News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1891-02-26

his embarrassed business. Yc5 he is Oh
the road to hell, and no preacher
voice or startling warning, or wife's en-
treaty can make him stay for a moment
his hcadlong career. The internal spell
is on him; a giant is aroused within;
and though you bind him with cables,
they would part like thread; and
though you fasten him seven times
round with chains, they would snap
like rusted wire: and though you piled
up in his path heaven high Bibles, tracts
and sermons, and on the top should set
the cross of the son of God, over them
all the gambler would leap, like roe
over the rocks, on his way to perdition.
Again, this sin works ruin by killing
industry. 4 nan used to reaping
scores, or hundreds, or thousands of
dollars from the gaming table will not
be content with slow work. He will
saw, ''What is the use of trying to
make these fifty dollars in my store
when can get five times that in half
an hour down at 'Billys'" You never
knew a confirmed gambler who was in
dustrious. The men gi~an to this vice
spend their time not actively employed
in the gamo in idleness or intoxication
or sleep. or in corrupting new victims.
| This sin has dulled the carpenters saw,
and cut the band of the factory wheel,
sunk the cargo, broken the teeth of the
farmers harrow, and sent q strange
lightning to shatter the battery of the
philosopher The very first idea i'll
gaming is at war with all the industries
of society.
IT'S MIGHTY LEVER.
This crime is getting its lever under
many mercantile house in our great
cities, and before long down will come
the great establishment, crushing repu-
tation, home, comfort and immortal
souls. How it diverts and sinks capt.
tai may be inferred from some authen-
tic statement before US. The ten gam
ing houses that once were authorized
in Paris passed through the banks
yearly three hundred and twenty-five
millions Of 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 entailed by gaming.
If men fail in lawful business God
pities and society commiserates, but
i,,e l.,
any consolation for the gambler2 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 gambler2 Do the winds
that come to kiss the faded cheek of
sickness, 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 fell
lowm they say. But do gamblers
come to weep at the agonies of the
gambler?
In Northumberland was one of the
finest estates in England. Mr.. Porter
owned it, and in a year gambled it all
away. Having lost the last acre of the
estate, he came down from the saloon
and got into his carriage; 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; went back to
the saloon, and before a great while
had won twenty thousand pounds. He
died at last, beggar in st. Giles. How
many gamblers felt sorry for Mr.. Por
ter2 Who consoled him on the loss of
his estate? What gambler subscribed
to put q stone over the poor mans
grave2 Not one
Furthermore, this sin is the source of
uncounted dishonesties. The game of
hazard itself is often q cheat. How
many tricks and receptions in the deal
ing of the cards. The opponents hand
is oftentimes found out by fraud. Cards
are marked SO that they may be desig
mated from the back. Expert game
sters have their accomplices, and one
wink may decide the game. The dice
have been found loaded with platina,
so that ''doublets" come up every time
These dice are introduced by the gam
blers, unobserved by honest men who
come into the play; and this accounts
for the fact that ninety-nine out of
hundred Tho 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
doorstep of the house that they or ce
owned.
In q gaming house in San Francisco
a young man having just come from
the mines deposited large sum upon
the ace and won twenty-five thousand
dollars. But the tide turns Intense
anxiety comes upon the countenances
of ALL Slowly the cards went forth.
Every eye is fixed. Not a sound is
heard until the ace is revealed, favor
able to the bank. There are shouts of
Foul" Foul" but the keepers of
the table produce their pistols and the
uproar is silenced, and the bank has
won ninety-five thousand dollars. Do
you call this game of chance2 There
is no chance about it.
FRAUDS IN ORDER TO GET MONEY.
But these dishonesties in the carry
ing on of the game are nothing when
compared with 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
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 meanncss to which it will
not stoop. There is no cruelty at which
it is appalled,. There is no warning of
God that it will not dare. Merciless,
fiercer and wilder it
blinds, it hardens, it rends, it blasts it
brushes, it damns. It has peopled our
prisons and lunatic asylums How
many railroad agents and cashiers and
trustees of funds it has driven to dis
grace, Incarceration and suicide!
Witness years ago Il cashier of rail
road who stole one hundred and three
thousand dollars to carry on his gam
ing practices. Witness forty thousand
dollars stolen from II Brooklyn bank
within the memory of many of you,
and the one hundred and eiphtv thOu-
sand dollars taken from q Wall street
insurance company for the same pur-
pose! These are only illustrations on