Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1897-08-10


WI ' gnaw through a
m ans C nara c.
ter. But there are other transgressions
that lift themselves up to gigantic pro-
portions, and seize hold of a man and
bind him with thongs forever. There
are some iniquities that have such great
emphasis of evil that he who commits
them may be said to sin as with a cart
rope | suppose you know how they
make great rope. The stuff out of
which it is fashioned is nothing but
tow which you pull apart without any
exertion OF your fingers. This is spun
into threads, any of which you could
easily snap, but great many OF these
threads are interwound-then you have
rope strong enough to bind an OK,
or mold ship in tempest. l speak
TO you of the sin of gambling. A cart
rope in strength is that sin, and yet l
wish more especially to draw your at
tention to the small threads of influ-
ence out of which that mighty iniquity
is twisted. This crime is on the advance,
| so that 1T is we'll not only that fathers,
In such discussion, but that wives.
| and mothers, and sisters. and daughters
| look out lest their present home be
sacrificed, or their intended home be
blasted. No man, no woman, can stand
aloof from such subject as this and
| say: 1T has no practical bearing upon
my life;" for there may be in a short
ictn
which you will find that the discussion
involved three worlds-earth, heaven,
hell. There are gambling establish
ments by the thousands. There are
about five thousand five hundred pro-
fessional gamblers Out of all the gam
bling establishments, how many CT
them do you suppose profess to be hon
est! Ten. These ten protesting to be
honest because they are merely the
ante-chamber to those that are ac-
knowledged fraudulent. There are first
class establishments. You step little
way out Of Broadway. New York. You
| go up the marble stairs. You ring the
hell. The liveried servant introduces
| you. The walls are lavender tinted.
|
The pictures are "Jephthahs Daugh-
ter" and Dore's ''Dante's and Virgirs
! Frozen Region of HE'LL" most APP
| propriate selection, this last, for the
! place. There is the roulette table, the
| finest, costliest, most exquisite piece of
| furniture in the United States. There
! is the banqueting room where, free of
n hn m nd ho
| plate, and viands, and wines, and ci-
gars, sumptuous beyond parallel. Then
you come to the second-class gambling
establishment. To it you are intro
duced by card through some roper
! in" Having entered, You must either
! gamble or fight. Sanded cards, dice
loaded with quicksilver, poor drinks
mixed with more poor drinks, will
soon help you to get rid of all your
money to tune in short metre with
staccato passages. You wanted to see.
You saw. The low villains of that place
watch you as you come in. Does not
the panther, squat in the grass, know
calf when he sees it? Wrangle not for
| your rights in that place, or your body
will be thrown bloody into the street,
or dead into the river.
You go along little further and find
the policy establishment. In that place
you bet on numbers. Betting on two
numbers is called saddle" betting
on three numbers is called gig" bet
ting on four numbers is called a
"horse;" and there are thousands of
our young men leaping into that sad
| die" and mounting that gig" and be-
hind that horse" riding to perdition.
There is always one kind Of sign on the
door-"Exchange;" most appropriate
title for the door, for there. in that
room, a man exchanges health, peace,
and heaven for loss of health, loss Of
home, loss of family, loss of immortal
soul. Exchange sure enough and in
finite enough.
Now you acknowledge that is a cart
rope of evil, but you want to know
what are the small threads out of which
1t is made. There is, in many, dispo-
sition to hazard. They feel delight in
walking near precipice because OF
the sense of danger. There are people
who go upon Jungfrau, not for the
largeness of the prospect, but for the
feeling that they have Of thinking
What would happen if should fall
OFF," There are persons who have their
blood filliped and accelerated by skat-
ing very near an air hole. There are
men who find positive delight in drlv-
ing within two inches of the edge of
bridge. 1t is this disposition to hazard
that finds development in gaming prac-
tices. Here are five hundred dollars.
/ may stake them. IL l stake them |
may lose them; but | may win five
thousand dollars. Whichever way 1t
turns / have the excitement. Shuttle
the cards. Lost! Heart thumps. Head
dizzy. At il again-just to crafty this
desire for hazard
Then there are others who go into
this sin through sheer desire for gain.
1t Is especially so with professional
gamblers. They always keep cool. They
never drink enough to unbalance Eheir
Judgment. They do not see the dice so
much as they see the dollar beyond the
dice, and for that they watch, as the
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