St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-05-07

appetite and hurls It back in . terrifi,
reaction is deplorable and wicked
Look out for the agitation that, like ,
rough musician. in bringing out tn,
tune plays so hard he breaks down tn,
instrument! God never made q mar
strong enough to endure the wear an.
tear of gambling excitements.
A young man having suddenly in
herited large property, sits ut tn,
hazard tables. and takes up in die,
box the estate won by a fathers lie
time sweat, and shakes it and losses !,
away. Intemperancc soon stigmatize.
its victim, kicking him out, slavcrins
fool, into the ditch, or sending him
with the drunkard's hiccough. s.agger
ing up the street where his family
lives. But gambling does not in that
way expose it's victims. The gambler
may be eaten up by the gamblers pas
sion, yet you only discover it by the
greed in his eyes, the hardness of his
features, the threadbare coat, and his
embarrassed business. Yet he is or
the road to ruin, and no preacher.
voice, or startling warning, or wife
entreaty. can make him stay for mo-
ment his headlong career.
The internal spell is on him; a giant
isaroused within; and though you bind
him with cables, they would part like
thread, and though you fasten him
seven times around with chains, they
would snap like rusted wire; and
though you piled up in his path
Heaven-high Bibles, tracts and SER
mons, 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.
"Aceldama, the field of blood!'
Again, this sin works ruin by killing
industry. A man used to reaping scores
or hundreds of dollars from the gam
ing table will not be content with slow
work. He will say: what is the use
of trying to make these $50 in my store
when l can make five times that in
half an hour by the dice?" You never
knew confirmed gambler who was in
dustrious. The men given to this vice
spend their time not actively employed
in the game in idleness or intoxication,
or in sleep, or in corrupting new VIC
Tins. This sin he's dulled the car
pcrter's saw and cut the band of the
factory wheel, sunk the cargo, broken
the teeth of the farmers harrow, and
sent strange lightning to shatter the
battery Of the philosopher. The very
first idea of gaming is at war with all
the industries of society.
Any trade or occupation that is of
use is ennobling. The street sweeper
advances the interests of society by the
cleanliness effected. The eat pays for
the fragments it eats by clearing 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 sem
tence. He does make return, but it
is . disgrace to the man he fleeces. de-
spair to his heart, ruin to his business,
anguish to his wife, shame to his chill
dren and eternal wasting away to his
soul. He pays in tears and blood and
agony and darkness and woe.
What dull work is blowing to the
farmer when in the village saloon in
one night he makes and loses the value
of summer harvest! Who will want
to sell tapes and measure nankeen and
cut garments and weigh sugar, when
in nights game makes and loses and
loses and makes again and loses again
the profits of a season?
John Borac!1 was sent as a mercan-
tile agent from Bremen to England and
this country. After two years his en-
ployers mistrusted that all was not
right. He was dcfaultel for Ss7 100.
1t was found that he had lost in Lom-
bard street, London, $4,000; in Fulton
street, New York, $4,000, and in New
Orleans, 5000. He was imprisoned,
but afterwards escaped and went into
the gambling profession. He died in q
lunatic asylum This crime is getting
its lever under many a mercantile
house in our cities, and before long
down will come the great establish
nent, crushing reputation, home COM
Tort and immortal souls. How it di- |
verts and sinks capital may be inferred
from some authentic statement before
Us. The ten gaming houses that once
were authorized in Paris passed |
through the banks yearly 3e5, OOO, 600 |
francs.
Furthermore, this sin is the source |
If dishonesty. The game of hazard |
itself is often a cheat. How many
sricks and receptions in the dealing of |
The cards! The opponents hand is
,ften found out by fraud Cards are
marked SO that they may be designated
rom the back. Expert gamblers have
heir accomplices, and one wink may
lecide the game. The dice have been
ound loaded with platina, so that
ioublets come up every time. These
lice are introduced by the gamblers
by the honest men who
lave come into the play, and this ac-
counts for the fact that 90 out of 100
Who gamble, however wealthy when
hey began, at the end IRE found to be
'oor, miserable, haggard wretches,
hat would not now be allowed to sit
N the doorstep of the house that they
nee owned.
In a clearinghouse in San Francisco,
young man having just come from
he mines, deposited large sum upon
he ace and won S22 coo. But the tide
urns- Intense anxiety comes upon
he countenances of all. Slowly the
ards went forth. Every eye is fixed.
lot sound is heard until the ace is
cvealed favorable to the bank. There
re shouts of Foul! Foulv' but the
eepers at the tables produced their
istols, and the uproar is silenced, and
he bank has won sos. 900. Do you call
his q game of chance? There is no
nance about it.
Notice also the effect Of this crime
pom domestic happiness. It has sent
S ruthless plowshire through hum
reds of families, until the wife sat in
ags, and the daughters were dis
raced, and the sons grew up to the
anne infamous practices, or took a
hort cut to destruction across the muir
erer's scaffold. Home has lost all q,
harms for the gambler. How tame
re the chlldren's caresses and a wife's ,
pvOtiOn IN tho I'm ~ lorf Hoxv l-oo- |