Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-04-14

| decide the game. The dice have beer
| found loaded with platina, so tina,
doublets come up every time. These
dice are introduced by the gambler,
unobserved by the honest men who
have come into the play, and this &C.
counts for the fact that 80 out of IOC
who gamble. however wealthy when
they began, at the end are found to be
poor, miserable, haggard wretches,
that would not now be allowed to sit
on the doorstep of the house that they
once owned.
In Il gaming-house in San Francisco
a young man having just come from
the mines, deposited a large sum upon
the ace and won $22 900. 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 il
revealed favorable to the bank. There
are shouts of Foul! Foull' but the
keepers at the tables produced their
pistols, and the uproar is silenced, and
the bank has won $95. 900 Do you call
this game of chance? There is nc
chance about it.
When things go wrong at gaming
table they shout: Foul, foul" Over
all the gaming tables Of the world
cry out: Foul, foul! Infinitely 70 ul!'
Gift stores" are abundant through
out the country. With book, OF
knife, or sewing machine, or coat, Oh
carriage, there goes prize. At these
stores people get something thrown in
with their purchase. 1t may be a gold
watch or set of silver, ring or Il
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 dcspoiled the moral sense of the
community, and is fast making MS q
nation Of gamblers.
The gambling spirit has not stopped
for any indecency. There transpired
in Maryland u lottery in which people
drew for lots in u burying ground! The
modern habit of betting about every
thing is productive of immense mis-
chief. The most healthful and limo
cent amusement of yachting and base
ball playing have been the occasion
Of putting up excited and extrav.
has been advantageous 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 respecta.
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 national habit, and
in some circles any opinion advanced
ON finance or politics is accosted with
the ntcrrogation: GLOW much will
You bet on that, sir?"
| This custom may make no appeal to
slow, lcthargic temperatures, but there
are in the country tens of thousands of
quick nervous, sunguine, eXcitabIc
Compartments, ready to be acted upon,
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 gamestcrs
but after awhile their pathway will
come to the fatal plunge.
Shall | sketch the history of the
gambler? Iured by bad company, he
finds his way into n place where honest
men ought never to go. He sits down
TO his first game, but only for pastine,
and the desire of being thought socia-
bic. The players deal ont the cards.
They unconsriously play into Satan's
hands, who takes all the tricks and
both the players souls for trumpS-
he being IL 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
ncrvously 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, anc
compressed lips, and clinched fists, and
eyes like iircballs that seem starting
from their sockets, to see the final turn
before it comes: if losing, pale with
envy and tremulous with unuttcret
oaths east back rcd-hot upon the heart
-ol winning with hySteric laugh
lila, ha! have it,"
A few years have passed, and he is
only the wreck of IL man. Seating him
self at the game, ere he throws the
first card, he stakes the last relic o.
his wife --thr, marriage 'ring. which
sealed the solemn vows between
them. The gam, is lost and
staggering back in exhaustion he
dreams. The bright hours of the
| past mock his agony, and in his
dreams, icndS with eyes of tire
aud tongues of tlume circle about him
with Joined hands, to dance and sinl
their orgies with hcllish chor rs, chant
ing; Hail brother!' kissing his clam
my forehead until their loathSom,
locks, flowing with serpents, crawl in
tn his bosom, and sink their sharp
famgs and suck up his life's blood, ant
coiling around his heart, pinch it Will
chills and shudders unutterable.
Take warning! You are no stronger
than tens of thousands who have b,
this practice been overthrown. n,
Young man in our cities can escape be