The enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 188?-1899, 1895-10-23


it is cheap. But the sin begins where
the betting begins, for that is gam
bling, or the effort to get that for
which you give no equivalent, and
whether on large scale or
a small scale, ought to be denounced
of men as it will be accursed of God.
If you have won fifty cents or $1,000 as
a wager, you had better get rid of it,
Get rid of it right away. Give it to
someone who lost in bet, or give it to
some great reformatory institution, or
if you do not like that go down'to the
river and pitch it off the DOCKS You
cannot afford to keep it. 1t will burn
hole in your estate, and you will lose
all that, perhaps ten thousand times
you will lose all. Gam
bling blasts man, or it blasts his
children. Generally both and all.
What spectacle when at Saratoga,
or at Long Branch, or at Brighton
Beach, or at Sheepshead bay, the
horses start, and in flash fifty or a
hundred thousand dollars change
hands! Multitudes ruined by losing the
bet, others worse ruined by gaining
the bet; for if man lose in bet at a
horse race, he may be discouraged and
quit, but if he win the bet he is very
apt to go straight on to hell.
An intimate friend, q journalist, who
in the line of his profession investigated
this evil, tells me that there are three
different kinds of betting at horse
races, and they are about equally lep.
rous; by auction POOLS" by French
mutuals," by what is called book
making'--all gambling, all bad, all rot
ten with iniquity. There is one word
that needs to be written on the brow
of every poolseller as he is deducting
his or per cent. and slyly ringing
up" more tickets than were sold on the
winning horse--a word to be written
also on the brow of every book
maker who at extra inducement
scratches horse off of the race, and
on the bSow of every jockey who
slackens pace that, according to agree
ment, another may win, and written
over every judges stand, and written
on every board of the surrounding
fences. That word is "swindle" Yet
thousands bet. Lawyers bet Judges
of courts bet. Members of the legisla.
ture bet. Members of Congress bet.
Professors of religion bet. Teachers
and superintendents of Sunday schools,
am told, bet. Ladies bet, not direct
ly, but through agents. Yesterday,
and every day, they bet, they gain,
they lose, and this summer, while the
parasols swing and the hands clap and
the huzzas deafen, there will be mul.
titude of people cajoled, and deceived,
and cheated, who will at the races GO
neck and neck, neck and neck, tc
perdition. Cultivate the horse by all
means, drive him as fast as you de.
sire, provided you do not injure him
or endanger yourself or others; but be
careful and do not harness the horse
20 the chariot Of sin. Do not throw
your jewels of morality under the fly
ing hoof. Do not under the preteXt OF
improving the horse destroy man. Dc
not have your name put down in the
ever-increasing catalogue of those who
are ruined for both worlds by the dis
sipations of the American race course
They say that an honest race course is
straight" track, and that a dishon'
est race course is a crooked" track
that is the parlance abroad; but tell
you that every race track surrounded
by betting men and betting women
and betting customers, is straight
.track-I mean straight down! Christ
asked in one of His gospels: 'Is not &
man better than Sheep" l say, yes
and he is better than all the steeds thai
with lathered fanks ever shot arount
the ring at race course. That is {
very poor job by which man in order
to get horse to come ont full length
ahead of some other racer, SO lanes hi.
own morals that he comes out whole
length behind in the race set before
him.
Do you not realize the fact that there
is mighty effort on all sides to-day
to get money without earning it? Thai
is the curse of all the cities; it is The
curse of America-the effort to ge
money without earning it, and as othel
forms of stealing are not respectable
they go into these gambling practices
| preach this sermon on square old
fashioned honesty. | have said moth
ing against the horse, | have sait
nothing against the turf, have sale
everything against their prostitution
Young men, you go into straightfor
ward industries and you will have bet
ter livelihood, and you will have larger
permanent success than you can eve
get by wager: but you get in will
some of the whisky, rum blotched crew
which l see going down on the boule
wards, though l never bet, l will risk
this wager five million to nothing
you will be debauched and damned.
Cultivate the horse, own him if you
can afford to own him, test all the
speed he has, if he have any speed il
him; but be careful which way yo,
drive. You cannot always tell wha'
direction man is driving in by the way
his horses head. In my boyhood, We
rode three miles every Sabbath morn
ing to the country church. We were
drawn by two fine horses. My father
drove, He knew them, and they knew
him. They were friends. Sometimes
they loved togo rapidly, and he did MOI
interfere with their happiness He hat
all of us in the wagon with him. He
drove to the country church. The fac
is, that for eighty-two years he drove
in the same direction. The roam spar
that speak of was long ago un
lskal,aI 1. i L z.