The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-10-17
Ever play checkers?


Ever play checkers?
SO you will remember that in this game of draughs
the play is to capture your opponents pieces you
break through the line into the other fellows kng row.
your disk is crowned king of the whole mosaic Your
king then forward or backward. He is free to
rove in any direction and to Jump any unlucky checker
that in his way. One way to beat-a method en-
poyed by experts-is to block the game by preventing
any the part of the adversary.
In respects the game of life resembles game of
checkers Some reckless careful players The
average cautiously toward the king row. hop
ing to evade being dumped" The king of life may
be capital influence credit-whaever is striving for
but when is reached gives the player added power
His checker becomes rover king sometimes robber
king 1t holds power which hastens consummaons. It
enables to block the game of the other fellow saying
triumphantly, s your move" In the game of life this
power makes milonaires. All the pawns on the
chess board become their crowned kings and they jump the
common fellows right and left
The devil is the shrewdes checker player extant And
people sit down deliberately to play at his game
There is no devili Oh yes there is He has been
much magned He has been carricatured But he isl He
is such Satan Medieval fancy pictured him. He is
not Lucfer after the of Millions Dante S
making He lacks the familiar horns and the Legendary
tail of tradition to say nothing of the ptchfork But
there is real devil just the Cali it inherited preds
position to do wrong the force of malgn environment
right And he goes about lit may not be like roaring
lion) seeking whom he may devour. He is adept in
games.
The young man who thinks he "can drink or let it
alone is playing at checkers with the devil It neither
deep game lengthy Surely Satan must be
careless the contest is easy 1t the man continues to
play if he does not block the DEVILS game early in the be-
ginning he is a sure loser The young woman who 1irts
with strangers also scheduled to lose She thinks she
can outwit the devil He lets her think That is part
of his we'll played game But later if the girl
keeps on playing she will have lost all. Because
The devil has his imps And any Of his little dew
lis can outpay the who drinks and the young woman
who goes out of her way to meet evil
The man who is dishonest in business is playing check
ers with his satanic majesty and will get left Maybe not
tomorrow next day; but somehow, some time some
where Read 'The Common Lot" that powerful human
interest story in the current Atlantic Monthly An arch
tect played with Satan and lost both his professional
ideals and his conscience. He became CRATER lie put
narrow beams in hotel building that called for broad
ones He put in wooden tmbers where the
called for IRON He thought he beating the devil at
his own game The devil knew better. Then came ire
in the hotel In the 6re-trap furnace human beings
penned ill., cut off, fought for their lives The oors col
apsed because the beams Of wood and through the
smoke and flames the architect could the struggling
figures cingng like insects to the window frames In the
horror of that hour the devil grnned at the architect The
devil had won the game
Don't oct into the devils game He is better player
than YOU He has played for ages and he knows the Sig
ncance of every He may let you enjoy the game
long time But don't you think he is too busy or has
forgotten He may cry out that are getting the bet
ter of him. Once in while he may permit you TO JUMP
one of his checkers Always will he keep before you the
hone of winning He will block the game and he
will never permit you to block it. He believes IN games
PLAYED to the end and fears nothing so much as that
will quit him. He will tell you that ne is clumsy ano
that Won are the smarest gamester he ever met the sly
devil He will laugh at your jokes weep at your troubles
lie like Satan-and beat you.
4 When Lucifer invites you to his simple game OF
checkers tell him to 60 to Hades, where ne belongs