The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1894-07-15

"a games Which are unified in the well
known card table. which is supported
by avarlce infatuation, and by fashion,
hrst, I2shion in society; then fascination
% %vase IMAM that of a serpent's eye; then
s sorious 1eVer that neither love nor rea-
Sun ~ nor conscience can alIay
Snal Christians countenance the card
STa,le we do not discuss the question
III tue STANDPOINT of the world, nor in
io lon interest te est of worldly people. It be.
1ohsS 10 them that have "a good time -
az tney estimate enjoyment, and not to
I'VE 1--WE Ior others at the expense of their
! own pleasure.
oi But as to Christian policy-this is the
question: We cannot easily separate the
1n. '- act from the institution itself.
Cne IS a part of the other Take that
e grsAl9l form of card playing, pro-
SssHsSlFe euchre. What is it but gamb-
1lhsE What difference in principie be-
lMeen the forfelts of the one and the
pItZe OF the other? The fact is that the
pam 10 the innermost hell of gambling
- through the clover bloom of fashion
SpIe caro- playing. The victims in the
gambling dens today were once yotaries
IA the parlors of fashion, where no Cor
| only nominaD stakes were set up and
Where people were bent on nothing but
Lun, or TO pass the time" or Ito be
N the style Tested by the question we
nave already. proposed for our guidance,
what shall be the young Christians pol
icy: And what counselS shall parents
ana people in responsible positions give
/ on the subject? Does any one run risks
/
card playing? Will the refusal to indulge
IN it impair ones character or influence?
! VIII he lose anything by such refusal
| VIII he forfeit spiritual diseernment or
the confidence of good men? And again,
is the world into which it leads on the
whole harmful? And how do spiritually
minded people stand toward it? What
advice 90 they give? There is. one an
bine in the one question. Shall young
CHRISTIANS approve of and patroniZe the
card table in any of its forms? That an
Swer is, better not.
The card table has no good and much
evil. In its most innocent forms it is
only the picket line of a great and evil
army. 1t is like the wine cup. There is
no argument against the wine cup that
does not hold against the card table.
And but for the love of fashion, the fear
OF society, and the lack of taste for in
tellectual and spiritual occupations, no
Christian would think of patronizing or
defending the card table.
We reinforce our counSels with regard
to this social Indulgence by four quota
tons which will have weight with
thoughtful young people. The first is
from John Locke, the distinguished au-
thor of that famous essay of the human
understanding which will continue to be
quoted as a standard work as long as
the world lasts. He gives his opinion of
the advisability of playing cards as fol-
lows: AS to cards and dice l think the
safest and best way is never to learn
tated for those dangerous temptations
and encroaching MASTERS of time.
To this let us add the testimony OF
Addison:
II think it very wonderful to see per-
sons of the best sense passing away the
best hours together in shutting and di-
Viding a pack of cards, with no other
conversation but what is made up OF a
few game phrases, and no other ideas
but those of black or red spots ranged
together in different figures. Would not
species complaining that life is short"
Let us hear what DR.. j. q. Holland
says on the subject:
Il have all my days had a card-playing
am yet to be made to believe that that
which is the universal resort of the
starved in soul and intellect, which has
never in any way linked to itself tender,
tendency of that which is to unduly alb
sorb the attention from more Weighty
matters-can recommend itself to the
favor of Christs disciples. The presence
Of culture and genius may embellish, but
it can never dignity it. l have at this
moment ringing in my ears the dying
Injunction of my fathers early friend,
Keep your son from cards. Over them
have murdered time and lost heaven
From the Philadelphia Public Ledger
the following forcible putting of the case
is taken: There are 50 many ways in
which girls can be amusing, entertaining
and useful to themselves and to others
that it seems great pity that any of
them should resort to the common vices
of men. That they do so in the
evening entertainments of private ana
elegant homes and at the most fashion
able summer resorts appears to be beyond
question. And that the results win an
pear in unlocked for Decentralization in
the future of what is called good society
may be set down as among the certain
ties of natural law. Young ladies NAV
not be expressly susceptible to such prosy
moral arguments, but they should not for
get that the young men who gamble with
them may laugh at the shrewdness of a
girl in a card game for stakes, but she
is not the girl that they trust or care to
marry. Very respectfully yours,
slIOIINT N,