Lucy Gelding; a tale of land and sea; showing the evil effects of gambling, as it is practiced upon the Atlantic Coast ..

Front matter

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Chapter I

Near the center of a beautiful city, in the eastern part of Massachusetts, may be seen to-day, a four-

story brick house, standing near the head of C

street.

Seven finely cut granite steps lead from the pavement to the front entrance, which is mimically guarded by two Newfoundland dogs in bronze. The bell and door knobs are of silver, beautifully chased, corresponding with the original door-plate, which, fifteen years ago, bore the name of Thomas Gelding.

In the rear of this building is a yard, thirty by one hundred feet, literally filled with trees, shrubs and flowers; at the further extremity is a small green-house, and the most perfectly formed japonicas worn at holiday, dancing or bridal parties, may be traced to this spot.

The furniture, for more than one reason, remains just as it was nearly a quarter of a century ago, with the exception of gas fixtures, which have been introduced during the last ten years, making it necessary to suspend chandeliers, affix side-lights and center-jets, from basement to attic, whose globes and numerous crystals, trembling and flashing, reflect the light in a tenfold degree.

At the time our story opens, this house was occupied by Thomas Gelding and wife, with their only child. Mr. Gelding had recently remodeled the interior of the house, and the first brilliant gathering held there subsequent, was on the fifteenth anniversary of Lucy’s birthday. No expense was spared in making this entertainment agreeable and elegant ; the Corinthian columns in the parlors were wreathed with evergreen, thickly studded with rare exotics, and at dessert, boquets of the same expensive flowers mingled with fruits of every clime, in lavish profusion.

Lucy was proud and self-willed, as any overindulged girl of fifteen would naturally be, but she possessed a noble, tender heart for all that, and often after expressing her opinion in decided terms, in opposition to her mother, she would, the next minute, throw her arms around her parent’s neck, and ask her forgiveness.

Mr. Gelding was a whole-souled, noble-hearted man of the world, enjoying everything money could buy, to its fullest extent. His business was importation, his income large; but there were others of his acquaintance in the same business,

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with equally large incomes, who frequently affirmed in their families, that they could by no means afford the reckless extravagance Gelding practiced ; yet he was apparently not in debt to any one ; there seemed to be a mystery about the man that his most intimate friends were unable or afraid to solve.

Lucy’s mother was a woman of deep piety, whose whole time was spent in trying to make her family happy in this life, and using her entire influence toward preparing them for happiness in the next. Her eyes were frequently filled with tears while looking at her husband and daughter, whom she devotedly loved, fearing the possibility of an eternal separation at death ; then she would retire to her closet and plead in prayer, as only a Christian wife and mother can, that the names of these two idolized beings might be found written upon the hands of the Lord of Hosts, when he should come to make up his jewels.

Chapter II

“ Mother,” said Lucy, the next morning after her party, “ did you notice George Alton last evening ?”

“ If you mean the gentleman wearing the garnet vest and large seal ring — yes.”

1 1 Well, isn’t he a splendid fellow, as we girls say? Oh, mother! those black curls are perfectly natural. His father is a millionaire of New York city, and I heard Mrs. Parkman tell Mrs. Hall, he was the greatest catch of the season ; do n’t you admire him, mother ?”

“ No, my dear, I do not.”

Lucy’s cheek paled as she turned suddenly toward her mother.

11 In my opinion, the man is a professional gambler.”

“ Why, mother ! how can you think so ? What did you see in him to form such an opinion ?”

“ A number of things, Lucy : I have lived in the city so many years, where every grade of society is constantly passing and repassing before the eye, that from being a close observer, I can read almost every person’s character at sight. You know it is very easy for you to detect persons who have been

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thoroughly instructed in dancing, by their manners and movements. Well, it is quite as easy for me to detect a gambler in the same way.”

“ You do n’t mean gambling, mother ; you mean simply card-playing. Now, how can there be any more sin in using that kind of card than conversation cards? all the young people use those.”

“ I consider playing for money a sin, whether it be on a billiard table, a card table, or a checker board. You know, Lucy, the Scriptures say, he that maketh haste to be rich shall suddenly come to want, and again, he that hasteth to be rich shall not be guiltless, and many times in the course of my life have I seen the truth of this Scripture verified in regard to gambling.”

