True Picture of the Gambler's Destiny.

The

was as interesting, or more so, than the first. jockey was a very noted character among those of his profession, and well known generally, and, as may well be supposed, was never afterwards allowed to enter a horse on any course throughout the state.

TRUE PICTURE OF THE GAMBLER'S DESTINY.

Our Fancy, should we call on her for a personification of Virtue, would be likely to present her to us under the form of a beautiful maiden, in white attire, tripping, in the light of a spring morning, through the green landscape, with an eye and step of artless innocence, a look of the benignancy of one who is doing good, a bosom beating so freely as to seem formed to reveal whatever was inmost, and, withal, having about her whole aspect a something perfectly indescribable, yet which would tell us in a moment who she was, and what was her errand.

Then if, as a counterpart to this, we should ask for a picture of Vice, might she not, if she had an eye to the gambler, symbolize it to us in the shape (but how shall I say it?) of a man, hard-featured indeed, and forbidding; but now, with an assumed and guileful smile, he is seated in a room flaringly lighted, in the midst of a thousand strange implements and pieces of furniture, all looking as if contrived for some hellish art, while in the background is a hall full of revelry, and close by its side a mysteriously dark staircase, so dark that he who viewed it could not help thinking that it led to some awful place. Thus seated, he is holding by the hand the son

True Picture of the Gambler's Destiny.

of virtuous parents, and of many hopes; and while the tears of brothers and sisters entreat him to let the young man go, that he may return to his and their peaceful home, the wretch still holds him fast by his vile enchantments, and, drawing him still closer, under pretence of showing him some new art of pleasure and profit, with the one hand filches his purse, and with the other stabs him dead, and kills his immortal soul.

Such a picture would resemble the gambler in more points than one.

It was not by one step, or in one moment, that he attained his present character. No! he has passed through scenes fearfully depraving; he has corrupted others, and cannot fail to have corrupted himself.

He who riots on the ill-gotten gains of the gamingtable, even supposing all to have been fair play, can hardly escape feeling something of the taint and consciousness of dishonesty. It is not easy to say whether it be praise to the purity, or censure on the weakness of human virtue, to affirm, that she cannot mingle with the defilements of vice without being in some measure contaminated.

And who shall experience this effect in its most baleful extent, if not he who makes a particular vice his avocation and his livelihood; who meditates its arts and deceits by day, and practises them on his fellows by night; who, having tutored himself in this iniquitous mystery, is daily striving to initiate others? a fearful initiation, before which it is necessary that virtuous feeling, conscience, and peace of mind, all be exorcised.

If gaming life have a bright side, it must lie in having a flush of wealth, and living in a splendid dissipation. Yet, with both these, a man may be truly miserable.

True Picture of the Gambler's Destiny.

Now, if such be the parts that strike the eye as brightest and most pleasing, what must the dark side be! The gambler's wealth is of all kinds the most unstable, and his respectability lasts only with his money. The mixed excitement and fatigue of gaming prompt to the use of spirituous refreshments; and the company that rises from the play are apt to lift the glass both frequently and high. The votary of one vice cannot easily resist the temptations of another; and thus it frequently happens that we find the gambler at one stage of his life the high liver, and at another the low sot.

It was disputed before King Darius, by the three wise children of Juda, which of the three, wine, the king, or woman, is the strongest; and he who held the superior strength of the last, urged that for her sake many had both erred, sinned, and perished.

But with whom shall the enticements of impure love be so successful, as with those who have passed the evening at play and carousal?

In the following pages we will endeavor to show what the gambler is, by holding up to view sketches of living instances, which, though imperfect, we doubt not can be recognized by many.

He

But few would enter into association with the gambler, if they knew who he was, and what his arts were. fits up, it may be, an elegant saloon, and decks it off with showy furniture. This makes the person who visits it feel that he is spending his time quite fashionably; for how could it be otherwise, when he is surrounded with so much elegance, and conversing with such fine gentlemen?

His gaming apparatus, too, he pleads, are only instruments of divertisement, and the stake merely a some