Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1891-02-27

priats title for the door, for ;sS.c..e, IN tSat
room, a man exchanges health. peace and
heaven. for loss of health. loss of homo,
loss of family. loss of immortal soul. Ex-
change sure enough and infinite enough.
This crime is getting its lever under
many a mercantile house in our great
c ties. and be ore long down will come the
great establishment, crushing reputation,
home. comfort and immortal souls. How il
diverts and nks capital may be inferred
from some authentic statements before u.s.
The ten gam ng houses that once were
authorized in Paris passed through the
banks, yearly, three hundred aud twenty
five millions CT 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 en-
tailed by gaming. If 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 soothe the gamester's heart?
In that bottle where God keeps the tears
of his children. are there any tears OF the
gambler? Do tho winds that come 10 kiss
the faded check OF sckness. and to cool
the heated brow of the labOrer, whisper
hope and cheer to the emaciated victim OF
the game of hazard? When an honest
man is in trouble, he has sympathy. Poor
fellow!' they say. Bat do gamblers come
TO weep at the agonies of the gambler? In
Northumberl nd was one Of the finest
estates in England. Mr.. Porter owned e
and in year gambled it all away. Having
lost the last acre of the estate, he came
down from the saloon and got into his car
riaGe; went back; put up his horses and
carriage and town house. and played. He
threw and lost. He started home, and in
"a side alley met friend from whom he
borrowed ten guineas: wen: back TO the
saloon and before a great Will had won
twenty thousand pounds. He died at last,
beggar in St. Giles. How many gam
blers felt sorry for Mr.. Porter? Who con-
soled him on the loss Of his estate? What
gambler subscribed TO put stone over the
poor mans grave2 Not one.
Furthermore, this sin is the source of
uncouLted dishonestes. The game Of
hazard itself is often cheat. How many
tricks and receptions in the deal ng of the
cardsl The opponents hand is oitimes
found out by fraud. Cards are marked so
that they may be designated from the back.
Expert gamesters have their accomplices.
anu QUO Nluh ucClAS luo game. uc
dice have been found loaded with platina,
so that ''doublets" come up every time.
These dice are introduced by the gamblers
unobscrved by honest men who have come
into the play; and this accounts for the
fact that ninety-nine out of hundred who
gamble, however wealthy they began, at
the end are found TO be poor, miserable,
ragged wretches. that would not now be
oil 80 e;t ba a ,to - In
that they once owned. In gaming house
in San Francisco young man having just
come from the mines deposited a large sum
upon the ace, and won twenty-five
thousand. But the tide turns. Intense
anxiety comes upon the countenances of
all. Slowly the cards went forth. Every
eye is fixed. Not sound is heard until
the ace is revealed favorable to the bank.
There are shouts OF Foul ~ Foul p but
the keepers Of the table produce their
pistols and the uproar is silcnccd and the
bank has won ninty-fve Thousand dollars.
Do you call this game of chance? There
is no chance about il.
But these dishonesties in the carrying
on of the game are nothing when compared
with the frauds which are committed in
order to get money TO go on with the ne
AoA AOuo WI NJ NfhAhDA.hS WIN EINNhy
hand has snatched away the widows mite
and the portion of the orphan; has sold the
daughters virtue TO get the means to con-
tinue the game; has written the counter
felt signature, empted the bankers money
vault and welded tho assassin's dagger
There is no depth of meanDess to which II
viii not stoop. There is no cruelty at
which it is appalled,. There is no warning
of God that it will not dare. Merciless,
unappeasable, fiercer and wilder, it blinds,
it hardens, it rends, it blasts, it brushes, II
damns. 1t has peopled our prisons and
lunatic asylums. How many railroad
agents and cashiers and trustees of funds
it has driven to disgrace, incarceration and
suicidel Witness years ago a cashier Of O
railroad who stole one hundred and three
thousand dollars 10 carry On his gaming
practices. Witness forty thousand dol.
lars stolen from Brooklyn bank within
the memory of many OF you, and the one
hundred and eighty thousand dollars taken
from Wall street insurance company for
the same purpose! These are only illus
trations on a large scale Of the robberies
every day committed for the purpose Of
carrying out the designs of gamblers s.
Hundreds of thousands Of dollars every
year leak out without observat. on from the
merchants till into the gambling hell A
man in London keeping one Of these gam.
bling houses boosted that he had ruined a
nobleman day; but if all the saloons oil
this land were to speak out, they might
utter more infamous boast, for they have
destroyed thousand noble men year.
Shall sketch the history OF the gam.
bier? Lured by bad company he finds his
way into place where honest men ought
never to go. He sits down TO his first
game bat 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 tn 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 fash, until now they
who win ami they who lose, fired alike
with passion, all with set jaws and com.
pressed lips and clenched fists, and eye.
like fre-balls that seem starting from their
sockets, to see the final turn before II
comes; If losing. pale with envy and tremu-
lous with unuttered oaths cast back red
hot upon the heart--or, winning, with hys-
teric laugh--"Hai hal / have it.
have II J"