The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1898-04-08

munion Get. 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 spiritual decrepitude!
The devil Y Il helped to build that
house Of worship, and | have as much
right there as you have" and for C
the devil is right. We do not read that
they had a lottery for building the
church at Corinth, or at Antioch, or
for getting up an embroidered surpiice
for st. Paul. All this | style ecclesiasti-
cal gambling. More than one man VINO
is destroyed can say that his first step
on the wrong road was when he won
something at a church fair.
The gambling spirit has not stopped
for any indecency. There transpifed In
Maryland a lottery in which people
drew for lots in a burying-ground! The
modern habit of betting about every
thing is productive of immense mis-
chief. The most healthful and n
cent amusements of yachting and base
ball playing have been the occasion OF
putting up excited and ~eXtraVagant
wagers. That which to many has beer
advantageous TO body and mind, has
been to others the means OF financial
and moral loss. The custom is peTnl-
cious in the extreme, where scores OF
men in respectable life give themselves
up to betting, now on this boat, now
on that; now on this ball club, now on
that. Betting that once was chiefly the
accompaniment of the racecOurse, is
fast becoming a national habit, and IN
some circles any opinion advanced on
finance or politics is accOsted with the
interrogation: How much will you bet
on that, sir?"
This custom may make no appeal to
slow, ~lethargic temperaments, but there
are in the country tens OF thousands OF
quick, nervous, sanguine, excitable
temperaments, ready to be acted upon,
and their feet will oon take hold on
death. For some months, and perhaps
" Cl ., jiCy Will llhoSi IL IN HAOAO
polite and elegant circle OF gamesters,
but, after awhile their pathway will
come to the fatal plunge.
Take warning. You are no stronger
than tens of thousands who have by
this practice been overthrow. No
young man in our cities can escape be-
ing tempted. Beware of the first begin
nings! This road is a down grade, and
every instant increases the momentum.
Launch not upon this t~reacherous sea.
Splint hulks streW the beach. Ever
lasting storms howl up and down, toss
ing unwary craft into the Hell-gate. L
speak of what | have seen with my own
eyes. To a gamblers deathbed there
comes no hope. He will probably die
alone. His former associates come not
nigh his dwelling. When the hour
comes, his miserable soul will go out
nifty. AS his poor remains pass the
house where he was ruined. old COM
panions may look out for a moment and
say There gees the old carcase-dead
at last" but they will not get up from
the table. Let him down now into his
grave. Plant no tree to cast it's shade
there, for the long, deep, eternal gloom
that settles there is shadow enough.
Plant no "forget-me-nots" Or eglan-
tines around the spot, for flowers were
not made to grow Oh such a blasted
heath. Visit it not in the sunshine,
for that would be mockery, but in the
dismal night, when no stars are out,
and the spirit of darkness comes down,
horsed on the wind, then visit the
grave of the gambler.