The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-05-04
EVILS OF GAMBLING.
REV. THOMAS DIXON ON THE "eATEs
OF HELL IN MODERN BABYLON

and His Disrespect For Tennyson-An
Glasses In New York Infected.
New YoRK, April 80.-One Of o series
of sermons on the Shadows Of the City;
or, the Gates Of He'll In Modern Baby.
lon," was delivered this morning in AS.
sociation hall TO tho great congregation
which packs the building to its utmost
capacity Extraordinary interest has
been manifested in the series from the
first. When the hall is filled, the ushers
are compelled to close the doors, and
hundreds are turned away. The text
chosen this morning was from Matthew
xvii, 30, "They parted his garments
among them, casting lots"
Gambling may be defined as the art of
securing the property of another with.
out giving him anything in return. It
is to get something for nothing or theat-
tempt to set something for nothing.
When this is done by game or trick in
an artistic way, it is called gambling.
When it is done by force or in a clumsy,
inartistic way, it is called thieving.
There is practically no difference be
tween stealing and gambling. The prin.
ciple involved is precisely the same. 1t
is the violation Of the fundamental law
of nature, the law of compensation and
just exchange. Any man who gamblCs
steadily for 10 months will steal. Men
may deny it, but those who know the
facts in gambling life know that it is
true. If the gambler does not actually
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is simply because he has not yet met the
opportunity or the crisis demanding it.
Gambling is the total debauchery Of
the whole man. 1t is the debauchery of
his body as we'll as his soul. The body
is debauched because the conditions sur
rounding gambling imply it Of necessity.
It means the indulgence of every pas
sion that clamors for the destruction of
the body. There is no fascination like
it. The spell it throws over the whole
personality Of man is simply resistless.
No serpent ever charmed its victim with
greater power. No fowler ever set his
snare with surer results. 1t is an appeal
to the pride and to the skill of man. 1t
is an appeal to his love Of superiority, to
his desire for power, to the heroism of
his nature, to his greed and lust for
gain. Above all, it is delusion of his
religious faculties. 1t is playing with
the world Of chance, which becomes
finally confused with the world Of spirit.
Hence the debauchery of the gambler is
complete and the wreck of character to-
tai. When the spiritual nature is burned
SC vii, Oh NI
Body and soul of necessity collapse.
The gambler becomes the victim Of
hopeless mental disease.
THE SURVIVAL OF THE BRUTE.
Gambling is nothing short Of a mania,
and gamblers should be incarcerated in
lunatic asylums with just as good rea-
son as that which requires that othel
lunatics be isolated from society. This
disease of the mind when once fixed is
utterly hopeless. The victim follows his
will-o'- '-the-wisp as the weary traveller
follows the fatal mirage. A man recent
ly set out from Juarez, Mexico, to go to
Palomas in New Mexico and nearly lost
his life from a mirage delusion. He was
driving his wagon when he saw a short
shadowed by trees, Both he and his
team were thirsty, so he turned out of
his course to get water. After travelling
several miles the lake seemed as far off
as at first, but it was there, clear, dis
tinct, before him. He continued in the
direction of the lake and fancied he
could feel ON his face the fresh breeze
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not diminish at last the idea dawned on
him, and he turned back toward the
road. But the night overcame him. He
lost his way. On the morrow he could
not recognize any indication Of his
course. All his efforts to find the road
were unavailing. At last, after a terri
BILE struggle of four days, wrestling with
heat, and with hunger, and with thirst,
he succeeded in reaching the road, more
dead than alive. Such is the experience
Of the man whose being is in the grasp
of this relentless demon. 1t is q craze;
it is a madness.
Mazarin was so fascinated with gam
bling that he played as he lay on his
deathbed until he became too weak, and
then he got some one to play for him.
Walpole tells Of certain Lord Stavor-
dale, who, when under 21 years of age,
lost $50, 1000 in one night, but recovered
it by a single great stake, whereupon he
swore a great oath, adding, Now, if !
had been playing deep, I might have won
millions" 1t is said that two men were
found by the police in Hamstead road in
1912, one ON q wall and the other hang
ing by his neck from o laSnppost, just
"shoved off," They had tossed all day,
first for money, then for their clothes and
lastly to decide which Of the two should
hang the other. 1t was a logical con-
clusion to the days work. 1t is the in.
evitable conclusion to the gamblers day
on earth.
Gambling is not an evil that has de-
veloped primarily in modern times un-
der modern conditions. 1t is as old as
human depravity. 1t is as old as theft
1t is as old as superstition. Savages and
tribes in the most primitive conditions
are and always have been, when discov-
cred, addicted to gambling. And this
leads us to the inevitable inference that
gambling is a survival of the brute in
heritance. Tacitus tells us that the Ger
mans, whom he studied and reported,
entered so heartily into gambling that
they even staked their own persons, the
one becoming the slave and absolute
property Of the other. Herodotus relates
that certain king Of Egypt gambled
with Demeter in the internal regions.
Plutarch says that Hermes gambled
with the moon The old Greek mission.
airy, Patroclus, Homer tells us, "lost
his temper over dice"