“ Come, mother, do in all conscience desist ; no matter what subject is started, you will always prove your opinion by Scripture ; you have the whole Bible at your tongue’s end, and, as father says, it does seem as if that book was written expressly for your benefit. Now, mother, I no more believe George Alton is a gambler, than I believe father is, and you know he is the soul of honor.”

Mrs. Gelding’s eyes drooped over her sewing, and in a moment more Lucy saw the lashes were wet with tears.

“ Mother, dear mother,” she said, kneeling before her, 11 do not mind anything I say ; you know I must speak just what I think, but I would not injure your feelings ; you know I love you dearly. Father likes that man, for I heard him invite him to dine with us next Sabbath, and I thought by the way lie addressed him, lie had known liim before, for be said, 1 Drop in any time, George, just as you would at your father’s.’ ”

“ It is quite possible he has met him before,” said Mrs. Gelding. Being perfectly satisfied in her own mind in regard to the character of this stranger, and seeing the interest Lucy had taken in him, she meant if possible, to guard her only child from his influence, for with dismay she had noticed his fine eyes following her the entire evening.

“ Mary, my dear,” said Mr. Gelding, as he entered his wife’s dressing room that night, “ I have invited Mr. Alton to dine with us next Sunday. He was very polite to me when I was in New York last fall ; he intends stopping some time in this city, and, I presume, will call often ; let everything be number one, tfs usual, for my sake.”

“ The house and everything in it is at your disposal, Thomas, but I am very sorry he is invited here on the Sabbath. I prefer that day should be sacred to my God and my family.”

“ Now, Mary, if you were not the dearest wife a man ever had, I would give you a good lecture on your puritanical notions. If one goes to church three times on the Sabbath, where is the harm between services, of enjoying a turkey and a dish of oysters?”

“ No harm, providing they are cooked on Saturday, but that I expect you would object to.”

u Why, certainly, I wish the dinner warm for invited guests, but you need not attend to it, we have servants enough for any emergency. Trust

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me, Mary, I will not have anything done here on the Sabbath that will injure your Christian character. I am as tenacious of that at heart as you are ; but I believe if you were only half as good as you are, you would go to Heaven passage free, and I intend to go wherever you do, so you see I am safe enough.’’

“ But, Thomas, you know our servants have souls that would be injured just as much by breaking the Sabbath as mine would, and He who has said, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy,’ means what he says. ‘ Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap.’ I fully believe in that quaint little rhyme —

‘ A Sabbath profaned,

Whatsoever is gained,

Is a certain forerunner of sorrow.7 77

“How, Mary dear, just stop. I do believe the Bible is your chief study, morning, noon and night. I imagine St. Paul was n’t a circumstance. Oh dear, well,” he said, throwing himself on a lounge, “ if ten righteous men would have saved the fine old city of Sodom, I should think one such wife might save a family of three ; but we shall see if we live long enough ; as the old maid said by her coffin boards, ‘ If sister and I live , we shall want them.’ ”

Chapter III

“Bridget, was that you thundering round down stairs about two o’clock this morning ?”

“No, faith, ye don’t ketch me down stairs in the night after I once go up, I tell you, leastwise not for better than three months.”

“Why sure, it’s not timid ye be?”

“It’s enough to make a Saint timid,” said Bridget, crossing herself, “to have such a chap as that up in the parlor hanging round a house three months together.”

“ Shut up now, Bridget, if the master should hear ye say that, ye’d have marching orders before breakfast.”

“It’s not a foot I’d stir till I’d told him what I’d seen with my two eyes.”

“What did ye see?”

“ Something to make your hair stand on end, that jist, Patrick Marooney.”

“ Oh hush, now,” said Patrick, turning his eyes toward the basement windows, “ye ’re always trying to scare somebody to death. Who do ye suppose is afraid of anything you ever saw ?”

“ Oh nobody, of course ! did I say they was ? I might have known a gentleman from Limerick

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with yellow hair and pants to match wouldn’t ; believe a Corkonian.”

“ Come now, Bridget, if ye’ll tell me what ye did see, I ’ll buy ye one of them sky-blue things to wear in your hair next time I go down street.”

“Why if I should tell ye, ye’d jist be poking fun about it every time John Mullen comes here.”

“ No I wont either, so say on, don’t be all night about it.”

j . “Well I’ll tell ye for the hair-pin ye promised me ; but if ever ye say anything about it to anybody, I’ll scare ye to death some night, or my name is not Bridget Farley.

