CHRISTIAN HOMES TRAINING GAMBLERS.
By Editor
Some of the ministry and laity of the Methodist Episcopal Church are discussing in public the question of card-playing from the point of view only of intrinsic moral evil, which they deny. That, however, is only part of the case. Another view demands attention, as the following thrilling account may show:— In the Herald and Presbyter of Jan. 23, 1901, S. B. Alderson, D.D., stated that at a mass meeting in the Second Presbyterian Church of Portsmouth, O., on a Sabbath afternoon, in the presence of two hundred men, a converted gambler and ex-saloon keeper made a statement which has created a profound impression, and that he transmitted it to the Herald and Presbyter that it might do good in a wider sphere. As gambling is spreading in this city and in all parts of the country, as large numbers of professing Christians engage in it, as it is reported that some Methodists and official members are known to engage in it in social clubs and elsewhere, and apparently no notice has been taken of it by the church authorities, we reprint in this conspicuous place the address as endorsed by Dr. Alderson:— “I have been in the saloon business, with a gambling room attached, for the last four years, and claim to know something about what I am now going to tell you. I do not believe that the gambling den is near so dangerous, nor does it do anything like the same amount of harm, as the social card party in the home. I give this as my reason: In the gambling room the windows are closed tight, the curtains are pulled down, everything is conducted secretly for fear of detection, and none but gamblers, as a rule, enter there. While in the parlor all have access to the game, children are permitted to watch it, young people are invited to partake in it. It is made attractive and alluring by giving prizes, serving refreshments, and adding high social enjoyments. For my part, I never could see the difference between playing for a piece of silver moulded in the shape of money and silver moulded in the shape of a cup or thimble. The principle is the same, and whenever property changes hands over the luck of the cards, no matter how small is the value of the prize, I believe it is gambling.” “Perhaps you have never thought of it, but where do all the gamblers come from? They are not taught in the gambling dens. A ‘greener,’ unless he is a fool, never enters a gambling hell, because he knows that he will be fleeced out of everything he possesses in less than fifteen minutes. He has learned somewhere else before he sets foot inside of such a place. When he has played in the parlor, in the social game of the home, and has become proficient enough to win prizes among his friends, the next step with him is to seek out the gambling room, for he has learned, and now counts upon his efficiency to hold his own. The saloon men and gamblers chuckle and smile when they read in the papers of the parlor games given by the ladies, for they know that after a while those same men will become the patrons of their business. I say, then, the parlor game is the college where gamblers are made and educated. In the name of God, men, stop this business in your homes. Burn up your decks and wash your hands. The other day I overheard two ladies talking on the street. One said: ‘I am going to have a card party, and am going to the store to buy a pack of cards. Which are the best kind to get?’ The other replied, ‘Get the Angel Card. It has an angel on the back.’” “‘Think,’ said he, ‘of dragging the pure angels of heaven into this infernal business.’” “After he had taken his seat another converted ex-gambler, who led the men’s meeting in the Second Presbyterian Church the following Sabbath, arose and said: ‘I endorse every word which the brother before me has just uttered. I was a gambler. I learned to play cards, not in the saloon, not in my own home, but in the homes of my young friends, who invited me to play with them and taught me how.’” Instances coming under our observation confirm the tendency spoken of by the gambler, many of which are tragedies as appalling as any ever placed upon the boards of a theater.—Christian Advocate.