Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1891-03-13

furthermore this sin is the source OF I'M
counted dishonesties- Tue game OF hazard
Itself Is often game of cheat. no" many
tricks and receptions in the deahng OF the
cards. The opponents hand Is ofetlmes
found out by fraud. Cards are marked so
that they may be designated from the BACK
Expert gameSterS have their accompNces,
and one wink NAV decide the game. The dice
have been found loaded with platina, 50 that
''daublets' come up every time. These dlce
are introduced by the gamblers, unooserTed
by honest men who have come into play; and
this accounts for the fact that niuety-nlne
out OF a hundred who gamble, however
wealthy they began, at the end are found to
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
a gambling house in San Francisco young
man 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
countcnances 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"
"Foulr' but the keepers OF the table produce
their pistols, and the uproar is silenced and the
bank has won ninety-hye thousand dollars.
Do you call this game of chaucel There Is
no chance about 1t.
But these dishonesties in carrying on o.
the game are nothing when compared wit
the frauds which are committed 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 &c
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 mean
ness to which ii will not stoop. There is nc
cruelty at which it is appalled,. There is 10
warning of God that it will not dare. Merci-
less, indispensable, fiercer and wilder it
bGnds, it hardens, it rends, it blasts, il
brushes, it damns. It has peopled our pris.
ons and lunatic asylums. How many rail-
road agents and cashiers and trustees
of funds it has driven to dis
grace, in generation and suicide! Wit
ness years ago cashier of a railroad who
stole one hundred and three thousand dol
lars to carry on his gaming practices. Vic
ness forty thousand dollars stolen from a
Brook lyn bank within the memory OF many
OF you, and the hundred and eighty
thousand dollars taken from Wall street
insurance company for the same purpose.
These are only illustrations on large scale
Of the robberies every day committed for
the purpose of carrying out the designs of
gamblers. Hundreds Of thousands OF dol
lars every year leak out without obsarva-
ton from the merchants till into "
gambling hell. A man in London keeping
one Of these gambling houses boosted that
he had ruined a nobleman day; but if all
the saloons Of this land were to speak out
SI1
for they have destroyed a thousand noble
men a year.
Notice also the effect OF the crime upon
domestic happiness. 1t has sent its ruthless
plowshare through hundreds OF families, un-
til the wife sat rags, and the daughters
were disgraced, and the sons grew up to the
same Infamous practices or took a short cut
to destruction across the murderer's scaffOld.
Home has lost all charms for the gambler.
How tame are the children'S caresses and q,
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 the endearmentS are consumed
in the flames of his passion. The family
Bible will go after ali other treasures are lost,
and if his crown in heaven were put into his
hand he would cry: Here goes one more
game, my boys! On this throw I
stake my crown in heaven" A young
man in London, on coming of age,
received a fortune of one hundred and
twenty thousand dollars and. through gam
bling, IN three years was thrown on his
mother for support. An only son went to O.
southern city; he was rich, intellectual and
elegant in manners His parents gave him
on his departure from home their last bless
ing. The sharperS got hold of him. They
hattered him. They lured him to the GAM
ing table, and let him win almost every time
for a good while, and patted him on the
back and said, First rat player" But fui-
ly IN their grasp they heeced him. and his
thirty thousand dollars were lost Last Of
all he put up his watch and lost that. Then
he began TO think OF bis home and his old
father and mother, and wrote thus:
MY Beloved Parents-You will dou bt1ess
feel a 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. But should feeling
OF JOY for moment spring up in your hearts
when you should have received this from
me, cherish it not. [ have fallen deep
never to rise? Those gray hairs that I
should have honored and protected 1 shall
bring down with sorrow to the grave. I will
not curse my destroyer, but oh. may God
avenge the wrongs and impOsitOns practised
upon the unwary in way that shall best
please him. This my dear parents, is the
last letter you will ever receive from me. I
dying prayer. Long before you have re-
ceived this letter from me the cold grave
will have closed upon me forever Life to
me is inSupportable. | cannot nav I will
not, suffer the shame OF having ruined you.
Forget and forgive is the dying PRAYER Of
your unfortunate son"
The old father came to the postoffice got
the letter and fell to the floor. They thought
he was dead at first; out they brushed back
the white hair from his brow and famed
him. He had only tainted. I wish he had
been dead, for what is life worth to a father
after his son is destroyed? When things 90
wrong at a gaming table they shout ''FouIl
Foul"' Over all the gaming tables of the
world I cry out: 'Foul! foul! Infinitely
foul"
Shall sketch the history Of the gambler
Iure1 BIZ bad cOmDany he finds b;C nov