The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1891-02-27

ago cashier of a railroad who stole
$lO3, 900 to carry on his gaming prac-
tees. Witness $4,000 stolen from q
Brooklyn bank within the memory of
many of you, and the $4,000 taken
from Wall street insurance company
for the same purpose!
These are only illustrations on large
scale of the robberies every day COM
mitted for the purpose of carrying out
the designs of gambling. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars every year leak out
without observation from the mer-
chants till into the gambling hell. A
man in London keeping one of these
gambling houses boosted that he had
ruined nobleman day: but if all the
saloons of the land were to speak out,
they might utter more infamous
boast for they have destroyed thous-
and nOblemen year.
Notice also the effect of the crime
upon domestic happiness. 1t has sent
its ruthless plOwshare through humid
dreds of families, until the wife sat in
rags and the daughters were disgraced
and the sons grew up to the same in
famous practices, or took short cut to
destruction across the murderer's
scaffOld. Home has lost all charms for
the gambler. How tame are the child
ren's caresses and the wife's devotion to
the gambler. How dreary the fire
burns on the domestic hearth. There
must be louder laughter. and something
to win and something to lose, an excite
ment to drive the heart faster and fillup
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
endearmentS are consumed in the flame
of his passion. The family bible will
go after all other treasures are lost, and
if his crown in heaven were put into
his hand he would cry: Here goes
one more game, boys? On this one
throw stake my crown of heaven" A
young man in London on becoming of
age received a fortune of $4,000. and
through gambling in three years was
thrown on his mother for support An
only son went to a southern city: he
was rich. intellectual and elegant in
manners. His parents gave him on his
departure from home Their blessings
The sharpers got hold of him.
They flattered him. They lured him to
the gaming table and let him win al
most every time for good while and
patted him on the back and said: First
rate player" But, fully in their grasp,
they feeced him: and his 500 was
lost. Last of all he put his watch up and
lost that. Then he began TO think of
his home. and his old father and mother
and wrote thus:
MY Beloved Parents: You WI,
doubtless feel a mOmentary Joy at -.
reception of this letter from the child
of your bosom, on whom you have lay
ished all the favors OF your declining
years. But should feeling of Joy for a
moment spring up in your hearts when
you have received this from me. cherish
it not. | have fallen deep-never to
rise. Those grey hairs that | should
have hOnOred and protected | shall
bring down with sorrow to the grave.
| will not curse my destroyer, but o..
may God ayenge the wrongs and impo-
sitions practiced upon the unwary in a
way that shall best please him This,
my dear parents, is the last letter you
will ever receive from me. | humbly
pray your forgivness. 1t is my dying
prayer. Long before you have received
this letter from me the cold grave will
have closed upon me forever. Life to
me is insupportable. can not: nay, |
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 fell to 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 to a father after his
son is destroyed? When things go
wrong at gambling table they shout
foul! foulr' Over all the gambling
tables of the world cry out: Foul!
foul! Infinitely foul"
Shall sketch the history of the
gambler? Lured by bad company he
finds his way into place wrere honest
men ought never tc 90. 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 Satan's
hands. who takes all the trick and both
the 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 flash, until now
they who win and they who lose, fired
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; if losing. pale with envy
and tremulous with unuttered Oaths
cast back red hot upon the heart-Or
winning, with historical laugh-''Ha!
ha! l have it! have it,
A few years have passed and he is
only the wreck of a man. Seating him
self at the game ere he throws the first
card, he stakes the last relic of his wife
and the marri ge 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 his
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 life's blood, and coiling
around his heart, punch it with chills
and shudders unutterable.
Take warning. you are no stronger
than tens of thousands who haze by
this practice been overthrow. No
young man il our cities can escape be-
ing tempted. Beware of the first be-
ginings! This road is 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
crafts in to the hellgate. |
speak of what I have seen with my own