The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-04-16

on the doorstep OF the house tnat they
once owned.
In gaming-house in San Francisco,
a young man having just come from
the mines, deposited large sum upon
the ace and won SCI, 900. But the tide
turns. Intense anxiety comes upon
the countenances of all. Slowly the
cards went forth. Every eye is fixed.
Not sound is heard until the ace 10
revealed favorable to the bank. There
are shouts of Foul Foul!' but the
keepers at the tables produced their
pistols, and the uproar is silenced, and
the bank has won S05, 1000. Do you call
this a game of chance? There 10 no
chance about IL.
When things go wrong at gaming
table they shout. Foul, FOUL" Over
all the gaming !. bles of the world
cry out: Foul, foul Infinitely TO ul'
Gift stores" are abundant through
out the country. With n book, or
knife, or sewing machine, or coat, or
carriage, there goes prize. At these
stores people get something thrown in
with their purchase. 1t may be gold
watch or a set of silver, ring or n
farm. Sharp way to get off unstable
goods. 1t has filed 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 Ls a
nation of gamblers.
The gambling spirit has not stopped
for any indecency. There transpired
it.M a nd Lot IN, tnl, la.
drew for lots in burying ground! The
modern habit.of betting about every
thing is productive of immense mis-
chief. The most healthful and inno-
cent amusement of yachting and base
ball playing have been the occasion
of putting up excited and extrav-
agant wagers. That which to many
has been advantageous to body IND
mind has been to others the
means of financial and moral loss. The
custom is pernicious in the extreme,
where scores of men in respccta-
Bile life give themselves up to bet
ting now on this boat, now on
that; now on this ball club, now on
that betting, that once was chiefly
the accompaniment of the race-course,
is fast becoming u 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 temperatures, but there
are in the country tens of thousands of
quick, nervous, sanguine, eXcitable
fa,t 20 I,, t,, h, ~
and their feet will soon take hold on
death. For some months, and perhaps
for years, they will linger in the more
polite and elegant circle of gamesters,
but after awhile their pathway will
come to the fatal plunge.
Shall l sketch the history of the
gambler? Lurcd by bad company, he
finds his way into place where honest
men ought never to go. He sits down
to his first game, but only for pastime,
and the desire of being thought socia-
BILE. The players deal out the cards.
They unconsciously play into Satan's
hands, who takes all the tricks and
both the players souls for trumps-
he being sharper at the game.
| A slight stake is put up, just
to add interest to the play. Game
! after game is played. Larger stakes
, and still larger They begin to move
nervously on their chairs. Their brows
lower, and eyes flash, until now they
who win and they who lose, fred alike
with passion, sit with set jaws, and
compressed lips, and clinched fists, and
eyes like freballs that seem starting
from their sockets, to see the final turn
before it comes; if losing, pale with
envy and tremulous with unuttered
oaths east back red-hot upon the heart
or winning-with hystcric laugh
Ella, ha! | have it,"
A few years have passed, and he is
only the wreck of u man. Seating him.
self at the game, ere he throws the
first card, he stakes the last relic OF
his wife-the marriage ring which
sealed the solemn vows between
them. The game is lost, and
staggering back in exhaustion he
dreams. The bright hours of the
past mock his agony, and in his
dreams, fiends with eyes of fire
and tongues of flame circle about him
with joined hands, to dance and sing
their orgies with hellish Choir rs, chant
ing: ''IIail brother" kissing his clam.
my forehead until their loathsome
locks, flowing with serpents, crawl in.
/ to his bosom, and sink their sharp
fangs and suck up his lifes blood, and
coiling around his heart, pinch it with
chills and shudders unutterable.
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 be.
ginnings! This road is down grade,
and every instant increases the momen-
tum. Launch not upon this treacher-
GUS sea. Splint hulks strew the beach.
Everlasting storms howl up and
down, tossing unwary craft into the
Lellgate. speak of what have seen
with my own eyes. To gamblers
death-bed there comes no hope. He
will probably die alone. His former
associates come not nigh his dwelling.
When his hour comes his miserable soul
will go out of miserable life into
4 a miserable eternity. AS his poor re-
mains pass the house where he was
ruined, old companions may look out
for moment and say: There goes