The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-04-14
.TALMAG Els SERMON.
THE FIELD OF BLOOD LAST
SUNDAYS SUBJECT.
From the Text. Acts L. Verse 10, as
Follows: "Aceldama, That Is to Say,
the Field of Blood"-Downward Path
of the Gamester Pointed Out.


a graveyard. AS the. money was blood
money, the ground bought by it was
called in the syriac tongue, "Acelda-
ma" meaning .the field of blood"
Well, there is one word I want to write
today over every race-course where
wagers are staked, and every poolroom,
and every gambling saloon, and every
table, public or private, where men and
women bet for sums of money, large or
small, and that is word incarnadined
with the life of innumerable victims
"Aceldama." %,-..-
The gambling spirit, which is at all
times stupendous evil, ever and anon
sweeps over the country like an cpl
demic, prostrating uncounted thou
sands. There has never been a worse
attack than that from which all the
villages, towns and cities are now suf-
fering. -.-.r }> -
While among my hearers and readers
are those who have passed on into the
afternoon of life, and the shadows are
frightening, and the sky crimsons with
the glow of the setting sun, a large
number of them are in early life land
the morning is coming down out of
the clear sky upon them, and the
bright air is redolent with spring bios
SONS, and the stream of life, gleam-
ing and glancing, rushes on between
flowery banks, making music as it
goes. Some of you are engaged in mer-
camille concerns, as clerks and book
keepers, and your whole life is to be
passed in the exciting world of traffic.
The sound of busy life stirs you as the
drum stirs the fiery war horse. Others
are in the mechanical arts, to hammer
and chisel your way through life, and
success awaits you. Some are prepar-
ing for professional life, and grand op-
portunities are before you; nay, some
of you already have buckled on the
armor. But, whatever your age and
calling, the subject of gambling about
which I speak today is pertinent.
Some years ago, when an association
for the suppression of gambling was
organized, an agent of the association
came to prominent citizen and asked
him to patroniZe the society. He said:
"No, can have no interest in such an
organization. am in no wise affected
by the evil" At that very time his
son, who was his partner in business,
was one of the heaviest players in a
famous gambling establishment. An
other refused his patronage on the
same ground, not knowing that his first
bookkeeper, though receiving a salary
of only $4,000, was losing from $50 to
470n 10Th ~ a
railroad company refused to patronize
the institution, saying: THAT society
is good for the defense of merchants,
but we railroad people are not injured
by this evil" not knowing that, at
that very time, two of his conductors
were spending three nights of each
week at faro tables in New York. Di-
rectly or indirectly this evil strikes at
the whole world.
Gambling is the risking of some
thing more or less valuable in the hope
of winning more than you hazard. The
instruments of gaming may differ, but
the principle is the same. The shutting
and dealing cards, however full of
temptation, is not gambling unless
stakes are put up; while, on the other
hand, gambling may be carried on
without cards, or dice, or billiards, or
a ten-pin alley. The man who bets
on horses, or elections, on battles, the
man who deals in fancy" stocks, or
conducts business which. hazards ex-
ira capital, or goes into transactions
without foundation but dependent upon
what men call ''luck'' is gambler.
Whatever you expect to get from
your neighbor without offering an
equivalent in money, or time, or skill,
is either the product of theft or gaming.
Lottery tickets and lottery policies
come into the same category. Bazaars
for the founding of hospitals, schools
and churches, conducted on the rafting
system, come under the same demon
ination. Do not, therefore, associate
gambling necessarily with any instru-
ment, or game, or time, or place, or
think the principle depends upon
whether you play for glass of wine
or one hundred shares of railroad
stock. Whether you patronize "auc-
ton pools,'' French mutuals." or
'book-making," whether you employ
~ DAAAAaA Ao, 5AOAOO duu Keno,
cards Or bagatelle, the very idea of
the thing is dishonest; for it processes
to bestow upon you a good for which
you give no equivalent.
This crime is no newborn sprite. but
a haggard transgression that comes
staggering down under mantle of
curses through many centuries. All
nations, barbarous and civilized. have
been addicted to it.
But now the laws of the whole civil
lied world denounce the system. En-
actments have been passed, but only
partially enforced, and at times not en-
forced at all. The men interested in
gaming houses, and in jockey clubs,
WELD such influence by their numbers
and aft1uence, that the Judge, the jury
and the police officer must be bold in
deed who would array themselves
against these infamous establishments.
The house of commons of England ac-
tually adjourns on Derby day that
members may attend the races; and in
the best circles of society in this coun-
try today are many hundreds of pro-
fessedly respectable men who are ac-
knowledged gamblers.