Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1898-01-24

find IN some Of the liquor signs in all
our cities the words "Old Crow
migntily suggestive of the carcass and
the filthy raven that swoops upon it.
cold Crowl' Men and women without
numbers slain Of rum, but unburied,
and this evil is pecking at their glazed
eyes, and pecking at their bloated
cheek, and pecking at their destroyed
manhood and womanhood, thrusting
beak and claw into the mortal remains
of what was once gloriously alive, but
now morally dead. ''Old Crow!' But,
alas, how many take no warning! They
make me think of Caesar on his way to
assassination, fearing nothing, though
his statue in the hall crashed into frag-
ments at his feet, and scroll contain
ing the names of the conspirators was
thrust into his hands, yet walking right
on to meet the dagger that was to take
his life. This infatuation of strong
drink is so mighty in many man that,
though his fortunes are crashing, and
his health is crashing, and his domestic
interests are crashing, and we hand him
a long scroll containing the names Of
perils that await him, he goes straight
on to physical and mental and moral
assassination. In proportion as any style
of alcoholism is pleasant to your taste
and stimulating to your nerves, and for
a time delightful to all your physical
and mental constitution, is the peril
awful. Remember Jonathan and the
forbidden honey in the woods at Beth
aven.
Furthermore, the gamesters indul-
L l. -
tions delicious, but destructive. You
who have crossed the ocean many times
have noticed that always one of the best
rooms has from morning until late at
night been given up to gambling prac
tees. I heard of men who went on
board with enough for a European ex-
cursion who landed without money to
get their baggage up to the hotel or
railroad station. To many there is
complete fascination in games of hazard
or the risking Of money on possibilities.
It seems as natural for them to bet as
to eat. Indeed, the hunger for food is
often overpOwered by the hunger for
wagers It is absurd for those of us who
have never felt the fascination of the
wager to speak slightingly of the temp
tation. It has slain multitude of intel
lectual and moral giants, men and wo-
men stronger than you or I. Down I'M
der it's power went glorious Oliver
Goldsmith and Gibbon, the famous his
torian, and Charles Fox, the renowned
statesman, and in olden times senators
of the United States, who used to be as
regularly at the gambling house all
night as they were in the halls of legis-
lation by day. Oh, the tragedies of the
faro table! I know persons who began
with slight stake in ladies' parlor
and ended with the suicides pistol at
Monte Carlo. They played with the
square pieces Of bone with black marks
on them, not knowing that satan was
playing for their bones at the same
time and was sure to sweep all the
stakes off on his side of the table. State
legislatures have again and again sane
toned the mighty evil by passing laws
in defense of race tracks, and many
young men have lost all their wages at
such SO called meetings. Every man
who voted for such infamous bills has
on his hands and forehead the blood of
these souls
Eternal Catastrophe.
But in this connection some young
converts say to me: SIS it right to play
cards? Is there any harm in game Of
whist or euchre?' Well, know good
men who play whist and euchre and
other styles Of games without any
wagers. I had a friend who played
cards with his wife and children, and
then at the close said, "Come, now, let
us have prayers. - will not judge 9TH
er mems consciences. but I tell you that
cards are in my mind SO associated with
the temporal and spiritual ruin of splen-
did young men that L would as soon
say to my family, "Come, let US have
menagerie and say, "Come let us have
a game of rattlesnakes'' or into GENE
terry and, sitting down by marble
slab, say to the gravediggers, "Come,
let us have game at skulls Conscien-
tious young ladies are silently saying,
"Do you think card playing will do us
any harm?' Perhaps not, but how will
you feel if in the great day of eternity,
when we are asked to give an account
of our influence, some man should say,
81 was introduced to games of chance
in the year 1898, at your house, and 1
went on from that sport to something
more exciting and went on down until
I lost my business and lost my morals
and lost my soul, and these chains that
you see on my wrists and feet are the
chains Of gamester' S doom, and am
on my way to gamblers hell Hon
ey at the start, eternal catastrophe at
the last.
Stock gambling comes into the same
catalogue. It must be very celebrating
to go into the stock market and, depos-
iting small sum of money, run the
chance of taking out a fortune. Many