Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1898-04-09
ACCOMAC G. e. VA SATURDAY APRIL 9, 1885,

fold. Home has lost all charms for the
gambler How tame are the children 8
caresses and wifes devotion to the
gambler How drearily the fire burns
OH the domestic hearth There must be
louder laughter and something to win
and something to lose, an excitement to
drive the heart faster, FLIP the blood
and fire the imagination. No home
however bright, can keep back the
gamester. The sweet call of love bounds
back from his iron soul, and all endear-
ments are consumed in the fire of his
passion. The family Bible will go after
all other treasures are lost, and if his
crown in heaven were put into his hand
he would cry: Here goes One more
game, my boys. On this one throw l
stake my crown of heaven"
A young man in London. on coming
of age, received a fortune of $3.50, 000,
and through gambling in three years
was thrown on his mother for support
An only son went to New Orleans. He
was rich, intellectual and elegant in
manners His parents gave him, on his
departure from home, their last bless
ing. The sharpers got hold of him.
They f1attered him. They lured him to
the gaming table and let him win al
most every time for good while, and
patted him Oh the back and said, "First
rate player" But fully in their grasp,
they fleeced him, and his $50, 600 were
lost. Last of all, he put up his watch
and lost that. Then he began to think
of his home and of his old father and
mother and wrote thus:
my beloved parents, you will doubt
less feel momentary joy at the recep-
ton of this letter from the child of
your bosom, on whom you have lavish
ed all the favors of your declining years.
But should feeling Of joy for mo-
ment spring up in your hearts, when
you should have received this from me-
cherish it not. Ihavo fallen deep. never
to rise. Those gray hairs, that should
have honored and protected, l shall
bring down in sorrow to the grave. I
will not curse my destroyer, but, Oh,
may God avenge the wrongs and impo-
sltions practiced upon the unwary in a
way that shall best please him This,
my dear parents, is the last letter you
will ever receive from me. I humbly
pray your forgiveness. 1t is my dying
prayer. Long before you will have re-
ceived this from me the cold grave will
have closed upon me forever. Life to
mo is insupportable. l cannot, nay, I
will not, suffer the shame of having
ruined you. Forget and forgive is the
dying prayer of your unfortunate son. Z"
The old father came to the postoffice,
got the letter and fell to the floor. They
thought he was dead at first, but they
brushed back the white hair from his
brow and famed him. He had only
tainted. "Aceldama, the field of bloodl''
When things go wrong at a gaming
table, they shout, Foul, foull' Over
all the gaming tables of the world cry
out: "Foul, foul! Infinitely FOUL"
Gift Enterprises.
"Gift stores arc abundant through
out the country. With a book or knife
or sewing machine or coat or carriage,
there goes a prize. At these stores peo-
pie get something thrown in with their
purchase. 1t may be gold watch, or a
set of silver, ring or farm. Sharp
way to get off unstable goods. 1t has
filled the land with fictitious articles
and covered up our population with
brass finger rings, and despoiled the
moral sense of the community, and is
fast making us nation of gamblers.
The church of God has not seemed
willing to allow the world to have all
the advantage of these games of chance.
A church bazaar opens, and toward the
close it is found that some of the more
valuable articles are unstable Forth
with, the conductors of the enterprise
conclude that they will rattle for some
of the valuable articles, and, under pre-
tense of anxiety to make their minister
a present or please some popular men,
Der of the church, fascinating persons
are dispatched through the room, pencil
in hand, to "solicit shares, or perhaps
each draws for his own advantage and
scores of people go home with their
trophies, thinking that it is all right,
for Christian ladies did the embroidery
and Christian men did the rafting, aud
the proceeds went toward new COM
munion set. But you may depend on it,
that as far as morality is concerned, you
might as we'll have won by the crack OF
the billiard ball or the turn of the dice
box. Do you wonder that churches built,
lighted Or upholstered by such processes
as that come to great financial and spir-
itual decrepitude? The devil says, 81
helped to build that house of worship
and 1 have as much right there as you
have," aud for once the devil is right.
We do not read that they had lottery
for building the church at Corinth, or
at Antioch, or for getting up an en-
broidered surplice for st. Paul. All this
I style ecclesiastical gambling. More
than one man who is destroyed can say
that his first step on the wrong road
was when be won something at q CHI ID
fair.
The gambling spirit has not stopl ID
for any indecency. There transpired in
Maryland lottery in which people
drew for lots in a burying ground. The
modern hant of betting about every
thing is productive Of immense mis-
chief. The most healthful end innocent
amusements of yachting and baseball
playing have been the occasion of put
ting up excited and extravaganza wagers.
That which to- many has been advan-
tageous 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 men in respect.
able life give themselves up to betting,
now on this boat, now on that; now
en- this ball club, now on that. Betting
that once was chiefly the accompani-