Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1891-02-28

this letter from me the cold grave VIII
have closed upon me forever. Lie e
me II insupportable.. pAn mol; nay,
will not suffer tho Shame Of having
ruined you. Forget ara forgive is the
dying prayer Of your unfortunate son.
The old father came 70 the postofice,
got the letter fell 10 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 20 father after his
son Il destroyed? When things 60
wrong at q gambling table they shout
foul ioulr' Over oil the gambling
tables Of tho world cry out: '.Foull
foull Infinitely foul"
Shall ! sketch the history Of the
gamblerp Lvred by bad company he
finds his way into place wrere honest
men ought never to go. He sits down
to his first game, but only for pastime
and the desire OF being thought socia-
BILE. The players deal out the cards.
They unconsciously play into Satanic
hands, who takes all the trick and both
the players souls for trumps-he being
q sharper at any game. A slight stake
Is put up just to add interest 70 the play.
Game after game 10 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 and they who lose, fred
alike with passion, sit with set jaws and
compressed lips and clenched fists, and
eyes like fire balls that seem starting
from their sockets, TO see the final turn
before It comes; II losing, pale with envy
and tremulous with unuttered oaths
cast back red hot upon the heart-or
winning, with hysterical laugh-"Ha!
ha! have 1t! have i'll"
A few years have passed and he Is
only the wreck OF man. Seating him
self at the game ere he throws the first
card, he stakes the last relic OF his wife
and the marriage ring which seals the
solemn vows between them. The game
is lost and staggering back in exhaus-
ton he dreams. The bright hours Of
the past mock his agony and in bis
dreams fiends with eyes Of fire and
tongue Of fame circle about him with
Joined hands to glance and sing their
orgies with hellish chorus, chanting
'Hail, brother!" kissing his clammy
forehead until their loithsome locks,
flowing with serpents, crawl into his
bosom and sink their sharp fangs and
suck up his LIES blood, and cOiling
around his heart, punch it with chills
and shoulders unutterable.
Take warningl you are no stronger
than tens Of thousands who haze by
this practice been overthrow. No
young man In our cities can escape be-
ing tempted. Beware Of the first be-
ginings! This road is q down grade, and
every instant increases the momentum.
Launch not upon this treacherous sea.
Split hulks strew the beach. Everlast-
ing storms howl up and down tossing
unwary crafts in to the hellgate. l
speak Of what I have seen with my own
eyes. have looked of into the abyss
and have seen the ioaming and the
Kissing and the whirling Of the horrid
deep in which the msngled victims
writhe, one upon another, and stran-
gled, blasphemed and died-the death
star OF eternal despair upon their coun-
tenances as the waters gurgled over
them.
To gamblers death bed there comes
no hope. He will probably die alone.
his former associates comes not nigh
his dwelling. When the hour comes
his miserable soul will 60 out Of q mis-
cradle life Into o miserable eternity.
AS his poor remains pass the house
where he was ruined, old companions
NAV look out O mOment and say: There
goes the old carcass-dead q: last" but
they did not get up from the table. Let
him down now into his grave. Plant
no tres to cast its shade there, for the
long, deep, eternal gloom that settles
there is shadow enough. Plant no for
or eglantines around the
spot, for flowers were not made to grow
on such blasted heath. Visit it not
in the sunshine, for that would be
but in the dismal night when
no stars are out and the spirit Of dark
ness come down horsed on the wind,
then visit the grave Of the gambler!