“Now ye see,” says Bridget (glancing at the windows), “one night about three months ago, I sat up late to iron so as to get time to go to my cousin’s funeral, and stay to the wake of his mother, and it was half past twelve when I hung the last bosomed shirt over the horse. So after I ’d put away my ironing things I thought I ’d go into the cellar for a hod of coal, for I knew I should oversleep myself next morning. Well, I’d jist got into that entry, when I heard a terrible swish swash in the back yard ; it sounded jist like that big grapevine in the corner that runs over the wall. I stopped as if I ’d been shot, and listened a minute ; jist then I happened to think I’d forgot to shut up Miss Lucy’s spaniel, and I thought to myself the puppy’s tearing round among the flowers. So I opened the door and looked out into the yard, and saw the spaniel looking up into that grapevine. Well I went out and had jist stooped down to take the pup by the nap of the neck, when that scamp up in the parlor dropped down from somewhere spank, into the yard. I dropped the dog and run for the house.

“ 1 The devil take the hindmost,’ said he, and started after me.

“ Up I went four flights of stairs, with him at my heels ; my tongue hung out of my mouth, I was so scared ; and ’peared like my feet stuck straight out behind. When I got to my chamber, I fell flat to the floor, I was so tired.

“ 1 Now,’ says he, 4 I’ll teach you to be watching me. If ever I hear of you saying a word about this, I ’ll cut your tongue out of your head.’

44 1 never spoke a word, but jist opened my eyes a little, and see him standing there with a big bundle under his arm and a man’s coat sleeve hanging part way from it.

44 That was what made me so sick when the priest came to see me. I confessed it all to him, and when he was here last week he told me he was on that fellow’s track, and if ever the law required, he could explain the contents of that big bundle.

44 There, don’t ye think that was enough to be scared at? I guess I’ve earned my hair-pin, haint I?”

44 Oh, do hold your tongue about your hair-pin. I would n’t meet that man on the stairs to-night for all the hair-pins in the city.”

44 Well, don’t forget the one ye promised me. Here, take your light and budge ; if ye stay down

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liere much longer, my word on it, ye ’ll meet him some place.”

Patrick took his light, and had just reached that fatal entry, when the bell wire at the front door | received a violent pull, the terminus of which was directly over his head. In his fright he made a rush for the kitchen door just as Bridget, under full sail, had started for the hall. The collision was disastrous, bumping heads and smashing two oil lamps, the liquid being pretty equally divided between clothing and carpet.

“ What the deuce is after ye, Patrick Marooney ? ye ’d better save your hide than to be smashing ’round this way, cracking a body’s head open.”

“If ye think ye ’re hurt, what do ye think of me? my forehead is jist caved in.”

Another peal from the bell sent Bridget to the hall door.

The arrival was a dark, fierce looking man, about forty years of age, bearing a strong resemblance to the generality of City Policemen. He hurriedly inquired if a Mr. Alton was stopping there.

“ Yes, sir,” said Bridget ; ” what name, if ye please.”

“I will introduce myself,” said the stranger, stepping into the hall.

Bridget threw open the parlor door, and the man walked boldly in. He ran his eye over the group of persons until they rested upon George.

“Mr. Alton,” said he, “James Hays, of the Boston Police. I would like a few minutes’ conversation with you alone, if you please.”

“ Step into my library,” said Mr. Gelding, leading the way.

The policeman passed round to where George stood, and walked in with him. Both ladies noticed the pallor upon Alton’s countenance, but neither they nor Mr. Gelding made any remark concerning the stranger. In about half an hour George returned, saying the stranger called about some business he had been transacting for him, which made it necessary to leave town early in the morning, and with Mr. Gelding’s permission he would invite the gentleman to room with him, as they were to travel together.

1 1 Certainly,” said Mr. Gelding, “ you are at liberty to invite whom you please to stop with you.”

George thanked him, and bidding the ladies good evening, went to his room with the stranger.

“ Good on your head, Patrick Marooney,” said Bridget, as she descended to the basement, “ there’s a magistrate up in the parlor, come after that curly pate, and I hope if he ever leaves this house, he ’ll

die before he gets back, bad luck to him there’s

the parlor bell, what’s up now,” she continued, flying up stairs.

“Bridget, I wish you to have an early breakfast,” said Mrs. Gelding, “as Mr. Alton leaves in the morning boat.”

“Yes, ma’am, is it the chickens or beefsteak that ye ’ll have ?”

f A TALE OF LAND AND SEA. 17

“ Both, Bridget, with an extra amount of short biscuits.”^\

“Yes, ma’am.”

