The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1902-04-16

Probably the word al the head Of
this will catch the oycs Of; good
many young men who DO NOT usually
read editorials, but TO whom anything
about gambling is Of more interest than
any other subject. When a man is i'll
that con lition he needs some talking
to and it is time for him to do some
serious thinking.
Probably there are in Richmond a
number Of shabby looking men, soElc
young and some old, who hang around
the gambling places and pike at faro,
trying to take in half the layout,
open and corpcrcd, with one white
chip, pitfully begging chips at poker
games. scrapinr their pockets 70 shoot
away few coins III craps There are
men who cant sleep and can keep
away from the game even when they
have not cent to play with ard who
sit around wistfully to pick up sleep
crs or in the vague hope that some
body in luck will give them a few
cents or dollars. These arc the men
who are tolerated for time and then
barred out. If they are not in Rich
mond this is the only townwhcrc there
are gambling houses that lacks them
You youngstcr, with job or an in
come, look at these wrecks with a
plying contempt. DO you ever think
that few years ago they were just
where you arc now-begnnipg at the
game with jobs and prospects and
hopes? 1t is just as sure That if you
stick to it you will be where they are,
or perhaps worse. They arc compare
lively lucky. Hundreds and thou
sands Of those who are treading the
road you are walking in are in the
penitentiarics or on the road. Every
year hundreds of men who once wore
clothes as good as yours or better,
who had as much sense and character
as you have and as good connections,
big cities or found dead on freight
trains or picked up along the roads
and sent to die in strange aims houses
and to be buried like so many ami
mails, with Unknown Tramp as
their only epitaphs.
The game will beat you in the end.
Every gambler will tell you that.
There is no doubt about it. The diff
ference between good luck and bad at
it is that, with the cards or the wheel
or dice running your way, you will last
little longer. The time must come
when you must quit. If you are lucky
enough to be able to quit before you
have ruined yourself you will be- all
the money out you have lost and many
bitter day in the future you will
wish you had it and see where you
could do much better for yourself or
somebody you would like to help if
you had it.
Do you ever think Of the histories
and the tragedies behind these old
pikers and dead beats, to say nothing
OF the tramps at whom you laugh now?
All of them had women who loved
them and hoped for them, just as you
sonny, probably have. Most of these
wrecks represent humiliations more
bitter than can be written or told,
long heartaches and the sickening
sliding away of pride and confidence
and faith, and all that makes life beau
tiful and worth living. Every man
who goes to the bad, as rule, repre-
sents the agony Of some helpless aud
unoffending woman. If you are any
kind Of man at all that is something
that you will take into considera-
tion.
We are satisfied that some man will
read this who already has felt the bit
terness and the horror and the sting
of the disease. Maybe already you
are up to your eyes in debt, or, worse
have begun to dip into money belong