The Penn's Grove record., 1891-03-06

fering an equivalent in money or time OIL
skill IS eft her the product Of theft or gaming.
Lottery tickets and lottery policies some into
the same category. Fairs for the founding
of hospitals. schools and churches. conducted
on the rafting system, com under the sam
denomination. Do not, therefore, associate
gambling necessarily with any instrument,
or game, or time, or place, or think the prin-
ciple depends Upon whether you play for q
glass Of wine or one hundred shares Of rail-
road stock. Whether you ~patronizs auction
pools" French mutualso or 'fbook-making,"
whether you employ faro or billiards, rondo
and keno, cards or bagatelle, the very idea of
the thing Is dishonest, for 1t Processes to be
stow upon you q good for which you give no
equivalent.
1t is estimated that every day In Chris
tendon eighty million dollars pass from
hand t o hand through gambling practices,
and every year in Christendom one hun.
dred and twenty-three billion one hundred
million dollars change hands In that way.
There are In this cluster OF cities about
eight hundred confessed gambling estab-
lsshments. There are about three thousand
five hundred professional gamblers. Out
OF the eight hundred gambling establish
ments. how many of them do you suppose
profess to be hohssti Ten. These ten pro.
Tess to be honest because they are merely
the a~nte-chamb4r to b seven hundred
aud ninety that are acknowledged fraud.
ulent. There are first class gambling estab-
lishments. You go up the marble stairs.
You ring the bell. The liveried servant in
PRODUCES you. The walls are lavender tinted.
The mantels are of Vermont marble. The
pictures are "Jephthah's Daughter" and
Dore's '.Dante's and Virgjps Frozen Region
of Helr'-a most appropriate selection, this
last for the place. There Is the roulette
table, the finest, the costliest, most exquisite
10 a.. TTrt%A1 dfa<na frharn
Is the banqueting room. where, free OF charge
to the guests, you may find the plate and
viands and wines and cigars sumptuous be-
yond parallel.
bling establishment. To IL you are intro
duced by a card through some 'troperin."
Having entered, you must either gamble or
fight. San1ed cards, dice loaded with quick
silver, poor drinks, will soon help you to get
rid of all your money to q tune in short
meter with staccato passages. You wanted
to see. You saw. The low villains Of that
place watch you as you come In. Does not
the panther, squat in the grass, know a calf
when he sees itf Wrangle not for your rights
in that place, or your body will be thrown
bloody into the street, or dead Into the East
River. You go along q little further and find
thepolicy establishment. In that place you pet
on numbers. Betting on two numbers is called
a saddle, - betting on three numbers Is called
a "gig," betting on four number! Is called a
horse" and there are Thousands Of our
young men leaping into that saddle" and
mounting the ''gig," and behind that
"horss'' riding to perdition. There is always
one kind of sign on the door-''Exchange,"
d most appropriate title for the door, for
there. in that room, aman exchanges health,
peacs and heaven for loss Of health. loss Of
home. loss Of family, loss Of Immortal soul.
Exchange sure enough and infinite enough.
Men wishing to gamble will find places
Just suited to their capacity, not only in
the underground oyster cellar, or at the
table back of the curtain, covered with
greasy cards, or in the steamboat smoking
cabin, where the bloated wretch with rings
and winks in the ~uususpecting traveller
provi ling freq drinks all around-but in
gilded parlors and amid gorgeous surround
ings.
Again, this sin works ruin by killing indus-
try. A man used to reaping scores or hun
dreds or thousands Of dollars from the gaming
table will not be content with slow work. He
will say; ''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
sBilly'sg" You never knew Q confirmed
gambler who wal industrious The men
given to this vice spend their time, not &C
lively engaged in the game. in idleness or
iutoxication or sleep, or in ~corrupting new
victims. This sin has dullsd 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 light
ming to shatter the battery Of the philoso-
pher. The very first idea in gaming Is at
war with all the industries Of society.
This crime is getting its lever under many
a mercantile house in great cities, and
before long down will coms the great estab-
lishment, crushing reputation, home, COM
fort and immortal souls. How 1t diverts and
sinks capital may be inferred from some
authentic statement before US. The ten gam
ing houses that once were authorized in Paris
passed through banks, yearly, three hundred
does all the money come FRONT The whole
world is robbeil What Il most sad, there
are no consultations for the 1oss nj suffering
entailed by gaming. II men fail in lawful
business, God pities and society commiser-
ates; but where in the Bible or in society is
there any consolation for the gamblert From
what tree of the forest oozes there q balm that
can sooths the gameeters hearth In that
bottle where God keeps the tears Of His chill
dren are there any tears Of the gambler Do
the winds that come to kiss the faded cheek
of sickness and to cool the heated brow OF
the Iaborer, whisper hope and cheer to the
emaciated victim of the game of hazard
When an honest man is in trouble he has
sympathy. "Poor fellowp' they say. But
do gamblers come to weep at the agonies Of
the gamblerI
In Northumberland was one Of the finest
estates in England. Mr.. Porter owned 1t,
lost the last acre OF the estate, he came
down from the saloon and got into his car
rage: went back, put up his horses and car
rage and town house and played. He threw
and lost, He started home, and in q side
alley met a friend from whom he borrowed
ten guineas; went back to the saloon and be-
fore a great while had won twenty thousand
pounds. He died at lass peygar In st.
Giles. How many gamblers felt sorry for
Mr.. Porters Who consoled him on the loss
Of his estatef What gambler subscribed to
put a stone over the poor mans gravef MOI
onel
counted ~dishonesties. The game of hazard
itself is often q game OF cheat. How many
tricks and receptions in the dealing Of tht
cards! The opponents hand is otttime'
that they may be- designated from the back
Expert gamesters have their accomplices
and one wink may decide the game. The dice
have been found loaded with piatina, SO tha'
~''doublets" come up every time. These die
are introduced by the gamblers, unobserveC
by honest men who have come into play; ant
this accounts for the fact that ninety-nin'
out of a hundred who gamble, howeve
wealthy they began, at the end are found tt
bs poor, miserable, ragged wretches, tina
would not now be allowed TO sit on the door
| step of the house that they once owned. II
a gambling house in San Francisco a youni
man having just come from the mines de
posted q large sum Upon the ace, and wol
TWENTY-FIVE thousand dollars. But the It'd
turns. Intense excitement comes upon I'll
counteuances of all. Slowly the cards Wen
forth. Every eye is fixed. Not a sound
heard until the ace is revealed favorable
the bank. There are shouts Of Foul
''Foulr' but the keepers of the table produc
their pistols, and the uproar is Hence and tn
bauk has won ninety-fve thousand dollars
r. you call this a game OF chancef There
no chance about il.
BIT these d~ishonesties In carrying on {
the game are nothing when compared wit
the frauds which are committed in order Z
get money to go on with the nefarious worh
Gambling with its greedy hand has snatche
away the widows mite and the portion Q
the orphans; has sold the daughters virtuet
get the means to continue the game; ha
written the counterfeit signature, emptie
the bankers money vault and welded th
assassin's dagger. There Is no depth of NEAR
ness TO which il will not stoop. There is n
cruelty at which il is appalled,. There is y