Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1896-05-23

SO much advantage from any ministerial
association as from ministerial club
that went out to play ball every Satur-
day afternoon in the outskirts Of Phila-
delphia. These recreations are grand to
give US muscle and spirits for our regu-
lar toll. I believe in muscular Chris
tianity. A man is often not SO near
God with O weak stomach as when he
has q strong digestion. But shun those
who make it their life occupation to
sport. There are young men whose in
dustry and usefulness have fallen over
board from the yacht. There are men
whose business fell through the ice Of
the skating pond and has never since
been heard of. There is beauty in the
gliding of boat, in the song of skates,
in the soaring Of well struck ball, and
I never see one fly but l involuntarily
throw up my hands to catch it, and so
far from laying an injunction upon ball
playing or any other innocent sport, l
claim them all as belonging of right to
those of us who toll in the grand indus
tries of church and state.
But the life business of pleasure seek
ing always makes in the end criminal
or q sot. George Brummel was smiled
upon by all England, and his life was
given to pleasure. He danced with the
peeresses and swung q round of mirth
and wealth and applause until, ex-
hausted of purse, and worn out of body,
and bankrupt of reputation, and ruined
of soul, he begged biscuit from gro
Ger and declared that he thought a
dogs life was better than mans.
Such men will come into your office,
or crowd around your anvil, or seek to
decoy you off. They will want you to
break out in the midst of your busy day
to take ride with them. They will
tell you of some people you must see, of
some excursion that you must take, of
some Sabbath day that you ought to
diskonor They will tell you of exqui-
site wines that you must taste, Of costly
operas that you must hear, of won lerful
dancers that you must see but >efore
you accept their convoy or their COM
partnership remember that while at the
end of a useful life you may be able to
look back to kindnesses done, to honor
able work accomplished, to poverty
helped, to good name earned, to Chris
tian influence eXerted, to a Saviour's
cause advanced-these pleasure seekers
on their deathbed have nothing better
to review than torn Playful, a ticket
for the races, an empty tankard, and the
cast out rinds of q carousal, and, as in
the delirium Of their q, full death they
clutch the goblet and press it to their
lips, the drcgs Of the cup falling upon
their tongue will begin to hiss and, un-
coil with the adders Of an eternal poi
son.
The Gambling Spirit.
Again, avoid as you would avoid the
death of your body, mind and soul any
one who has in him the gambling spirit.
Men who want to gamble will find
places just suited to their capacity, not
only III the underground oyster cellar or
at the table back of the curtain cover
ed with greasy cards, or in the 80
boat smoking cabin, where the bloated
wretch with rings i'll his ears deals out
his pack and winlhs at the unsuspecting
traveller providing free drinks all
around-but in gilded parle and amid
gorgeous surroundings.
This sin works ruin, first by unbealth-
full stimulants. Excitement is pleasure
BILE. Under every sky and in every age
men have sought it. The Chinaman
gets it by smoking his opium, the Per-
sian by chewing hasheesh, the trapper in
q buffalo hunt, the sailor in squall,
the inebriate in the bottle and the avari-
cious at the gaming table. We must at
times have excitement. A thousand
voices in our nature demand it. 1t is
right. 1t is healthful 1t is inspiring.
1t is desire God given. But anything
that first gratifies this appetite and
hurls it back in terrific reaction is de-
plorable and wicked Look out for the
agitation that like rough musician
in bringing out the tune plays SO hard
he breaks down the instrument. God
never made man strong enough to en-
dure the wear and tear of gambling ex-
citement. No wonder if, after having
failed in the game, men have begun to
sweep off imaginary gold from the side
of the table. The man was sharp enough
when he started at the game, but ma
MAC at the close. At every gaming ia
BILE sit on one side ecstasy, enthusiasm,
omance-the frenzy of joy; on the 9TH
er side, ferceness, rage, tumult The
professional gamester schools himself
into apparent quietness. The keepers Of
gambling rooms are generally fat, roll
licking and obese, but thorough and
professional gamblers, in nine cases out
of ten, are pale, thin, wheezy, tremu-
lous and exhausted.
A young man, having suddenly inner
tied large property, sits at the hazard
tables and takes up in dice box the
estate won by a fathers lifetime sweat
and shakes it and losses it away. In
temperance soon stigmatizes its victim,
kicking him out, slavering fool, into
the ditch, or sending him, with the
drunkard's hiccough, staggering up the
street where his family lives. But gam
bling does not in that way expose its
victims. The gambler may be eaten up
by the gamblers passion, yet you only
discover it by the greed in his eyes, the
hardness of his features, the nervous
restlessness, the threadbare coat and
his embarrassed business. Yet he is on
the road to hell, and no preacher voice
or startling warning or wife's entreaty
can make him stay for moment his
headlong career. The internal spell is
on him, giant is aroused within, and
though you may bind him with cables
they would part like thread, and though
YOU fasten him seven times round with
chains they would snap like rusted wire,
and though you piled up in his path
heaven high Bibles, tracts and sermons