The Timely Warning.*

praying fathers . How such a young man got to the gaming-table I have never ascertained ; but rising one night a while before twelve , after vainly attempting to snatch sleep among the roaches and more offensive vermin , I discovered him there , excited with liquor ; furiously excited with the gambler ' s madness—worse than delirium tremens itself—and in a rajrid process of being plucked by the experienced scoundrels around him . The siht shocked me ;

g I was quite unprepared for it . Through my conversation with him the previous day , I was confident he knew little or nothing of cards , a thing easy enough seen , by the way , in his awkward style of handling them , and that he would not rise from that dangerous place wdiile he had a dime left in his pocket . After standing by for a considerable time , during which dollar after dollar disappeared from his pile to enlarge that of his opponents , I took a

chair close by him , and leaned my elbows upon the table in real distress . A square piece of tobacco lay there—a plug I think such things are called—¦ with a knife by it . Mechanically I took them up , and began , thoughtlessly , to chip the edges of the tobacco . While doing so , the young man reached his hands in my direction for the pack of cards , it being his deal , and exposed his wristbands to my view 7 . By the flash of the candles I observed that they were

fastened with gold buttons , having Masonic emblems—the Square and the Compasses—on them , a sign I never fail to see , when within my purview . A thought occurred to me . This is a Mason ; I will warn him of his danger ; so with the knife I cut deeply in the tobacco the same emblems , the Square and the Compasses , and , laying it down with the knife before him , as if I supposed they were his property , I arose and left the table . I could see that his eye caught the emblem instantly , and that he understood me .

It was a curious thing to observe him then . He went on dealing the cards , but so listlessly and carelessly as to forfeit the deal . He laid his forehead in his hands , thoughtfully , and his hands upon the table . Once or twice he counted his little pile of 11101163 ' , now reduced to a very trifle . He got up for a drink of water , and walked in an uncertain manner , to and fro ; sat down again , played his game out , and , by the evident co-operation of his adversaries ,

won it ; got up again , drank , and took a longer walk ; played again and won . And then , as with a power given him at that instant from on high , he threw down his cards with startling vehemence , fell on his knees , raised his hands aloft to Heaven , and , with a mi ghty voice , repeated an oath that he would " never , never , NEVER gamble again , so help me Goo ! " I sat by his side all that niht bathing his head in cold waterand that

g , saved him , I think , from a terrible attack of brain fever—saved him for a lovely girl , to whom he was even then betrothed—saved him to be the father of as charming a child as ever sprung like an olive-shoot by human feetsaved him to become one of the best officers in one of the best Grand Lodges in the land—saved him to become one of the best correspondents and truest friends—a Mason , with whom I hope , at the Resurrection Day , to rise .

Nor is this the whole story , for one of the gamblers , to whom the knife and tobacco really belonged , seeing the Square and Compasses cut on his p lug , sat with me all that night at my brotherly work , avowed himself , too , a Mason—declared , in language more ardent than was necessary ( for under other circumstances , I should have called it blasphemy ) , that , had he known the young gentleman was a Mason , he was essentially d—d if he would have

played a game with him ; and the next morning , learning the exact amount ' that had been won , collected it from the others and returned it to him . That gambler took a step in the right direction , consequent upon the rebukes , compliments , and counsels , which , combined in equal doses , I administered to him , and quit the liver for ever ; opened a book-store , became a grain dealer , a dry goods merchant , and made money at all these things ; was elected sheriff of the county , and still holds that position ; and , to conclude the story , I still have the plug of tobacco in my possession , with the ori ginal Square and Compasses cut upon it !