And down went Bridget to prepare for the early meal, and also to communicate her suspicions to Patrick, that George Alton had done something awful, and this officer did n’t mean to leave or forsake him until he had him under lock and key.

“Well, don’t tell me anything more to-night,” said Patrick ; “ what with your scarecrow stories and the smash up, I won’t shut my eyes till morning.’ ’

Chapter IV

About two hours after George and the police officer left the city, Mr. Gelding received a letter from an old friend in Pennsylvania. The letter stated that one of his sons, who was in business in New York city, had been missing since last September. No clue to the mystery had been obtained until last week, when it was ascertained that an Irishman, who was formerly porter in the young man’s store, had seen him on the night of his disappearance, enter a gambling saloon, in company with three others, all of whom the porter knew. The investigation would take place that week in New York, and the letter concluded by urging Mr. Gelding, by the memory of their early friendship, to be present at the trial, that the bereaved parent might have some one to sustain him, should the death of his son be proved.

Mr. Gelding at once made preparations for his journey, with a sad heart. He had always loved his friend James Salter, he was deeply pained on account of his affliction, and his mind was troubled about some other things, which he did not see fit to disclose.

“Oh, how lonesome it is here, with no gentleman

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in the house,” said Lucy, the next morning after his departure. “ Father is all our life, and George has been here so long, it seems like losing a brother to have him leave. I am going down to have a frolic with Milo, and see if that will cheer me up:”

“When you come in, Lucy, come up to my dressing room. I wish to speak with you.”

“Yes, mother ;” and away she fled down the back stairs and out into the yard, leaving Bridget to close all the doors, or, as she said, stand a smart chance of being drawn up the chimney with the cooking-stove, in such a draught.

In a few minutes, Lucy returned.

“See, mother, what I have found in the yard, under the old grapevine — a five-dollar gold piece that has been used as a button ; see, an eye has been inserted in it. Milo was digging after a little squirrel, and threw it out of the ground ; but how do you suppose it came there ?”

“ I cannot imagine, Lucy.”

“ I showed it to Bridget, and she said she saw ten just like it lying on George’s dressing table one morning, when she went in to make the bed.” - “ An odd taste for buttons, certainly, and rather

expensive,” said Mrs. Gelding.

“Well, I will have something to tease father about now. I will tell him I have discovered a gold mine in our yard far preferable to other mines, for the gold is already coined. I will drop it into this vase, mother, until he comes home. Oh! what was it you wished to speak to me about ?”

“ Something, my dear, that lies heavy on my heart, and has for a long time — I mean your intimacy with George Alton.”

“ Why, mother, I thought we were all intimate with him ; how can a family entertain a person three months and not be so ?”

“ My intimacy has consisted in gratifying your father’s wishes, nothing more. For some reason, George Alton is exercising unbounded influence over him. The fact has become so evident to me, ; that I thought the wiser course would be, not to mention the subject to him until, in the Providence j of God, something should occur to open his eyes to his infatuation.”

“ Do you think father would be influenced by him if he was bad ?”

“We will drop that part of the subject, Lucy, it is of yourself I wish to speak. You said, this morning, George seemed like a brother. Are you sure he is not dearer to you than a brother ?”

In an instant, Lucy’s color assumed a crimson hue, mounting to the temples.

“ I think a great deal of him,” she said.

“Has he ever expressed affection for you?”

“ He has, mother.”

“ When ?”

“ Oh, a number of times during the last month.”

“ Did you return it?”

“Not as he wished ; he was anxious for an engagement. I acknowledged my preference for him, and was about consenting to an engagement, when, in answer to my fears that you would object, he became excited, and called you the old woman

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From that instant, I would not engage myself until I could forget the expression. I told him, if father should hear that, he would drop his acquaintance. He said, ‘Have no fears of your father, Lucy, he is not in my way at all.’ ”

“ Thank you, Lucy, for your delicate feeling for me, but Mr. Alton’s likings or dislikings of myself have not a feather’s weight in my mind ; it is for your temporal and eternal good that I speak. My opinion of him is the same that it was the first time I saw him. That he is a professional gambler, I have no doubt. How would you feel, Lucy, united to a man of that character for life, forsaken by him for his gambling associates, evening after evening, and frequently for the whole night ? Gambling is a vice that never goes alone, but draws, almost invariably, drink and licentiousness in its train. It is one of the surest weapons Satan employs against the soul of man. We frequently hear of a reformed drunkard, but how seldom of a reformed gambler. A person reformed from that vice may be marked as possessing unusual strength of mind. Could you be happy, Lucy, knowing, as you would if you married that man, that you was but one of the many who received his protestations of affection ? What would you do in those circumstances ?”

