Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1895-10-25

| DelleVe IN tne turf II III can De CONDUCT
ed on right principles and with no bet
ting. There is no more harm in offering
q prize for the swiftest racer than there
is harm at an az ficultural fair in offer
ing prize to the farmer who has the
best wheat. or to the fruit grower who
has the largest pear, or TO the machiniEt
who presents the best corn thrasher, oz
in a school offering prize Of a copy of
Shakespeare to the best reader, or IN
household giving a lump Of sugar 70
the best behaved youngster. Prizes By
all means, rewards by all means. That
is the way God develops the race. Re-
wards for all kinds Of well doing. Heav-
en- itself is called a prize, "the prize
Of the high calling OF God in Christ Je-
sus." SOwhat is right in one direction
is right in another direction. And with
out the prizes the horses fleetness and
beauty and strength will never be fully
developed. If it cost 81 900 or S., 600
or $4,000 and the result be achieved,
it is cheap. But the sin begins where
the betting begins, for that is gambling,
or the effort to get that for which you
give no equivalent, and gambling,
whether on a large scale or a small scale,
ought TO be denounced Of men as it will
be accursed Of God. If you have won 30
cents or S., 900 as a wager, you had bet
ter get rid Of it. Get rid Of it right
away. Give it to some one who lost in
a bet, or give it to some great reforma-
tory institution, or if you do not lilo
that, 60 down to the river and pitch it
off the docks. You cannot afford to keep
it, 1t twill burn a hole in your purse, it
will burn a hole in your estate, and you
will lose all that, perhaps 1000 times
more-perhaps you will lose all Gam
bling blasts a man or it blasts his chill
dren, generally both and all.
"Bookmaking."
What a spectacle when at Saratoga,
or at Long Branch, or at Brighton
Beach, or at Sheepshead Bay, the horses
start, and in fash $50, 900 or 100000
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, be may be discour-
aged and quit, but if he win the bet he
is very apt TO 60 straight on to hell!
An intimate friend, a journalist, who
in the lire Of his profession investigated
this evil, tells me that there are three
different kinds Of betting at horse races,
and they are about equally leprous-by
auction pools, " by French mutuals,"
by what is called "bookmaking" all
gambling, all bad. all rotten with in
iquity. There is one word that needs 10
be written on the brow Of every poolsell-
er as he sits deducting his or 8 per
cent, and slyly ringing up" more tick
cts than were sold on the winning horse
"a word to be written also on the brow
Of every bookkeeper who at extra in
ducement scratches a horse of OF the
race, and on the brow Of every jockey
who slackens pace that, according TO
agreement, another may win, and writ
ten over every judges stand, and writ
ten on every board Of the surrounding
fences. That word is "swindlerW Yet
thousands bet. Lawyers bet. Judges OK
courts bet. Members Of the legislature
bet. Mombers of congress bet. Profess
ors Of religion bet. Teachers and su-
perintendents Of Sunday schools, l am
told, bet Ladies bet, not directly, 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 deaf
en-, there will be multitude Of people
cajoled and deceived and cheated, who
will at the races 60 neck and neck, neck
and neck to perdition.
Cultivate the horse by all mesns,
drive him as fast as you desire, provid-
ed you do not injure him or endanger
yourself or others, but be careful and
do not harness the horse to the chariot
of sin. Do not throw your jewels OF
morality under the flying hoof Do not
under the pretext Of improving the horse
destroy man. Do not have your name
put down in the ever increasing cata-
logue Of those who are ruined for both
worlds by the designations Of the Amer
lean race course. They say that an hon
est race course is a straight" track, and
that dishonest race course is a "croOk-
ed" track-that is the parlance abroad
but | tell you that every race track sur
rounded by betting men and betting
women and betting customs is a straight
track-I mean straight down. Christ
asked in one of his gospels, is not a
man better than a sheep l say, yes,
and he is better than all the steeds that
with lathered flanks ever slot around
the ring at a race course. That Is very
poor Job By which a man in order TO set
a horse to come out full length ahead
Of some other racer so lanes his own
morals that ne comes out whole length
behind in the race set before him.
A Current Evil.
Do you not realize the fact that there
is a mighty effort on all sides today to
get money without earning it? That is
the curse Of all the cities 1t is the
curse Of America-the effort TO get
money without earning it-and as other
forms Of stealing are not respectable,
they 90 into these gambling practices.
| preach this sermon on square old fash
ioned honesty / have said nothing
against the horse, l have said nothing
against the turf have said everything
against their prostitution. Young men,
you 20 into straightforward industries
and You will have better livelihood AMI
you will have larger permanent succss
han you can ever get by wager. -
you get in with some Of the whissN
-um blotched crew which see going
iown on the boulevards, though | usvcs
bet, will risk this wager, 5000. .osc
% nothing, you will be debauched and
tanned.
Cultivate the horse. own him II pc9
IAN afford to own him, test all tis
Ipeed he has, If he have any speed n
him, but be careful which wxy roa
lrive. You cannot always tell what d.
-ection a man is driving in by the way
lis horses head. In my boyhood we pods
hree miles every Sabbath morning "
-he countrv church. We were drawn H