[To an Brnoa or an •'arscuros."J
Sin.,—Perhaps the best answer to " What is the ethical arga. ment against betting?" is another question, " Why has betting such a deteriorating influence on the mind and character ? " That it has such an effect can hardly be gainsaid by any one who has watched a racing crowd, a bridge-sodden circle, a football cup-tie assemblage, or any other form of the gambling fever. Even amongst its higher votaries in the scale of life and society, does it not impress an indelible stamp of hardness and worldliness on our men, and, alas ! as visibly on our women also? Even in the mild form of a steamer's sweep—so pleasant a form of distraction for the first few days—does not the thought often arise of the restlessness and the dissatisfac- tion of the young fellow, say, who can ill afford the daily lose of his 2s. 6d. or 5s., and who looks with envy and hope deferred on the rich man, who so often seems to carry off the prize, not caring whether he does so or not, and who at his best must feel in his turn dissatisfied and uneasy at raking in the stakes of his poorer and unlucky fellow-passengers P I think, until a better solution can be offered, that the argu- ment against gambling of all sorts and degrees may be founded on the ever-abiding existence of the parasite that clings to the " root of all evil," which is so common a defect in moat of us, and which requires constant fighting and striving against, and that is not money, be it remembered, but the "love
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