Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-05-16

| to consider the consequences.
The love Of cards let sloth infuse;
The love Of money soon ensues:
The strong desire shall ne'er decay,
Who plays to win, shall win to play;
The breast where love had plann'd
his reign,
Shall burn unquench'd with lust Of
gain
And all the charms that wit can boast
In dreams of better tuck be lost.
Thus, neither innocent nor gay.
The useless hours shall melt away;
While time o'erlooks the trivial strife.
And scoffing shakes the sands OF life
Till the wan mind, whose early bloom
The vigils Of quadrille consume,
Exhausted by the pangs Of play,
To lust and av'rice falls a prey.
Examples.
The late Colonel Daniel took great
pleasure in giving advice to young Of
ficers, guiding them in their military
functions, the management Of their
pay, etc. Whenever he was on the
article Of gaming, he used always to
tell the following story Of himself, as
a warning to others, and to show that
little resolution may conquer this
absurd passion: In Queen AIMS wars
he was an insign in the English army
then in Spain; but he was so absolute
ly possessed by this evil, that all duty,
and everything else that prevented his
gratifying his darling passion, was to
him most grievous; he scarcely al
lowed himself time for rest, and If he
slept, his dreams presented packs OF
cards to his eyes and the rafting OF
dice to his ears; his meals were neg
lected, or If he attended them he
looked upon that as so much lost
time; he swallowed his meat WITH
precipitance, and hurried to the dear
gaming-table again. In one WORD, ne
was a professed CANISTER. Fer some
time fortune was his friend; and he
was so successful that he has often
spread his winnings on the ground and
rolled himself on them in order that
II might be said of him, "he Hallowed
in gold" Such was his life for con-
siderable time; but as he often said,
and I dare say every considerate man
will join with him, ut was the most
miserable part Of It," After some
time he was ordered on the recruit
ing duty, and at Barcelona he raised
one hundred and fifty recruits for the
regiment; though this was left entire
ly to his sergeant, that he might be
more at leisure to attend to his darl-
ing passion. After some changes of
good and i'll luck, fortune declared so
openly against him that in one un-
lucky run, he was totally stript OF the
last farthing. In this distress he ap-
piled to a captain of the same regi-
ment with himself for loan Of ten
guineas; which was refused with this
speech: What! lend money to
professed CANISTER! No, sir, I must
be excused; for Of necessity I must
lose either my money or my friend; 1
therefore choose to keep my money
With this taunting refusal he retired
to his lodgings where he threw him
self on the bed, to lay himself and his
sorrows to a momentary rest, during
the heat Of the day. A gnat, or some
such vermin, happened to bite him,
he awoke; when his melancholy sit
uation Immediately presented itself to
him. Without money and no pros
pect how to get any to subsist him.
self and his recruits to the regiment,
then at a great distance from him;
and should they desert for want OF
their pay, he must be answerable for
It; he could expect nothing but cash.
iering for disappointing the queens
service. He had no friend, for he
whom he had esteemed so had not
only refused to lend him money, but
had added taunts to his refusal. He
had no acquaintance there, and
strangers he knew would not let him
have so large sum as was answeraole
| to his real necessity. This naturally
| led him to reflect seriously on what
| had induced him to commence gam
| bling, and this he presently perceived
was idleness. He had now found the
cause, but the cure was still wanting:
| how was that to be effected so as to
| prevent a relapse? Something must
| be done; some method must be pur-
sued so effectively to employ his time,
| as to prevent his having any to throw
away at gaming. 1t then occurred to
him that the adjutancy Of the regi-
ment was to be disposed Of, and this
he determined to purchase, as post.
the most likely to find him a suftici-
ent and laudable way Of passing his
| time. He had letters Of credit to
draw for what sum he pleased for his
promotion in the army. but not to
| throw away idly, or to encourage his
extravagancy. This was we'll: but the
main difficulty remained, and he must
| get to the regiment before he could
take any steps towards the intended
purchase or draw for the sum to
oring to fall upon some expedient to
extricate himself out Of this dilemma
his friend, who had refused him In
the morning, came to pay him a visit
After a very cool reception on the
colonel's side, the other began by
asking him what steps he intended to
take to relieve himself from the anx-
iety he plainly saw ne was in. The
colonel then told him all that he had
thought upon that head, and the
resolution he had made of purchas-
ing the adjutancy as soon as he could
join the regiment; his friend then get
ting up and embracing him, said,
My dear Daniel. I refused you in the
morning in that abrupt manner In
order to bring you to a sense Of the
dangerous situation you were in. and
to make you reflect seriously on the