The McCook tribune. (McCook, Neb.) 1886-1936, 1898-04-08

Men wishing to gamble will fad
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 in his ears
deals out his pack, and winks in the
unsuspecting traveler-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
n in every age men have sought it.
We must at times have excitement. A
thousand voices in our nature demand
it. 1t is right. It is healthful. 1t is
inspiriting. 1t is a desire God-givcn.
But anything that first gratifies this
appetite and hurls it back in a terrific
reaction, is deplorable and wicked.
Look out for the agitation that, like a
rough musician, in bringing out the
tune plays so hard he breaks down the
instrument! God never made a man
SilOtlS cIIOuSI " luuIt Tie veal III
tear of gambling eXcitements.
What dul! work is blowing to the far
mer when in the village saloon in one
night he makes and loses the value of
a summer harvest, Who will want to
sell capes and measure nankeen and
cut garments and weigh sugar, when in
a nights game ne 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 rot
right. He was a defaulter fer $S7, 0G0.
1t was found that he had lost in Lom-
bard street, London, 500, 600; 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
a lunatic asylum. This crime is get
ting its 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 di-
verts and sinks capital may be inferred
from some authentic statement before
US. The ten gaming houses that once
were authorized in Paris passed
through the banks yearly 325, 0O0, 900
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 lattercd him. They lured
him to the gaming table and let him
win almost every time for a good while,
and patted him on the back and said,
First rate player" But fully in their
grasp, they fieeced him, and his thirty
thousand dollars was lost. Last Of
all, he put I'D his watch and lost that.
Then he began to think Of his home,
and 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 fayors Of YOUR declining
years. But should a feeling Of joy for
a moment spring Up in your hearts.
when you should have received this
from me, cherish it not. l have fallen
deep, to rise. Those gray hairs
that should have honored and pro-
tected | shall bring down in sorrow to
the grave. I will not curse my destroy
err. but, oh, may God avenge the
wrongs and impositions pTactised upon
the anwary, in a way that shall best
please him! This. my dear parents. is
the last letter you will ever receive
me. I humbly pray your forgive
ness. It is my dying prayer. Long
before you Will have received this from
me, the cold grave will have closed up
Oh me forever. Life to me is insup-
portable. ! cannot. nay, l 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, hut 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 & gaming
they shout: "Foul! FOUL Over
all the gaming-tables of the world l cry
out: Foul! foul! Infinitely fouln'
Gift stores" are abundant through
out the country. With a book Or knife,
Or sewing-machine, or coat, or carriage,
goes a prize. At these stores peo-
pie get something thrown in with their
purchase. 1t may be a gold watch. or
set of silver, a ring, or a farm. Sharp
way to get OFF unstable goods. 1t has
filed the land with fictitious articles,
and covered up our population with
brass fnger-rings, and despoiled the
moral sense OF the community, and is
fast making us a nation of gamblers.
The Church of God has not seemed
to allow the world to have all
he advantage of these games of chance.