Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-03-05
(Copyright.)
II.-GAMB'LING.

OF all the vices that man is nelr 10,
surely the worst is gambling. 1t is
he sin that | have the greatest and
most morbid horror of. 1t is the most
shominable of all infatuations, the
most pernicious of all habits. 1t leads
to more crime and misery than aught
Else. 1t is the fashion in these ioys
of rabid tetotalism to speak against
drunkenness, and to point that out as
the worst of all offenses. Heaven
knows it is bad enough, but to my
mind it sinks into insignificance be-
side the offence of gambling. The
drunkard can be cured-a gambler
never. 1t is infatuation pure and sim
ple. Home, honor, wife, children, love
rcoutation, all are as nothing to the
gambler. If ne wins he Is delirlousiy
happy, madly excited. He spends his
winnings with reckless, wanton ex-
travagance He has no thought of the
MORROW, but thinks that his lucE
must continue, and that he, poor fool.
S on the high road to a speedy and
easily won fortune. He never saves.
Lightly got, lightly spent. Money got
without honest toll or industry is OF
no value. 1t has been proven over
and over again, particularly with gam
blers. If he loses he plunges deeper
and deeper, and tries to make up FOR
the loss and deficit. The more he
loses the more he bets. He is 50 bind
and obstinate in the intoXication or
his vice that he cannot see the dan
ger. He never knows when to leave
off. never secs that luck is against him,
but plunges deeper and deeper into the
moral mire that inevitably engulfs him.
A gambler is to be pitied, for his dis
ease is incurable. If he has the faint
in his blood it will never be eradl-
Gated. He may promise, and he may
keep his promise for three or SIX
months, when he has not farthing
about him to gamble with; but sooner
or later the complaint will shew itself.
When | think of the misery that this
Vice has involved to the innocent, when
I think of the homes that have been
broken I'D, the lives that have been
spoilt, the bright
CAREERS THAT HAVE BEEN
BLASTED,
49,, = ~, WI rrrou,c cialr xyithiD mo IT iS
not the amount lost that l look at. A
millionaire can afford to lost $4,000,
but a poor clerk earning sos. week,
who loses a sovereign-what is to be-
come of him? The answer to this can
be seen every day in the columns Of
our newspapers, when we read of these
lads and men being sentenced to i'm
prisonment and the disgrace that is
thereby entailed. Preachers speak about
the social evil. They dwell upon the
frightful effects of intemperance, and
they preach chastity. OF course, what
they say on these subjects l have no
objection to, but let them believe that
there is a worse and more growing
evil sapping the vitality out of us as
a nation-that is a great curse to us.
Strong words these, perhaps, but writ
ten from the heart, and written by one
who has seen and known the misery
that is caused by indulging in this vice.
It is so easy to laugh when your sweet
heart tells you that he has backed a
gee-gee, so easy to be delighted when
he brings you present purchased from
the ill-gotten money of his bet. Oh,
it is so easy; but look at the reverse
side of the picture. Think of the poor
wretch that he has won it f,om, who
may be overwhelmed with disgrace and
disaster because of that ill-timed bet.
Talk of blood-money! Good heavens!
blood-money is innocent compared to
the money gained by gambling. Think,
again, that the time will come when
be no present. You may be married
then. The present may be pawned,
probably, and then no money comes,
and your home is poverty-stricken, and
debt and disgrace stare you in the face.
0 my dear gTls, never, never marry
a gambler! You young mothers who
read this, pray on your knees by your
child's cot that the Almighty may
spare him having this faint. Better by
far to lament the child, innocent, and
pure, and sinless, that has been pre-
maturely reaped down by the scythe of
Death than to see him grow up a gam
bier. If it were not for this and for
drunkenness we should want no judges,
no magistrates, no PRISONS and no po-
licemen; we should have a happy COM
munity. AS it is, we may be advancing
in science, but we are certainly not in
morality.
HORSE RACING AND CARDS.
There are all sorts of ways of gam
bling. Horse-racing seems more fasci-
mating than any other form. If it were
as it is supposed-to encourage the
breed Of our horses, it is all right and
proper and correct. If the best horse
should win, all right again; but does
n