Gambling in Polite Society
The extent to which the vice of gambling has invaded polite society at this time is the subject of some comments by the “Spectator” in a recent issue of The Outlook. Having overheard on a street car two “well-dressed and apparently refined” ladies telling each other how they had used their recent winnings at “bridge whist,” he was the same day informed by a wealthy friend that it was common for ladies and gentlemen who were entire strangers to each other to gamble over this game, he himself having not long before paid over money on such an occasion to a lady he had never met before, who took it without the least hesitation. Continuing his investigations into the matter, the “Spectator” noted that “a London periodical of high standing asserted that very week that the decline of book selling was due to the fact that five hundred packs of cards were sold this season to every book purchased. The Englishwoman, instead of reading, plays bridge whist nowadays. In both England and America, it was also asserted, young men who are wise refuse invitations to houses where bridge is played by the hostesses and feminine guests, because of the impossibility of getting out of playing for high stakes, with consequent losses, which they can not afford.” This is but one of many things which make the social degeneracy of these times comparable with that of the days of Noah, or of the last days of the Roman republic. The end of the age, and the end of all ages, is at hand.