Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-02-23

ed wish ne had been dead, for what Is
life worth to n father after his son is de-
stroyeds When things 20 wrong at a gam
ing table they shout, Foul foulW Over
an the gaming tables Of the world / cry
out: Foul foul! Infinitely foul"
Shall sketch the history Of the gambler?
Lured by bad company he finds his way
into q place where honest men ought never
to 60 He sits down to his first game, but
only for pastime and the desire of being
thought sociable The players deal out
the cards. They unconsciously play into
Satan's hands, who takes all the tricks and
both the players souls for trumps-he
being sharper at any game. A slight
stake is put up just to add interest to the
play. Game after game is played. Larger
stakes and still larger. They begin to
move nervously on their chairs Their
brows lower and eyes flash, until now they
who win and they who lose, fired alike
with passion sit with set jaws, and com
pressed lips, and clinched fists, and eyes
like fire balls that seem starting from their
sockets, to see the final turn before it
comes; if losing, pale with envy ana tremu-
lous with unuttered oaths cast back red
hot upon the heart-or, winning, with
hysteric laugh-"Ha hal | have i'll
have it"'
A few years have passed and he is only
the wreck of n man Seating himself at
the game ere he throws the first card, he
stakes the last relic of his wife, and the
marriage ring which sealed the solemn
VOWS between them The game is lost,
and staggering back in exhaustion he
dreams. The bright hours of the past
mock his agony, and in his dreams iends
with eyes Of fire and tongue of flame circle
about him with joined hands to dance and
sing their orgies with hellish chorus,
chanting 'llail brother" kissing his
clammy forehead until their loathsome
locks flowing with serpeuts, crawl into his
bosom and sink thersharp fangs and suck
up his life's blood, and coiling around his
heart pinch it with chills and shoulders un-
utterable.
BE WARNED IN TIME
Take warning, You are no stronger
than tens of thousands who have by this
practice been overthrow. No young man
in our cities can escape being tempted Be
ware of the first beginnings This road is
a down grade, and every instant increases
the momentum. Launch not upon this
treacherous sea. Split hulks strew the
beach. Everlasting storms howl up and
down, tossing unwury crafts into the He'll
gate speak Of what have seen with my
own eyes. have looked off into the abyss
and have seen the foaming, and the hiss
ing, and the whirliug Of The horrid deep in
which the .mangled victims wrthed, one
upon another, and struggled, strangled
blasphemed and dird-the death stare of
eternal despair upon their countenances as
the waters gurgled over them.
To gambler deathbcd there comes no
hope, He will PROBABLY die alone His
former associates come not nigh his dwell
ing When the hour comes his miserable
soul will go out OF Il miserable life into
miserable eternity. As his poor remains
pass the house where he was ruined, old
companions may look out moment and
say, "There goes the old carcass-dead at
last" but they will not get up from the
table Let him down now into his grave.
Plant no tree to cast its shade there, for
the long, deep, eternal gloom that settles
there is shadow enough. Plant no "ror-
get-me-potsn or eglantines around the spot,
for flowers were not made to grow on such
a blasted heath Visit it not in the sun
shine, for that would be mockery, but in
the dismal night, when no stars are out and
the spirits of darkness come down horsed
on the wind, then visit the grave of the
gambler