Again, this sin works ruin by killing industry.
A man used to reaping scores or hundreds of dollars from the
gaming-table will not be content with slow work. He will say, "What is
the use of trying to make these fifty dollars in my store when I can
get five times that in half an hour down at 'Billy's'?" You never knew
a confirmed gambler who was industrious. The men given to this vice
spend their time not actively employed in the game in idleness, or
intoxication, or sleep, or in corrupting new victims. This sin has
dulled the carpenter's saw, and cut the band of the factory wheel,
sunk the cargo, broken the teeth of the farmer's harrow, and sent a
strange lightning to shatter the battery of the philosopher.
The very first idea in gaming is at war with all the industries of
society. Any trade or occupation that is of use is ennobling. The
street sweeper advances the interests of society by the cleanliness
effected. The cat pays for the fragments it eats by clearing the house
of vermin. The fly that takes the sweetness from the dregs of the cup
compensates by purifying the air and keeping back the pestilence.
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