FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   >>  
ny of their property on "odd-or- even," or drew lots for choice of pasturage. No master has ever yet taught his dog to play with him at casino, and even the learned pig could never learn what was trumps. Hence gambling is a proof of man's intellectual superiority. Certain it is that men, from the earliest ages, have been addicted to some form of gambling, or settling matters by chance. It was by lot that it was determined in Biblical days which of the goats should be offered by Aaron; by lot the land of Canaan was divided; by lot Saul was marked out for the Hebrew kingdom; by lot Jonah was discovered to be the cause of the storm. Even in legendary days there is a pretty story that Mercury fell in love with Rhea (or the Earth), and wishing to do her a favor, gambled with the Moon, and won from her every seventieth part of the time she illumined the horizon, all of which parts he united together, making up five days, and added them to the Earth's year, which had previously consisted of only 360 days, and was now 365. There is not an age of the world, nor a people, who have not been gamblers. The Romans, the Greeks, the Asiatics--all have their games of chance. There was, indeed, a period in the history of the world when gambling was the amusement and recreation of kings and queens, professional men and clergymen. Even John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, played cards. The Rev. Caleb C. Colton was one of the luckiest of gamesters. He was a graduate of Cambridge, and the author of "Lacon, or Many Things in a Few Words." At one time in Paris he won $100,000. He left a large fortune, part of which he employed in forming a picture gallery at Paris. General Scott, the father-in-law of George Canning, made one of the largest winnings ever known. He won at White's one million dollars, owing to his sobriety and knowledge of the game of whist. Who loved his country more than Cato? And yet he was a great gambler. Guido, the painter, and Coquillart, a famous poet, were both inveterate gamblers. The great philosophers Montaigne and Descartes at an early age were seduced by the allurements of gambling. The generality of people throughout the world are of the opinion that gamblers are the worst people on the face of the earth. They are wrong, for I tell you there is ten times more rascality among men outside of the class they call gamblers than there is inside it. Person that the generality of people clas
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   225   226   227   228   229   230   231   232   233   234   >>  



Top keywords:

gamblers

 

gambling

 

people

 

chance

 

generality

 

father

 

fortune

 

forming

 
employed
 
General

picture

 

gallery

 
graduate
 

played

 

Methodism

 

founder

 

professional

 
clergymen
 

Wesley

 
Colton

luckiest

 
Things
 

gamesters

 

Cambridge

 

author

 

opinion

 

Descartes

 

Montaigne

 

seduced

 

allurements


inside
 

Person

 
rascality
 

philosophers

 

inveterate

 

dollars

 

sobriety

 

knowledge

 

million

 

Canning


largest

 

winnings

 

Coquillart

 

painter

 

famous

 

gambler

 
country
 

queens

 

George

 

consisted