The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-04-05

| tago, and scores Of people go homo wlth
| their trophies, thinking that IT Is all right
for Christian ladies did the embroidery
and Christian men did the railing, and
the proceeds went toward new oommuMs
ion set. But you may depend on 1t that al
far as morality Is concerned you might a
well have won by the crack OF the billiard
ball or the turn Of the dice box Do you
wonder that churches built, lighted OF
upholsted by such processes as that coms
to great financial and spiritual decrepls
tuds9 The devil says, ~ helped to build
that house Of worship, and have as much
right there as you have" and for once the
devil Is right. We do not read that they
had lottery for building the church al
Corinth or ut Antioch or for getting up an
embroidered surplioe for st. Paul. All
this style ecclesiastical gambling. Mora
than one man who is destroyed can say
that his first stop on tho wrong road was
when he won something at church fair.
Pernicious Custom.
The gambling spirit has not stopped for
any indecency. There transpired in Mary.
land a lottery In which people drew for
lots In burying ground. The modern
habit of betting about everything Ia proc
ductive Of immense mischief. The most
healthful and innocent amusements Of
yachting and baseball playing have been
the occasion Of putting up excited and ex-
travagant wagers That which to many
has been advantageous to body and mind
has been to others the means of financial
and moral loss. The custom Is pernicious
In the extreme where scores of mon In res
spectacle life give themselves up to bet,-
ting, now on this boat, now on that; now
OIL this ball club, now on that. Betting
that once was chiefly the accompaniment
Of the race course Is fast becoming ma
tional habit, and in some circles any Opin-
ion advanced on finance or politics Is 40.
costed with the Interrogation, "How much
will you bet on that, sirf"
This custom may make no appeal to
slow, lethargic tenperaments, but there
are In the country tens Of thousands Of
quick, nervous, sanguine exoitsble tom+
peraments, ready to be acted upon, and
their feet will soon take hold on death.
For come months and perhaps for years
they will linger In the more polite and ele-
giant circle Of gamesters, but after awhile
their pathway will come to the fatal
plunge.
Shall sketch the history of the gam
blerP Lured by bad company, he finds his
way into place where honest men ought
never to 60. He sits down to bis first
game but only for pastime and the desire
of being thought soclable. The players
deal out the cards. They unoonsoiously
play into satan's hands, who takes all tho
tricks and both the players' souls for
trumps, be being sharper at any game.
A slight stake is put up, just to add inter-
est to tho play. Game after game is played.
Larger stakes and still larger. They begin
to move nervously on their chairs. Their
brows lower and eyes flash, until now they
who win and they who lose, fired alike
with passion, sit with set jaws, and COM
pressed lips, and clinched fists, and eyes
like fireballs that seem starting from their
sockets, to sec tho final turn before 10
comes If losing, pale with envy and
tremulous with unuttered oaths cast back
redhot upon the heart, or winning, with
hysterio laugh-"Ha, ha! Ihave tip
Lost Game and Soul.
A few years have passed, and he is only
tho wreck Of man. Seating himself at
the game ere he throws the first card, he
stakes the last relic of his wife-the mar
riago ring which sealed the solemn VOWS
between them The game Is lost, md,
staggering back in exhaustion, he dreams.
The bright hours Of the past mock his
agony, and in his dreams fiends with eyes
of fire and tongues of flame circle about
him with Joined hands, to dance and sing
their orgies with hellish chorus, chanting
"Hail brother!" kissing his clammy fore
head until their loathsome looks, flowing
with serponts, crawl into bis bosom and
sink their sharp fangs and suck up bis
lfeblood and, coiling around his heart,
pinch 1t with ohills and shudtlers unutter-g
able. T
Take wnrning You arc no stronger
than tens Of thousands who have by this
practice been overthrown. No young man Z
In our cities can escape being tempted.
Beware of the first beginnings! This road Ia
q down grade, and every instant increases
the momentum. Launch not upon this
treacherous sea. Splnt hulks strew the
beach. Everlasting storms howl up and
down, tossing unwary craft into the He'll
Cato l speak of what have seen with
my own eyes. To gamblers denthbed
there comes no hope. He will probably die
alone His former associates como not +,
nigh his dwelling. Whom the hour comes, !
his miserable soul will go out of miser-
able lifo Into miserable eternity. AS his
poor romans pass the house where no was
ruined old companions may look out for q
moment and say 'Thero goes tho old carl
oass-doad ut last" but they will not get
up from the table. Let him down into his
grave. Plant no tree to cast Its shade
there for the long, deep eternal gloom
that settles there Is shadow enough. Plant
no forgctmenots or eglantines around the
spot, for flowers wora not made 10 grow
on such a blasted heath. Visit it not IN
tho sunshine, for that would be mockcry,
but in tho dismal night, when no stars
were out and the spirit Of darkness conie
down, horsed on the wind, then visit tn
grave of the gambler. TX