The Forrest City times., 1891-02-27
THE GAMBLING PLAGUE.
DR TALMAGE STARTS A NEW
 SERIES OF SERMONS.
His Subject -" The Ten Plagues of Modern Gotham. ."-Thc Gambling Evil the First to Receive Attention.

His Subject -" The Ten Plagues of
 Modern Gotham. "-Thc Gambling
 Evil the First to Receive Attention.
 NEW YORK, Feb. @, 1s91.--A decided sensation was produced in this city and in Brooklyn today, by Dr. Talmage's an- nounccment of series of sermons which he proposes to preach on "The Ten Plagues of These Three Cities" In this sermon, which is the first of the series, he pays his attention to the prevalent cnrse of gambling. He preached 1t in the Academy of Music in Brooklyn, in the morning, and again this evening in this city. His text was taken from Exodus 9. 1914: ''Lct my people go that they may serve me; for will at tl,is time send all my plaques"
 Last winter in the Museum at Cairo, Egypt. 1 saw the mummy or embalmed body of Pharaoh, the oppressor of the ancient Jsraelitcs. Visible are the very teeth that he gnashed against the lsraelit- ish brickmakers, the sockets of the merci- less eyes with which he looked upon the overburdened people of God, the hair that foated in the breeze of the Red Sea- the very lips with which he commanded them to make bricks without straw. Thousands of years after, when the wrappings of tho mummy were unrolled, old Pharaoh lifted up his arm as if in imploration, but his skinny bones cannot again clutch his shat tered sceptre. It was to compel that tyrant to let the oppressed go free that the memorable Ten Plaques were sent Sailing tho Nile and walking amid the ruins of Egyptian cities, l saw no remains of those plaques that smote the water or the air. None of the frogs croaked in the one, none of the locusts sounded their rattle in the other. and the cattle bore no sign of the murrain, and through the starry nights lowering about the pyramids no destroying angel swept his wing. But there are ten plaques still stinging and befouling and cursing our cities. and, like angels of wrath, smting not only the first born but the last born.
 Brooklyn. New York and Jersey City, though called three, arc practically one. The bridge already fastening two of them together will be followed by other bridges and by tunnels from both New Jersey and Long Island shores, until what is true now, will, as the years go by, be- come more cmphatically true. The aver age condition of public morals in this cluster of cities is as good if not better than in any other part of the world. Pride of city is natural to men at all times, if they live, or have lived, in n metropolis noted for dignity or prowess. Casar boasted of his native Rome; Lycurgus of Sparta; Virgil of Andes; Demosthcnes of Athens: Archimedes of Syracuse, and Paul of Tarsus 1 should suspect man of base-heartcdness who carried about with him no feeling of complacency in regard to the place of his residence; who gloried not in its arts. or arms, or bchavSor;' who looked with no exultatiou upon it's evi- dences of prosperity. it's artistic cmbcllish> ments, and it's scientific attachments.
 All this premise in opening this course of sermons on the Ten Plaques of these Three Cities. lest some stupid man might say l am deprecating the place of my resi- dence l speak 10 you today concerning the Plague of Gambling Every man and woman in this house ought to be interested in this theme.
 Gambling is tho risking of something more or less valuable in tho hope of win ming more than you hazard. The instru. ments of gaming may differ but the princi- Hlc IS ttit hG cultliuE aHu QtdiIfl& of cards, however full of temptation, is not gambling, unless stakes are put up; while. on the other hand, gambling may be carried on without cards or dice. or billiards or ten pin alley. The man who bets on horses. on elections, on battles--the man who deals in fancys stocks, or conducts business which hazards extra capital, or goes into transactions without foundation, but de- .I.as,t A,h Il. ta gambler. Whatever you expect to get from your neghbor without offering an equivalent in time or money or skill is either the product of theft or gaming Lottery tickets and lottery policies come into the same category. Fairs for the founding of hospitals, schools and churches. conducted on the railing system, come under the same denomination. Do not, therefore, associate gambling necessarily with any instrument or game, or time or place, or think the principle depends upon whether you play for a glass of wine or one hundred shares of railroad stock. Whether you patronize auction pools. !" French mutuals,n or "book- making" whether you employ faro or billiards. rondo and keno. cards or bagatelle, the very idea of the thing is dishonest; for it pro fesses to bestow upon you good for which you give no equivalent.
 tis estimated that every day in Christen- dom eighty million dollars pass from hand to hand through gambling practices, and every year in Christendom one hundred and twenty-thrcc billion one hundred mil lion dollars change hands in that way. There are in this cluster of cities about eight hundred confessed gambling estab- lishments. There are about three thousand five hundred professional gamblers. Out of the eight hundred gambling establish ments how many do you suppose profess to be honest? Ten. These ten protesting to be honest because they are merely the ante chamber 10 the seven hundred and ninety that arc acknowledged fraudulent These are first-class gambling establish ments. You go up the marble stairs. You ring the bell. Inc liveried servant intro duccs you. The walls arc lavender tinted. The mantles are of Vermont marble. The pictures arc 'Jephthah's Daughter" and Dore's " Dante's and Virgil's Frozen Region of Hell, most appropriate selection, this last. for the place. There is the roulette table, the finest, the eostliesL the most ex- quisita piece of furniture in tho Uulted States. There is the haneuetng- room. where. free of charge to the guests. you may find the plate. and viands, and wines and cigars. sumptuous beyond parallel.
 Then you como to the second-class gambling establishment To it you are in- troduced by card through some roper in" Having entered. you must either gamble or fight Sanded cards. dice loaded with quicSsilver, poor arinKs, wlA soon help you to get rid of all your money to a tune in short metre with staccato passages.