the unsuspecting
traveler-providing free drinks all around
but in gilded parlors and amid gorgeous
surroundings.
A young man. having suddenly heired a
large property, sits at the hazard table
and takes up in dice box the estate won
by fathers Ii eiime sweat, and shares it
and tosses it away. Intemperance soon
stigmatizes it's administering him out, a
avering fool, into the ditch. or sending
him, with the drunksrd's hiccough, stag
gering up the street where his family lives.
But gambling does not in that way ex-
pose its victims. The gambler may be
eaten up by the gamblers passion, yet
you only discover it by the greed in his
| eyes. the hardness of his features, the
nervous restlessness, the threadbare coat
| and his embarrassed business. Yet ne is
on the road to hell, aud no preacher