The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1898-04-07

Wiling TO allow the world to have all
ne advantage OF these games OF
hance. A church baxar opens, and
Il the more valuable articles are unsal-
able. Forthwith the conductors Of the
enterprise conclude that they will raf-
ie for some os the valuable articles,
and under the pretense Of anxiety to
make their minister present or please
some popular member of the church
fascinating persons are dispatched
through the room, pencil I'm hand, TO
solicit shares" or perhaps each draws
for his own advantage, and scores OF
people go home with their trophies,
thinking that 1t IL all right, for Chris
tian ladies did the embroidery and
Christian men did the raffling. and the
proceeds went toward a new commun-
ion set. But you may depend on 1t
that as far as morality isconcernedyou
might as well have won 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 finan-
cial and spiritual decrepitude? The
devil says. Il helped to build that
house of worship, and l have as much
right there as you have" and for once
the devil 10 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 surplice for
st. Paul. All this l style ecclesiastical
gambling. More than one man who 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 transpired
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 inno-
cent amusements Of yachting and base
ball playing have been the occasion
of putting up excited and extravagant
wagers. That which to many has been
advantageous to body and mind has
been to others the means of financial
and moral loss. The custom is pernic-
ious 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 race course
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 thou
sands Of quick nervous, sanguine, ex-
citable temperaments ready to be act
ed upon, and their feet viii soon take
hold on death. For some months and
perhaps for years they will lnger in
the more polite and elegant circle of
gamesters, but after awhile their path
way will come to the fatal plunge.
Shall Isketch the history OF the gam
bier? Lured by bad company, he finds
his way into a 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 sociable.
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 any 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 be-
gin 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 fireballs that seem
s,p' ing from their sockets, to see the
i.,. turn before it comes. II losing,
D,le with envy and tremulous with un-
4 ,gred oaths cast back redhot upon
The heart, or winning, with hysteric
I laugh-"Iia. ha! / have IT."
\ few years have passed, and he 10
only the wreck of a man. Seating him
self at the game ere he throws the first
gaI :, he stakes the last relic of his
N.la-the marriage ring which sealed
the solemn vows between them. The
g,s1r is lost, and, staggering back in
aN.Justion he dreams. The bright
luLrs Of the past mock his agony, and
IN his dreams fiends with eyes of fire
trl tongues of flame circle about him
wth Joined hands, to dance and sing
/ II, r orgies with hellish chorus, chant
/ rg Hail brother!" kissing his clam
|w" forehead, until their loathsome
| ir Ks, flowing with serpents, crawl into
/ l.5 bosom and sink their sharp fangs
/ ,ai suck up his life blood and, coiling
! around his heart, pinch Il with chills
ana shudders unutterable
Take warning! You are no stronger
lhal tens of thousands who have by
/ this practice been overthrown. No
T yuulg man in our cities can escape be-
ms tempted. Beware of the first be-
! g.nrings This road is a down grade
! ami every instant increases the mo-
mcElum. Launch not upon this treach-
. ..,!.s g4a Snlint hnllxs Strpy tho bpaph