The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1903-03-19

more OF the poison is taken. with similar
react'n, and again more is taken and more
reaction. So, there is a constant play and
interplay between taking more and more
and more Of the intellectual poison with
the reaction God help the man, for the
undertow has got him!
My. dear friends, there is something to
me absolutely appalling about getting un.
der the power without knowing il of that
kind OF intellectual poison. / speak ear.
nestly because | have known and loved
gifted men who have yielded to it and gone
down. The mental unreason that is in.
vol ed in gambling unhinges mems brains.
lndulgng in gambling becomes something
that man can hardly himself stop. You
know men never stop doing u thing unless
motive comes which is stronger than the
motive that leads them to do it, The man
goes on and goes on until the impulse and
motive to do the thing becomes stronger
than the motive that comes in to stop it,
Just the moment the impulse becomes
stronger than the constraining motive then
It Is goodbye, 1t is goodbye! Boys begin
by betting on marbles or putting up stakes
at cards Just to make the game more in.
teresting." 1t makes the game more inter.
csting to the devil Then comes the race
track. The more refined the man and the
finer the intellect the more surely the dis.
case. Nothing is so ghastlv as the craving
for gambling which gets hold of a fine.
n church worker. told me of man who
confessed to him that he had crept up.
stairs in the dead of winter to his little
sleeping girl and taken away the clothing
that covered her and the shoes which she
wore, put them under his coat and slunl;
off and pawned them for rum-the demon
curse. Now, with gambling the frightful
monomaDia is still worse. If there is anv
young man here this morning who has any
suspicion that the serpent is getting that
coil around him. then quick quick or you
are a lost man! You are a lost boy
Quick! Get out of it now! You had bet
ter lock yourself in your room and live on
bread and water You had better hold
your hands in the fire until the veins burst
than 90 on with the fiend OF gambling. Am
too u'gent? Forgetting the dignity of the
pulpit? Let the dignity of the pulpit go.
Go home, mothers. and look on your own
boys face and thank God that your boy
is safe. Then pray for another whose boy
is gone, or whom she thinks is gone. Gods
grace is great and she has come to her pas.
tor and spoken of this matter
BY your kind indulgence | want to refer
to flst one more point. 1t is sometimes
said that gambling is the product of bust.
meas speculation. / do not believe it. Spec.
ulation, as its latin origin implies, is es-
sentia .ly foresight. 1t is an endeavor to
look ahead and determine values. 1t is not
an apDcal to chance. We see the same root
to the word inspection. or the word re.
sDectable or the noun specuar, which ID
the same Latin word. Some forms of bust.
ness specul lation are. OF course. unfair. but
in large business sense speculation is not
guessing in advance. but looking in advance
and ] do not believe the two 20 together.
In new. strong countries speculation is al.
most always the accompaniment of bust.
ne7s opportunity. But in dead countries,
such as Spain was fifteen years ago. | have
poticed that while business speculation is
almost dead, gambling is far more preva.
lent even than here. See the higher Eng.
lish society in Queen Anne's time. minis
ters; everybody gambled, but there was not
much business speculation. No. my friends,
1t Is idleness craving for excitement, illu-
sion, bad company, corruDting morals.
These are the forces that lead men into
gambling. All gambling, even the least, un-
der all circumstances, il like seduction and
slavery eternally unjust and eternaly
wrong. It is taking something for nothing.
1t makes every man his neghbor's foe. It
corrupts societv and undermines the fab
ric of the American state. II is unpatriotic
and against the eternal Sinai. It divorces
contract and its equivalent Is there one
here this morning, | wonder, who wants
his dearest friend. his young brother, to
stop gambling II So in Gods name, let
him stop himself.