The mirror., 1917-10-04
A CHANCE AT PLAYING SAFE
An Interesting Article Anent Life as Compared
With Game of Chance
From The Chronicle

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The way you march should be an
example of how he should march,
not do everything that is possible
to discourage him and bring the
iIl-will of everybody down on him.
People won't know who to
trust, or who is really trying to
play the game to win. No, you
can't win by that method, so give
it up while it will avail you some
thing to give it up: not wait until
the final call is made; for the game
is young yet. Your cards have
just been dealt out to you, and you
are the dealer. You have a chance
of discarding, if you choose. But,
no; you say, I will stand my hand
and bluff it out So you push
your stakes up against that of your
fellow players and the game has
begun, with success as the opening
pot.
Cards. calls out the dealer.
Those around you look their hands
over carefully and pick out the
cards that would lose them the
game. They then strengthen their
hand by drawing cards to replace
those that they discarded. You
look on with a superior smile and
think. Watch me win this game
by taking big chance of bluffing.
Still you can't rid yourself of that
voice at your side that says, dis
card, man, do you want a repeti-
ton of your last defeat! Do you
want to be the butt of the ridicule
that will be aimed at you if you
lose again. Why not play safea
But with wise look you say,
watch me, / will show you how to
win on a chance You listen to an
other voice that pats you on the
shoulder; fattering you on your
false conceptions of right and
wrong; leading you on and on by the
road that thousands of better men
than you have followed, only to
end in final destruction. Yet you
are willing to sacrifice honor. and
your chance fo1 betterment in the
future-all of the foolish chances,
instead of playing safe. So with a
! wise look you push your next pile
of chips into the gathering pile and
you are playing for Success and
Honor. Still the stakes are raised
and the voice at your side says,
'pass;' save what you can before
you lose everything. But the 9TH
er voice says, Go ahead, don't
mind him; you'll win Still an
other pile goes in and you have
Success, Honor and what is left of
your Manhood that you have to
stake. Still your friends around
you raise your stake and you take
a last desperate chance and stake
all that is left for you to stake.
Still that voice ever faithful to
you, pleads with you to pass and
save what is not too late to save.
While the other voice seeing you
falter in your rash decision sneers
} and says, got cold feet Taunting
you and calling you a coward, un-
til finally you turn again to your
} game and push in your last pile,
and you now are playing with sue
cess, Honor, Manhood and Free
dom. These are things that you
, consider so lightly. Willing to
lose them for the sake of showing
a few men that you're game enough
| to take a chance: not a safe chance
, but a foolish chance. You look af.
ter your hand has been called. and
in spite of. your easy devil-may-
care-method of looking, you feel a
twinge of doubt and remorse; but
! unwilling to admit that you are
wrong. Now look at the hand
that you persisted in holding
against all warning; against all ad-
: vice. Refusing to listen to the
voice of experience. as he tried to
point out the way by which you
could win. No, you held a winning