St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-05-07
A STUPENDOUS EVIL.
The Gambling Habit Arraigned by
Rev. DR.. Talmage.
An Evil that Is Sweeping Over tho Land
and Causing Innumerable Wrecks
OF individuals, Families
and Homes.

1 AANN. . AS"Itt 1dlIudHC, Ill ILL., lOl
lowing sermon, makes scathiny ar
raignment of the curse OF gam5lin,
that has fastened itself upon the PEG
pie in almost every walk Of life. Tn,
text is:
Aceldama, that is to say, the field OF blood
Acts l.. 10
The money that Judas gave for sur
rendering Christ was used to purchas
= graveyard. As the money was blood
mo ncy, the ground bought by it wa
called in the Syriac tongue, "Acel
dama," meaning The field Of blood.
| Well, there is one word want to writ,
to-day over every race-cou rse wher,
wagers are stakcd. and every pool
room. and every gambling saloon, ant
every table, public or private, wher,
men and women bet for sums of money
large or small, and that is a word in
carnadined with the life of innumer
able victims -Aceldama.
The gambling spirit, which is at al
times stupendous evil. ever and amor
sweeps over the country like an cpl
dcmic, prostrating uncoun.ed thou
sands. There has never been a wors.
attack than that from which all the
villages, towns and cities are now sui
fcring.
While among my hearers and read
ers are those who have passed on into
the afternoon Of life, and the shadows
are frightening, and the sky crimsons
with the glow of the setting sun, a
large number Of them are in early life,
and the morning is coming down out
OF the clear sky upon them, and the
bright air is redolent with spring bios
SONS. and the stream of life, cleaning
and glancing, rushes on between flow
cry banks, making music as it goes.
Some of you are engaged in mercantile
concerns, as clerks and bookkepers,
and your whole life is to be passed in
the exciting world of traffic. The
sound of busy life stirs you as the
drum stirs the fiery war horse. 9th
ers are in the mechanical arts. to ham
mer and chishel your way through life,
and success awaits you. Some are pre-
pairing for professional life, and grand
opportunities are before you; nay,
some Of you already have bucxlei on
the armor. Bat, whatever your age
and calling, the subject Of gambling,
about which | speak to-day, is peril
nent
Some years ago, when an association
Tor the suppression of gambling was
an agent of the association
came to prominent citizen and asked
him to patronize the society. He said:
mo, | can have no interest in such an
l am in no wise affected
by the evil At that very time his
son, who was his partner in business,
was one of the heaviest players in a
famous gambling establishment. An
other refused his patronage on the
same ground, not knowing that his
first bookkeeper, though receiving a
salary Of only $4,000, was losing from
$50 to 500 per night. The president OF
q railroad company refused to patron
lie the institution, saying: THAT So
ciety is good for the defense of mer-
chants, but we railroad people are not
injured by this cvil;" not knowing that
ut that very time two of his conductors
were spending three nights OF each
week at faro tables in New York. Di-
rectly or indirectly this evil strikes at
The whole world.
Gambling is the risking Of something
more or less valuable in the hooc Of
more than you hazard. The
instruments of gaming may differ, but
he principle is the same. The shut
ling and dealing cards, however full
If temptation, is not gambling unless
stakes are put up; while, on the other
land, gambling may be carried on
without cards, or dice, or billiards, or
! ten-pin alley. The man who bets on
lorses, or elections, on battles, the
nan who deals in fancy" stocks, or
conducts a business which hazards
Extra capital, or goes into transactions
without foundation. but dependent
lpon what men call ''luck," is a gam
der.
Whatever You expect to get from
rour neighbor without Offering an
Equivalent in money, or time, or skill,
$ either the product of theft or gam
ng. Lottery tickets and lottery poll
les come into the same category.
for the founding Of hospitals,
chools and churches, conducted on the |
affiing system, come under the same |!
Do not, therefore, as
oclate gambling necessarily with any |
or game, or time, or place,
r think the principle depends upon
whether you play for q glass of wine
r 100 shares Of national stock Whether
on patronize auction pools, French
lutuals," or '.bookmaking," whether
gu employ faro or billiards, rondo and
emo, cards or bagatellc, the very idea
the thing is dishonest; for it pro-
esses to bestow upon You good for
'hich you give no equivalent.
This crime is no new born sprfte, but
haggard transgression that comes
down under a mantle Of
lrses through many centuries. All
atoms. barbarous and civilized, have
cen addicted to it.
But now the laws OF the whole civil
ed world d,nounce the system.
have been passed, but only
artially enforced, and at times not en-
'rced at all. The men interested in
aiming houses, and in jockey clubs,
ield such influence by their numbers
nd afHuence, that the jucge, the jury
nd the police officer must be bold in
eed who would array themselves
yainst these infamous establishments.
he house of commons of England act
Ally adjourns on Derby day that
embers may attend the races; and in
le best circles of society in this coun-
v to-day are many hundreds of pro-
ssedly respectable men who are &C.
gamblers.
Hundreds Of thousands OF dollars in
lis land are every day won and lost
rough sheer gambling. Says a trav-
er through the west: II have trav-
ed 1000 miles at a time upon the
estern waters. and seen gambling ut ,
cry waking moment from the COM
to the termination of the .
urney." The southwest of this coun- /
y reeks with. this sin. In some Of those ,
ties ever, third or fourth house in /,
any OF the streets is a gaming place, /
ID j. may be truthfully averred that
.ch OF ouI cities is cursed with this
il.
Men wishing to gamble will find