Irvine Express and North Ayrshire Post. — 1886-12-10 (Irvine, Strathclyde, Scotland)

BETTING AND GAMBLING.  He said: I have already erlireraed my to-a! disbed-e: in anything like luck or chance, and those who trade on any such foolish ider, not only deceive themselves but demoralize tile community in which they live, they lead otheai to speculate in the hope that, by a happy chance, they may grin the money that ought to come only as the resolt of honest .neustry, and what promisee to be a short am! easy road to riches turns out to only a short and easy road to non. The lottery luck icr the in, iod fortune luck, or by whatever other name it may 'or collet', is neither more nor 'lnc than the fool's luck. Now I do not wish to use • nimle incautious or untempered word regarding maoy of the amusements of the present day, but the evils by which they are accompaniee ac cii, great are grievous as to vitiate nporis that might be otherwise without harm. No one will say that a Boat Race is a wrong thing, and the:e are many sports equally harmless in themselves, sports that are even laudable for the physical results they produce. It is not the hosting but the betting that is the detestable thing, and most unfortunate aril sad it is that the spirit if gamblinig should be associated with our sports to snub a terrible extent. The Race Course we are told is a great national vinitation, the term great, however can be applied to it only in the sense of its being so deeply ',sited and in its having grown to such large proportions No one can deny that the Lice Course has been the , nun of many. It has occasioned a host of crimes Wnerever racing prevails, it is accompanied with many evils of the darkest nature, cnd Ime of the worst is this habit of betting. The mlent to which it has grown I cannot hut imprenn every right thinking mind with morrow and alarm. It prevails in circles where we should leant expect to fine it. In thin town of ours it has spread to a grievous extent. It is in:exaggeration to speak of it as one of the worse curses of our modern society, it is eating like a canker into many a promising young life. Those who indulge in it have the ider of sudden wealth made.to them, and the bait is held no high that they do not see the great pit at their feet, they may go safely and even prosperously for a little, but their foot is on the way to ruin. Now the principle in all C 141,14 is the name, it in utterly bad. thanhling is the staking of money upon mere chance, and money was not meant to be used in this way. Every man who makes money should do so as the result of honest industry or as part of an honourable calling, in the making of his money he should in acme way or other enrich the world. In this true of the gambler? The very opposite is the cane, every success Ice gains means the impoverishment of others, there is no merit whatever in what he has gained, he bas added within& to the wealth of the wo.ld, hP has done nothing for his money. Men take to gambling because they want to be rich in a hurry, and because they are unwilling to pay the legitimate price for what they win. They wish to get wealth on the easiest potssible terms, unconcerned for the marry that may be inflicted on others. Many have entered on the evil course without thinking of the consequences to which it leads, and they have had to date their moral degradation from the day on which they entered on nome betting transaction. Where's the harm they ask? They begin with what seems a trifling and harmless bet, they are enticed further by occasional gleams of success, they become fascinated by the temptation and when they lose, as they very quickly do, they pay their debts of folly ax beet they can, and go on playing the same foolish fatal game, they go on and m till they lose all and are left too often with ruined character and an empty purse. It is a habit which, once acquired, is almost never lont. "It is," nays one, 'like opium eating. It comes on by degrees, it steals with is wonderful snbtilty through all the mysteni, and when once it has got dominion liver any one, it holds hint fast ti the end." In moments of nit:erne and disappointment and despair, the devil is ever ready to  thintt •-q  whisper his temptations in the gambler's ear, till be makes him stake his very soul and conscience for .the 'eke of gold. CH the .eir evil* attending this habit, the craving for excitement, the feverish the deadening of all noble affietionst the wijherinir, all purer joys before this one dlevounng of the blighted homes and broken hearts that Friwcanises, and alas! of the suicides' graves to which it us& of these things I need not now speak more partimdo7, it world be long to tell and Ned to trace the stmeeseve • steps of misery. I only seek to speak a word of warn- , ing to those who may be dallying with this evil, and to beseech them, which I do with all possible earnastans, to abandon it for their dear sours sake. They indulge it at the peril of their highest interest, and as certain fig the habit is indulged it will lead to wretchedness and ruin. The end of there things is death." The lecturer then referred to moral courage as an essential element in right living, leading him to remark finally, that religion was the basis of all true manliness, the basis of all right living.