APPENDIX. NOTICES OF THIS WORK, LETTERS, &c. [From the Baltimore Lutheran Observer, edited by the Rev. B. KURTZ, D. D.] AN EXPOSURE OF THE ARTS AND MISERIES OF GAMBLING; designed especially as a Warning to the Youthful and Inexperienced, against the Evils of that odious and destructive Vice. By J. H. GREEN. Revised by a literary Friend. We have read this interesting work with feelings of inexpressible horror for the patent "gambler," and of deep commiseration for his unhappy victims. Though we have no acquaintance whatever, either theoretically or practically, with the art of gambling, yet we have always regarded it as a species of robbery, and a prolific source of varied crime, deserving the universal and most unqualified condemnation of all the friends of virtue, and of all good citizens. But the iniquitous practice, as developed in Mr. Green's book, in all its windings, and deceptions, and temptations, misery, wretchedness, desolating moral tendency, ruin and destruction both as regards time and eternity, is absolutely appalling, and almost incredible. Mr. Green, writing as he has done, from sad experience, has produced a remarkable book, which ought to be read by all, and especially by the young and unwary, and which, if it receives but a tithe of the attention it seems to us to merit, will rouse the public from its stupor on the subject of gambling, and bring about an effort not unlike that employed in the cause of the glorious temperance reformation, which will not relax until the hellish machinations and cruelties of gaming are swept from the land. The history of young Notice by Rev. B. Kurtz, D. D.- Letter from President Bascom. C., of Va., crowded as it is with the most astounding and thrilling events, is of itself calculated to enlist every bosom, in which a heart not entirely bereft of humanity pulsates, in a manly and fearless effort against this dreadful engine of degradation and ruin to thousands of the young men of our country. The public owe a debt of gratitude to Mr. Green, the noble pioneer in this branch of reform. We feel disposed to enlarge, and dwell at length on this subject; but the following very clear and emphatic remarks from the vigorous pen of Dr. Bascom, president of Transylvania University, in a letter to the author, render it unnecessary to say any more in relation to Mr. G.'s book. TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY, Jan. 20, 1844. My Dear Sir: In compliance with your request, I have examined your book on the subject of Gambling, and, at your further request, hasten to say to you what I think of it. Of the merits of your book, so far as it treats of gambling as a science, I am not prepared to speak with confidence, as I happen to be alike ignorant of theory and practice in the case, and on this part of the subject can only say, that it appears to me entirely certain, from the internal evidence of the book itself, that the author understands his subject well and thoroughly, and is as perfectly at home, in the tricks and mysteries, the windings and duplications, of the art, as he is in depicting the graver villanies, the infamy and misery, attendant upon the practice of it. I have always regarded the vice of gambling, in all its possible forms, as low and disreputable in character, as well as utterly base and demoralizing in tendency. My extensive intercourse with society, in all its classes and gradations, during a term of thirty years, had taught me but too much of the nature, extent, and evils of gambling, as one of the most degrading vices of any age or country; but until I read your book, I had no adequate conception of the kind and amount of villany, to which every gambler must of neces Letters from President Bascom and the Hon. Judge Eggleston. sity become a pander and a party. Your exposure of the whole subject, in all its complicated deformity, must, I think, operate in the most favorable results, and be productive of a great and of direct and ultimate good. No well-regulated mind, it seems to me, can be made acquainted with the facts you disclose, especially the more attractive arts and practices, relied upon by the initiated of the profession, without a degree of contempt for the gambler and his felon art, which must exert a corrective, as well as conservative influence, wherever it is felt. Before closing this brief notice, I take the liberty, without your knowledge or consent, of claiming for your work the merit of originality, for I believe no one has preceded you in the path you have chosen. Your book is unique in kind, and must explain itself. Others have described and denounced, but you have given us the anatomy of gambling, secundum artem; and as a pioneer in this department of moral reform, allow me to bid you God speed, and wish you and your cause abundant success. Mr. J. H. GREEN, of Cincinnati, Ohio. H. B. BASCOM. [From the Hon. Judge EGGELSTON.] MADISON, Indiana, May 13, 1844. Dear Sir I have been so much engaged since I received your book on Gambling, that I have not been able to give it more than a cursory reading. My absence from home until Friday evening last will account for my not complying with your request before, by giving you my opinion of its tendency to lessen, if not entirely correct, the enormous and crying evil it assails. My opinion is, that it cannot but have the effect of greatly diminishing Letter from the Hon. Judge Eggleston. the truly frightful malady it seems your wish to cure, by putting the ignorant and unwary upon their guard against the insidious wiles and consummate knavery of those who follow gambling as a profession, and would lure them to their ruin. I consider the crusade you have set on foot against professional gambling, on a par with that which is going on against intemperance, and as necessary to the moral regeneration of the social state; and I feel assured that you will carry with you, as you certainly ought, the sincere approbation and cordial support of every virtuous man and woman in the country. The approving smiles of Heaven and your own conscience, which are worth more than all besides, will assuredly be yours. You may expect strong resentments and determined opposition from those whose practices you attack and expose. But this is the case with all who would reform mankind, and oppose the interests of others. You should brave it all; and if you succeed, you will have the applause, as your efforts will deserve to have, the good will and support of all whose opinions are worth any good man's having or desiring. May God assist you, and crown your labors with success! Yours, &c. M. C. EGGLESTON. [From the Louisville Journal, edited by G. D. PRENTICE.] GREEN ON GAMBLING. We have the best authority for saying that Mr. Green thoroughly understands all the mysteries of gambling. He knows, for he has practised the tricks by which the unwary are swindled out of their money by the accomplished gamester; and he has completely exposed them in his book on the subject. All who are anxious to understand the depth of the infamy Notice by George D. Prentice, and by Nathan Guilford. of gambling, as it is practised, should read these pages. No man, once made acquainted with the kind of swindling to which he is exposed, would venture to play'a game with a professional blackleg. Mr. Green has proved, to the satisfaction of many in this city, that, by glancing at the backs of cards, he can tell their faces, whether the backs are plain or figured. The experiment has been tried here repeatedly, and, in every instance, he designated the various cards that were offered him by merely looking at their backs. What he knows is known to the class to which he belonged. Hence no man can play with those who understand the mysteries of gambling, without losing. Mr. Green deserves the thanks of the community for unveiling the iniquities of gambling. He has been successful in forming anti-gambling societies here and elsewhere. He proceeds hence to the west and south, where we hope he will meet with the success he deserves in his efforts to banish this stupendous vice from the land. He carries the highest testimonials. [From the Cincinnati Daily Atlas, edited by There are some vices of so seductive a character, that men will hardly abstain from them, even if one rise from the dead to persuade them. Of this sort is gambling, which prevails in every state of society, from the most savage to the most civilized, and has, we think, infested the human species from the earliest ages-every where condemned and denounced by the wise and the experienced. If we mistake not, it flourishes especially in the extremes of barbarism and of artificial refinement, alluring the naked savage into the most fatal excesses, and |