The Kinsley graphic. [volume] (Kinsley, Kan.) 1890-1940, 1891-02-27

Z
men who have come into the play, and /
this accounts for the fact that ninety !
nine out of a hundred who gam bile, /
however wealthy they began, at the
end are found poor, miserable, ragged
vretches that would not now be
allowed to sit on the door step of the
house that they once owned
But these dishOnesties in the carrying
on of the game are nothing when com
pared with the frauds that are com
mitted in order to get money to go on
with the nefariOus work. Gambling
with its greedy hand has snatched away
the widows mite and the portion of the
orphans; has sold the daughters virtue
TO get the means to continue the game;
has written the counterfeit signature:
emptied the bankers money vault. and
welded the assassin's dagger There
Is no depth of meanness TO which 1t viii
not stOop. There Is no warning of GOD
that it viii not dare.
Hundreds OF thousands of dollars
every year leak out without Observa-
ton from the merchants till into the
gam bling hell a MN in London keep
ing one OF these gambling houses
boosted that ne had ruined a nObleman
a day; but if all the saloons of this land
We're to speak out, they might utter
more infamous boast, for they have
destroyed a thousand nObleman year.
Notice also the effect of this crime
upon domestic happiness. It has sent
its ruthless plowshare through hundreds
of families, until the wife sat in rags
and the daughters were disgraced and
the sons grew up to the same infamous
practices, or took a short cut to destruc-
ton across the murderer's scaffOld.
Home has lost all charms for the gamb-
bier! How drearily the fire burns on
the domestic hearth! There must be
louder laughter, and something to win
and something to lose an excitement
to drive the heart faster and flip the
blood and fire the imagination. No
home, however bright, can keep back
the gamester. The sweet call of love
bounds back from his iron soul, and all
endearmentS are consumed in the flame
OF his passion. The family Bible will
go after all other treasures are lost,
and if his crown in Heaven were put
into his hand he would cry: Here goes
one more game, boys? On this one
throw 1 stake my crown of Heaven" A
young man in London on coming of age
received a fortune of S12O, 600, and
| through gambling in three years was
! thrown on his mother for support An
only son went to a southern city; he
was rich, intellectual and elegant in
manners. His parents gave him on his
departure from home their last blessing
/ The sharpers got hold of him. They
! fiattered him. They lured him to the
| gaming table and let him win almost
| every time for a while and patting him
on the back said: First rate player"
/ But, fully in their power, they fieeced
him; and his $50, 600 was lost. Last of
/ all he put up his watch and lost that
! Then he began to think of his home,
and his old father and mother, and
| wrote thus:
| My Beloved Parents: You viii doubtless
| feel momentary JOY at'the reception of this
| letter from the child of your bosom, on
| whom you have lavished all the favors Of
| your declining years. Bur should feeling
! of JOY for a moment spring up in your hearts
! when you have receive this from me, cher
| ish il not. have fallen decD-neVeT TO rise.
/ Those gray hairs that 1 should have honored
/ and protected / shall bring down in sorrO "
| to the grave I will not curse nv DESTROYER,
| but o may God avenge the wrongs and impo-
! sitfOns praCttced upon the unwary in way
| that shall best please him.I This, my dear pa
rents, is the last letter you will ever receive
! from me. Ihumbly pray your fOrgiv eness- 1t is
! my dying prayer Long before you have re-
/ ceived this letter from me the cold grave
viii have closed upon me forever Life to
me ia insuppOrtabIe- / can not; nay. I will
not suffer the shame OF having ruined you.
! Forget ana forgive is the dying prayer OF
! yOur unfortunate son.
The old father came to the post office,
got the letter and fell to the floor; but
they brushed back the white hair from
his brow and famed him. He had only
tainted. wish he had been dead; for
| what is life worth to a father after his
son is destroyed?
Take warning! You are no stronger
| than tens of thousands who have by this
| practice been Overthroyvn. No young
man in our cities can escape being
| tempted. Beware of the first begin
/ nings. This road is a down grade, and
every instant increases the momentum.
Launch not upon this treacherous sea
Split hullts strew the beach. Everlast-
ing storms howl up and down, tossing
unwary crafts into the hellgate.
| speak of what I have seen with my
own eyes: ] have looked off into tn,
abyss, and have seen the fOaning and
the kissing and the yvhirlwind of the
hOrrid deep in which the mangled vic
tins writhed, one upon the other, and
struggled, strangled, blasphemed and
died-the death stare of eternal despair
upon their cOuntenanees as the waters
gurgled over them.
To a gamblers death bed there comes
no hope He Will probably die alone
,srsT-T