Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-09-30
A TALK WITH SHEEDY
Best Known Gambler Tells How
He Became One.
HIS GRAPHIC LIFE PICTURE.

Pnla "nSn ineJ SndHSeu 10 "SSt at
Saratoga Springs.
In recent interview Pat Sheedy.
the celebrated gambler and lover of
art, told how he came to lead a life of
chance.
He told the story of his meeting with
an old friend of his, Archbishop Ryan
of Philadelphia, at Sar"toga. Though
! they had gone to the springs for wide
~ different purposes, the bishop and
the gambler instantly struck hands.
Come in and see my nieces." The
! archbishop extended the invitation as
one who would not be refused. well,
if you insist. But first let's have a
pint of wine. bishop" insisted the man
| of chance-"not whisky; that makes
man of our nation want to fight,
! Make it wine, the only drink that
makes a poor Irishman feel like rich
| Jew"
His Start as Gambler.
They joined the archbishop's nieces
and the gamblers wife in the drawing
room. Then came the archbishop's
premeditated question:
Forgive me, Pat, my boy, but we all
want to know why such a man as you
| ever became a gambler"
That question I'll answer. your wor-
! ship, but you must first let me tell
you how it seems to me. If I'm
wrong, you may show me afterward
| First let me tell you that believe in
| God as much as you do. Now we're
ready for the start. claim to be a
better man than you are. l can't help
being a better man than you are.
Now, listen and I'll tell you the rea-
son in little story.
You and | had the same start. We
are of the same nation. We were of
| families in the same circumstances,
who could give us little or no educa-
ton, so we trotted the same road un-
til we were fifteen. There we came to
crossroads. We stopped and haggled
about which road to take. You want
ed to go to the right. l said, NO. the
lefts the way You went your road
as you thought best, and l took the
other road. | hadn't gone fifty yards
before / knew it was the wrong road,
but my pride, my dirty pride, wouldn't
let me so back, and admit it.
You have gone on and reached a
high place and much honor. You've
looked neither to the right nor the left.
but straight ahead. l have looked up
and down and back and every direc-
ton. and I've seen-God help me. what
haven't l seen? But I've learned more
than you have, bishop. for I've been
to the college of experience. You
never forget what you've learned there.
"Pat Sheedy, the Outlaw"
You are an honored bishop of the
church. | am the man at whom every
finger of scorn is pointed, upon whom
every eye of suspicion is turned. | am
Pat Sheedy, the outlaw
And now. bishop, | am coming to
the point. We had another schoolfel-
low Wen call him Michael Dillon
He loved woman with a worship it
isn't given to you to understand.
she married him, but after awhile
she turned him out of her heart and
out of their home. 4 hate you she
said to this man who loved her. Il
don't want ever to see you again He
became a drunkard and a tramp. Years
afterward she writes him. L was mis-
taken; come back to me- and he
starts to walk back to his home and
his happiness. He has walked for
week. He is footsore and hungry. He
meets you at this hotel tonight. You
listen to him, but it is with preju-
diced ear. You look upon him. but it
is not with a warm eye. The derelict
drifts on with no help from you. He
staggers out of your presence, and he
rounds the corner of the veranda and
comes upon me, another old schoolfel
low. he isn't afraid to speak to me,
the Ishmaelite. He tells me his story,
and what Go you think / do?
There can't be the shadow of a
doubt about that, Pat said the bishop.
Better Man Than You"
Your excellency, if he met me he
would ride the rest of the way home.
lie would get more than advice.
That's the reason | claim to be a bet
ter man than you. I've been to the
college of experience, and l know.
You don't know what has made any
man become what he is. That is one
Of the things we learn to ask our
selves in the college of experience.
Why is this man what he is? What
sorrow that we never guessed has put
him where he is?"
The next day the archbishop came
to the gambler and offered his hand.
I've been thinking over what you
said. You drew a picture of me last
night 1 believe God directed me here
to learn of you, Pat Sheedy."
Il want TO teach you that circum-
stances make man what he is" Pat
Sheedy said and has said a hundred
times since. We're not all PAGERS
nor trotters. We have our own gait,
and we go that gait, and that gait is
fate. Why, even fat is fate. I've
never eaten more than a bird. Why
am l dying Of fat? It's my fate"-