The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-24

oi the embexzlements and defalca-
IONS OF q single year as the result Of
Chauncey N. Depew says: "A CON-
sioersoie proportion of failures In bust
ness ana 80 per cent. OF the d~efalcatfons
nv tnefts and ruin OF youth among
people Who are employed in places Of
rust are due directly to gambling"
y It IN a reasonable question to
,slse' Where does the life of the gam
bier beginy" Is there any connecs,or
this black record Of crime the
Proouct or gambling. and the friendly
sane OF cards. II is safe to assert that
me starung point I'm a large proportion
oi cases Is the card table. and in not a
Few cases IL Is the card table in the
no,ne. AND. while the m harvest
mat IN the result of gambling il not to
De ascrioed to the card table direct, yet
no, a small proportion OF IL had its in
cepuon and Incentive in the respect
able social game.
John Philip Quinn, the converted Chi
eago gambler. who had kept a gambling
mousse for Is years. denounces card plav-
ing in the home as making the home
q kindergarten for the gambling sa-
loon. John Bigelow. writing on gam
Ding, says Mine people nut OF ten.
when they for the first time accept an
ihVitation to join in a game Of whist
or poker, have not the slightest sus-
arouse"
A friend of DIR. Holland. on his diving
pead. said: Keep your son from cards,
Tor over them / have murdered time
ana lost heaven" There is not the
siightest question but that the victims
In the gambling dens to-day were once
votaries In the parlors of fashion, where
no stakes were set up and where people
were bent on nothing but fun" or ito
pass the time"
The following true narrative Is full of
neaith1ui suggestion: In the winter of
is'o a traveller en- route from Green Bay
10 chicago noticed an old lady, who
boarded the train at one of the interme-
aiate stations. She was gray and wrin-
h,eu ana Dent with age, and sat abash-
ed ana with closed eyes until the train.
stopping at Oshkosh. took on board a
OF lawyers. Her manner Their
at once changed and she became greatly
Interested in the company. looking from
one to the other as IL she recognized
them all. When the game of cards
was started she became very restless.
She twitched uneasily about in her seat.
loon up the hem of her faded apron and
nervously bit the threads until at length
she could stand IL no longer. and she
arose and tottered toward the seat of
the lawyers. Reaching the players she
paused directly In front of them, and,
'S 4eoiti ihtO u late vi ono OF
them. she said:
DO you know me. ,udge?"
y mother; I don't remember YOU"
said the Judge, pleasantly. Where
have we metz"
MY name Is Smith," she said. 'I
was with my poor boy three days of
and on I'm the court room i'm Oshkosh, |
when he was tried for robbing some
body, and you are the same man who
semi MIN IN nTiQQn for IN x,nn - q a-l he 1
died there last une. He was a rood
boy she continued, IF you did send
him to jail. He helped us clear the
farm, and when father was sick and
died. he did all the work and we were
getting along nicely until he began to
go to town and to drink and play cards
and to stay away until almost MORN
ing. and then the farm began to run
down.. because he did not like to work
so wen. n he coaxed me to sell IL
and we moved to town. But this only
made matters worse. 1t wasn't long
before he couldn't get any work to do.
Nobody wanted him. for all that he was
good for was to drink and gamble.
One night after ! had been pleading
with him to stop his bad ways and to
become a proud. industrious boy again.
ne became very angry. and i'm the morn
ing L found that he had stolen what
little money i had left. from the bu-
reau. and had run away. For a long
time 1 heard nothing from him. until
he was arrested and sent to Oshkosh,
ana then he wrote to me. I sold my
house and lot to get money to hire a
lawyer to plead for his release" and
to one of the lawyers, she said.
and you are the man who took the
money! and to another, land you are
the district attorney who plead against
him. and to the third. land you are
judge who sentenced him. sup
pose that II was right. for the poor boy
odd us that he really did rob the bank,
but he said he must have been drunk.
Tor they had been playing cards all
night and drinking. Here the poor wo-
man paused, her cheeks drenched with
and her voice choked for utter
ance, and then she said: But, Oh,
lear! IL seems to me kind as though
ne hadn't got to playing cards. he
might have been alive now. 1t may be
Is not right for me to talk to you so.
Judge. but II seems To me that the very
OF those cards would kill me. and
thought IL you only knew how I felt. :
would not play any longer. NV 4
boy took care OF me until ne began /
q play cards and then he look to gam I
and was lost" I
IT is needless 10 saw that the game /
" cards was arrested at this point. The \
nan who witnessed the scene and re- \
II. says that never did the tongue
man or angel preach a more elouuent {
iermon IMAM did the gray. withered old \
adv. trembling with age. excitement n
md fear that she was doing wrong. h
rhe old lady tottered to her seat. and d
aking her little granddaughter In her n
hid her face In her neck. And the y
swyers looked like criminals, commit 4
ed at the bar OF Justice. d
All! how many a mother can give the \
anne tale OF destruction brought to her n
'oy through cards.
And now I ranaa. .ha .,,a.t.o, ,t.o. III
asked at the beginning: us il right to Y
cards? Does Il make the body Y
the mind clearer and the Il
moral instincts more vigorous. or does .
not?' The witness of a thousand Y
'oices swe MOI"
The card table has nothing In Il thai
good and very much that Is evil. IL