St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-06-03
WHAT TRE.DOCToR SAID.
A Story for Boys Who Like Sport.

nave great IOndneSS 1or q 1ne morse, and
for the excitement of good race"
s'Of course pursued the doctor, without
looking at his young visitor, ''you bet little
when you go to the races?"
"Well-yes. The fact Is, every one bets;
even few dollarsnp on horse adds greatly
to the interest of a race" replied Ned, asking
after pause, "Do you think, doctor, that
betting is morally wrong?n
Frankly, yes I do. And to continue my
frankness, let me say that while I, too, like
good horse, and enjoy to see him at his best
think the gambling spirit, apart from the
loss OF time engenaered' by racing, is ruinous
Let me tell you alittIe story it will illustrate
my point, and show you why regard racing
and betting with horror ''fo s.
The doctor sat down facing his visitor,
but without looking1tdm; continued
''About eleven years ago, there lived in
Brooklyn young man Of your age, whom
will call John Smith, though that was not
his name. He, too. was trying to make his
way through college, for his father had failed
in business, and died of q broken heart
few years before, and he was the sole hope
of a loving andnobieEmother.
'tJohn Smith was anxious to be doctor,
ard he was encouraged in his purpose by
number of physicians who had been his faith
ers friends. In order to; help him, these
physicians made John Smith their collector,
giving him a percentage that enabled him in
his odd hours to support himself and his
mother comfortably besides giving him an
acquaintance that must be of great service
when he entered on his chosen profession.
"Like you, Ned John Smith liked to see
the races, and like you he felt, that by risk
ing dollar orr two his interest in each run
was greatly incFeasedi but after all the great
purpose of his betting was to; get money
quickly and without effort-to grow rich at
leap without, any-sssbersa ESQ many are try
ing to do. 49,
lecting, and had three hundred dollars in his
pocket. Heretefofe> he, had put all his col
lections in bank Ness his own per cent, before
he went to the facess but thisShappened to be
Saturday and the banks were.closed.
son several occasions he had received tips
from sporting quaintance, and it was his
ill-luck to win on the small sums risked
This day he met the same man on the train
going to the Goney Island races, and he had
inside information thata horse on which the
odds were thirty ta one would surely win.
"John Smiths sporting friend was so GER
tain about the genuineness. of this tip that he
was going to bet three hundred dollars him.
self, which would mean nine thousand dol
lars-if he won. John Smith caught the con-
tagion. He, forgot that the three hundred
dollars in his pocket were, not ssown; he
saw only ths@possibilty, Of winning nine
thousand dollars, and sos placing his mother
above want, forte desthe. youth justice, he
gave no thought to himself.
''It was beautiful afternoon; and women
in gay attire, by thousands and men by tens
of thousands, filled the grand stand, while
swarms ofgbookmakers> shouted the odds
they were wilnnsto bidgfer and against the
different horses. A band was playing, jockeys
were practicing. their horses.-up and down
the track and every one seemed excited.
With nine thousand dollars in view, John
Smith lost his head, and bet every cent of it
on Leander, at the odds OF thirty to one.
Heretofore hisGhighest bet had been five
dollars; but NOW that he had three hundred
risked, his interest was sixty times as great
He realized that, on the winning of Leander
depended his fortune or his ruin. When it
was too late to get his money back, he saw
that in order town he had virtually become
a thief. AS he grasped the awful situation,
he would have givenyhis left arm to have had
the three hundred dollars in his pocket and
been back in his mothers little fat in Brook
Ign. fss3-5i - sso1
"Leander did not appear till the second
race, and you may be sure John Smith took
no interest in the first one..a cd
Twelve horses that were to appear in the
grand race were, out; but John Smith saw
only one, and that was gLeander, with his
rider in pink jacket9s He trembied so, that
he had to cling to- the, bench on which he sat,
and the swarming faces On the grand stand,
and the excited horses appeared to be chang
ing like a rapidly revolving kaleidoscope.
eat length the flag fell, with Leander well
to the front. AS John. Smith saw this he
sprang to his feet and waved his hat with
shout of triumph. Still in the lead Leander
kept till half the course was run; then the
horses that had appeared to be tagging in the
rear seemed suddenly filled with new energy
while John Smiths favorite looked as if he
were dropping back. The horses were
punched as they turned on the homestretch,
and no one could tell which was in the adj
vance. At length black horse shot from the
mass, and great shout went up from the
people:
"tCrusaderp sCrusaderr Crusader leadsp
'Too weak to stand John Smith dropped
into his seat again, and again grasped its
sides to keep from falling There were
mingled shouts for the favorite horses and
once more the name Leander' seemed on
every lip and once more John Smith rose to
see the red-nostriled racers flying down the
homestretch. Leander was second, and the
jockey in the pink shirt piled the whip and
buried the spurs in the painting TANKS. On,
nearer, nearer, nearer, the black horse still
in the lead, till they few past the post. Then
John Smith sneaked away, with all the feel
ings of thief.aipsN 8
"He made his way home and that evening
and the next day he was SO sick with the bur-
den of his awful secret that he lay in bed,
administered to by his anxious mother. whose
dear heart would have been broken had she
known the truth. ' -.sfts
During that interminable Sunday, John
Smith debated between committing suicide
and running away. But the angel of his bet
ter nature prevailed, and in a moment of in
SEPARATION he made up his mind to go to an old
doctor who had been his fathers friend, and
to tell him the truth.u9 ole
"He was limo condition to go to college
the following Monday. Instead of doing SO,
he crept rather than walked to the Office of