"Have you heard the news?" "No, what news." "Why, about Bill
Jones; he went in back here to-night with only five dollars for a stake,
and he has just now gone home with _five hundred dollars_ in his
pocket." Then the boys slide out, and as soon as out in a dark corner,
they begin to enquire to see if a stake can be raised among them,
finding none, one or two being confidential clerks, go to the store,
bank or other place of business, and _borrow_ fifteen or twenty dollars,
having no doubt of their ability to win a few hundred dollars in a
little while, and then replace the _borrowed_ money without it ever
being known. Soon the _borrowed_ stake is in the hands of the dealer.
They repeat the drinks, and then _borrow_ some more in the same way,
which goes into the same hands as the first, and thus they continue
until the appearance of day-light, and then reeling to and fro under the
influence of the mean whiskey they have been drinking, and the ponderous
weight of their sins and crimes, they go to their rooms, cursing the day
on which they were born.
THEY HAVE LOST ALL SELF-RESPECT.
They are now at sea without chart or compass. When a man or woman loses
their self-respect, they are moral wrecks. "WANDERING STARS.
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