Two doughty knights, clad cap-a-pie in burnished mail, once journeyed forth in search of martial adventure. Their noble steeds all caparisoned for war, both wandered up and down through the world, defending the fair and protecting the weak. Betimes they chance to meet where stood in majestic beauty a bronze statue of victory. In her right hand the goddess clasped a sword, while in graceful pose her left rested upon an Ægis richly wrought in the precious metals. Approaching from opposite directions, to one warrior the shield appeared as of gold, while to the other it was of silver. “Comely, Sir Knight,” said one, “comely and noble is this figure.” “Yea, thou hast spoken truly,” was the reply. “Precious, very precious,” rejoined the first, “must be yon golden targe.” “Nay, Sir Knight, it is of silver, I trow.” “By my lady, thou liest,” quickly came the hot retort. Then, prancing chargers well in hand, with lances lowered to deadly level, they prepared for the “wager of battle.” Both were unhorsed in the onslaught. Regaining an upright posture, with swords drawn to renew the duel, each observed that his reverse of the shield was what the other had contended for. Moral: It is wise to look first upon both sides of the subject. Not so, it is evident, has it been with books heretofore devoted to a discussion of gambling. Their authors professed an exposition True, I believe with Sir Walter Raleigh, that out of history may be gathered a policy no less wise than eternal; “by the comparison and application of other men’s forepassed miseries with our own like errors and ill-deservings.” But why did it not occur to these writers that circumstances should not be recorded merely because they have happened; that events deserve memorial only because they illustrate some great principle; because some inference is to be drawn from them, which may increase the happiness or enlarge “Whose powers at once combat ye, and control, Whose magic bondage each lost slave enjoys.” How would you extirpate the evil, if such it is? Expose a folly, you may say, and wisdom will turn from it. You would have us believe, perhaps, that: “Wisdom from heaven received her birth; Her beams transmitted to the subject Earth.” “This great empress of the human soul Does only with imagined power control, If restless passion, by rebellious sway, Compels the weak usurper to obey.” So far as the history of gambling has ignored causes and neglected remedies, it is incomplete. That it is deficient in both is my reason for this book. Some one should begin the subject where other authors have deserted it. I have long made a study of gaming in all its aspects and relations; aiming, the while, at breadth, impartiality and thoroughness. At first my reading was not conducted with a view to authorship. I desired information for its own sake. As a gamester, I sought the philosophy of gaming. What is chance? How far does it influence all mankind and circumscribe their efforts? What is gambling, in the broadest sense of the term? Is gaming wrong per se: i.e., absolutely vicious? Where in human Such were the problems that confronted I have dallied with fickle fortune for years. As gamester, I anticipated prejudices against the pursuit. My deductions are amply fortified, therefore, from the mature studies of great and wise men. I did not expect my book to stand unsupported. It is substantiated, throughout, by the teachings of profound and impartial philosophers. |