Democratic Northwest and Henry County news. [volume] (Napoleon, O. [Ohio]) 1894-1905, 1896-05-21


But the life business of pleasure seeking
always makes In the end q criminal Or a
sot. George Brummel was smiled upon
by all England, and his life was given to
pleasure. Ho danced with the peeresses
and swung q round of mirth and wealth
and applause, until, exhausted of purse
and worn out of body and bankrupt OF
reputation and ruined of soul, nc begged q
biscuit from a grocer and declared that he
thought dogs life was better than a
mans.
Such mon will come into your Office, or
crowd around your anvil, or seek to deooy
you off. They will want you to break out
In the midst of your busy day to take a
ride with them. They will tell you of
some people you must see, Of some excur-
sion that you must take, of some Sabbath
day that you ought to dishonor. They
will tell you of exquisite wines that you
must taste, of costly operas that you must
hear, of wonderful dancers that you must
see, but before you accept their convoy or
their oompanionship remember that whilo
at the end of 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 Christian inf1u-
ence exerted, to q Saviour's cause advanced,
these pleasure seekers on their deathbeds
have nothing better to review than torn
playbill, ticket for the races, an empty
tankard and the cast out rinds of a ca
rousal, and as in the delirium of their aw-
full death they clutch the goblet and press
1t to their lips the dregs of the cup falling
upon their tongue will begin to hiss and
unooil with the adders of an eternal poison.
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 in
the underground oyster cellar, or at the
table back of the curtain, covered with
greasy cards, or In the steamboat smoking
oabi1, whore the bloated wretch with rings
in his ears deals out his pack and winks at
the unsuspecting traveler-providing free
drinks all around-but In gilded parlors
and amid gorgeous surroundings.
Avoid Unhealthy stimulants.
This sin works ruin first by unhealth-
full stimulants. Excitement Is pleasurable.
Under every sky and in every age men
have sought 1T. The Chinaman gets 1t by
smoking his opium, the Persian by chew
ing hasheesh, the trapper In buffalo hunt,
the sailor in squall, the inebriate in the
bottle and the avarioious at the gaming
table. We must at times have excitement.
A thousand voices In our nature demand
it, 1t is right. It is healthful 1t is inspir-
ing. 1t is desire God given. But any
thing that first gratifies this appetite and
- boo H., Rn i,, 4
plorable and wicked. Look out for the agi-
tation that, like a rough musician, in
bringing out the tune plays SO hard he
breaks down the instrument. God never
made man strong enough to endure the
wear and tear of gambling excitement.
No wonder If, after having failed In the
game, men have begun to sweep off imag
mary gold from the side Of the table. The
man was sharp enough when he started
at the game, but maniac at the close. At
every gaming table sit on one side, &C.
stasy, enthusiasm, romanoe-the frenzy
of joy; on the other side, ferceness,
rage, tumult. The professional gamester
schools himself into apparent quietness
The keepers Of gambling rooms are gen.
orally fat, rollicking and obese, but thor
ough and professional gamblers, in nine
cases out of ten, are pale, thin, wheezy,
tremulous and exhausted.
A young man having suddenly inherited
large property sits at the hazard tables
and takes up in dice box the estate won
by a fathers lifetime sweat and shakes 1t
and tosses it away. Intemperance soon
stigmatizes its victim-kicking him out,
slayering fool, into the ditch, or sending
him, with the drunkard's hiccough stag
gering up the street where his family lives
But gambling does not in that way expose
its victims. The gambler may be eaten up
by the gamblers passion, yet you only dis
cover 1t by the greed In his eyes, the hard
ness Of his features, tho nervous restless
ness, the threadbare coat and his embar-
rassed business. Yet he Is on the road to
hell, and no preachers voice, or startling
warning, or wife's entreaty, can make
him stay for moment his headlong Co.
reer. 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 and on the top should set the
cross of the Son of God, over them all the
gambler would leap like roe over the
rocks on his way to perdition.
The Gambler Gains Perdition.
A man used to reaping scores or hun
dreds of dollars from the gaming table
will not be content with slow work. He
will say, What is the use Of my trying to
make these $50 In my store when can get
five times that in half an hour down at
Billy's9" You never knew confirmed
gambler who was Industrious. The men
given to this vice spend their time not
actively engaged in the game, in idleness
or intoxication or sleep or in oorrupting
new victims. This sin has dulled the car
penter's saw and cut the band of the fac
tory wheel, sunk the cargo, broken the
teeth of the farmers harrow and sent O
strange lightning to shatter the battery of
the philosopher. The very first idea In
gaming is at war with all the industries
of society. Any trade or occupation that
is of use is ennobling. The street sweeper
advances tho interests of society by the
cleanliness effected. The cat pays for the
fragments it eats by cleaning the house of
vermin. The fly that takes the sweetness
from the dregs Of the cup compensates by
purifying the air and keeping back the
pestilence. But the gambler gives not
anything for that which he takes. / recall
that sentence. He does make return,
but it is disgrace to tho man he aeeces,
despair to his heart, ruin to his business
anguish to his wife, shame to his children
and eternal wasting away to his soul. He
pays in tears and blood and agony and
darkness and woe. What dull work is
plowing to the farmer when in the village
saloon in one night he makes and loses the
value of a summer harvestl Who will
want to sell tape and measure nankeen
and cut garments and weigh sugars when
in a nights game he makes and loses and
makes again and loses again the profits of