The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1898-04-14

or those cities every third or fourth
mousse in many of the streets is a gam
ing place, and it may be truthfully
ayerred that each Of our cities is cursed
with this evil.
Men wishing to gamble will find
places just suited to their capacity, not
only in the underground oyster cellar,
or at the table back Of the curtain,
covered with greasy cards, or in the
steamboat smoking cabin, where the
bloated wretch with rings id his ears
ueals out his pack, and winks in the
.unsuspecting traveller providing free
drinks all around-but in gilded par
Tors and amid gorgeous surroundings.
This sin works ruin, first, by provid-
ing an unhealthful stimulant. Excite
ment is pleasurable. Under every sky
and in every age men have sought it.
we must at times have excitement. "A
thousand voices in our nature demand
It, 1t is right. 1t is healthful. It is
lnsplriting. It is desire God-given.
But anything that first gratifes this
appetite and hurls it back in a terrific
reaction, is deplorable and wicked.
~, d.
rough musician, in bringing out the
tune plays SO hard he breaks down the
instrument! God never made man
strong enough to endure the wear and
tear of gambling excitements. -
What dull work is blowing to the far
mer when in the village saloon in one
night he makes and loses the value of
q !, mi 70
sell capes and measure nankeen and
cut garments and weigh sugar, when in
nights game he makes and loses, and
makes again and loses again, the prof
its of a season?
John Borack was sent as a mercan-
tile agent from Bremen to England and
this country. After two years his en-
ployers mistrusted that all was not
right. He was defaulter for $4,000.
1t was found that he had lost in Lom-
bard street, London, $4,000; in Fulton
street, New York, $4,000, and in New
Orleans, $4,000. He was imprisoned,
but afterwards escaped, and went into
the gambling profession He died in
lunatic asylum. This crime is get
ting it's lever under many a mercantile
house in our cities, and before long
down will come the great establish
ment, crushing reputation, home COM
fort and immortal souls. How it d.
verts and sinks capital may be inferred
from some authentic statement before
us. The ten gaming houses that once
were authorized in Paris passed
I through the banks yearly 25,000,00O
| francs.
! A young man in London, on coming
of age, received a fortune of one hun
dred and twenty thousand dollars, and
through gambling in three years was
thrown on his mother for support An
only son went to New Orleans. He
was rich, intellectual and elegant in
manners. His parents gave him, on
| his departure from home, their last
blessing. The sharpers got hold Of
him. They fiattered him. They lured
him to the gaming table and let him
win almost every time for good while,
land patted him on the back and said,
First rate player" But fully in their
grasp, they fleeced him, and his thirty
thousand dollars was lost. Last of
all, he put up his watch and lost that.
T Then he began to think of his home,
land of his old father and mother, and
wrote thus:
+ "My beloved parents, you will doubt
less feel a momentary Joy at the recep-
ton of this letter from the child of
your bosom, on whom you have law
ished all the favors of your declining
years. But should feeling of Joy for
a moment spring up in your hearts,
when you should have received this
from me, cherish it not. I have fallen
deep, never to rise. Those gray hairs
that should have honored and pro-
Etected shall bring down in sorrow to
the grave. I will not curse my Destroy
er, but, oh, may God: avenge the
wrongs and impositions practised upon
the unwary, in a way that shall best
please him! This, my dear parents, is
the last letter you will ever receive
from me. I humbly pray your forgive
ness. 1t is my dying prayer Long
before you will have received this from
me, the cold grave will have closed up
on me forever. Life to me is insup-
portable. cannot, nay, I will not, suf
fer the shame of having ruined you.
Forget and forgive is the dying prayer
of your unfortunate son.
The old father came to the post
Office, got the letter, and fell to the
floor. They thought he was dead at
first, but they brushed back the white
hair from his brow and famed him.
He had only tainted. "Aceldama the
field of blood!''
When things go wrong at a gaming
table they shout: Foul! foulv' Over
all the gaming-tables of the world I cry
out: Foul! foul! Infinitely foulv'
Gift stores" are abundant through
out the country. With book or knife
or sewing-machine, or coat, or carriage,
there goes a prize. At these stores peo-
pie get something thrown in with their
purchase. It may be gold watch, or
set of silver, ring, or farm. Sharp
way to get off unstable goods. It has
hlled the land with fictitious articles,
and covered up our population with