“What would I do? I would pack my things and start for home. Do you think J would spend my life with a drinking, gambling, licentious husband? The verv picture of such a life is horrible.”

“ Then what must the reality be to the poor heart-broken wife ?” continued her mother. “ The picture is not overdrawn, Lucy, but is the daguerreotype of hundreds in this city, who pass for respectable men. The health and lives of their families are being sacrificed by a knowledge of. their disgraceful characters. My heart bleeds for the young men of this city. They are enticed into this sin by every possible allurement that can be held out, according to the different grades of society; from the gorgeous saloon, brilliantly lighted by chandeliers, to the one-story beer shop, each grade can seek its level.

“About ten years ago, the police in a certain city made a pounce , as they termed it, upon a company of men, assembled one Saturday night for the purpose of gambling. They were taken to the police office for the night, and Sabbath morning, were handcuffed and marched through the streets to jail, to await their trial on Monday. Part of those men belonged to some of the first families in the city, their wives knowing nothing of their situation until Monday evening ; think of the disgrace. And having seen the deadly effects of this vice illustrated in a number of families of my acquaintance, I am determined to use my influence in its suppression, by nipping it in the bud, whenever and wherever I have an opportunity.”

“Well, mother, why did you refuse my acceptance of that beautiful set of chess that was presented me?”

“For this very reason, my dear. I think

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Christian parents have no idea what they are doing when they allow all these games to be played in miniature in their parlors.”

“ Why, mother, the Rev. Mr. Mason is in the constant habit of playing checkers with his little daughter, and when I was in the country last summer, Mr. Gould, who was preparing for the ministry, played checkers ; when he could not find a set handy, he would use corn.”

“ Well, Lucy, what was your opinion of a young gentleman, preparing to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ, whose labor would consist in warning sinners to escape the punishment of hell, by breaking off their sins, among the most glaring of which, will be presented intemperance and gambling, also in exhorting Christians to set such an example before the world as should induce men to glorify their Father which is in Heaven, at the same time, sitting down publicly and playing checkers. What did you think of him ?”

“Well, I must confess, mother, I have thought much less of him since, than I did previously, and I wondered whether he would ever baptize a company of young men, administer the communion, and then go home and have a game of checkers. I thought of this, from the fact, that the gentleman who preached on the Sabbath, spent the entire Saturday evening previous, playing checkers in uncle’s store.”

“Well now, my child, just note the influence such conduct has upon the world. In my opinion, nine-tenths of all the infidelity and gambling in this country, is caused by the inconsistent lives of professed Christians. The majority of our parlors at the present day, are a gambling saloon in miniature. Chess, dice and a miniature billiard table, are very common.

“I know a Christian mother, who weeps and prays with her sons, warning them to shun the alluring scenes of vice, and the same evening will stand in her parlor, and play a game of billiards with those sons. How long would it take those boys, when free from restraint, to acquire a taste for that game on a larger scale? Many of our Christian homes have become, in fact, the primary department of the gambling saloon.

“ The frenzied love of war in France, in the days of Napoleon First, would not have reached the height it did, but for the paper caps and wooden swords provided for children by their parents, a few years previous ; and gambling would not have deluged this country as it has, but for the encouragement it has received from professed Christians, by permitting it to enter their homes, in miniature form.

“Now, my request, Lucy, is this: that you will not engage yourself or your affections any further, until the character of George Alton can be proved.”

“ I will not, mother, be assured.”

CHAPTER Y.

On the evening of the day succeeding Mr. Gelding’s departure, he arrived in Hew York. As the boat neared the wharf, he saw his friend awaiting him in a carriage; they drove at once to his hotel and proceeded to their private parlor. The wearing suspense Mr. Salter had endured, was plainly written upon his countenance.

“ 1 had not heard of your affliction, James, until I received your letter last evening,” said Mr. Gelding, “ and in that you forgot to mention which of your sons was missing.”

“Did I? Well, no wonder, Thomas; I have been so nearly distracted for three months that I am not capable of doing anything correctly. It is your namesake, Thomas Gelding Salter, that is missing, or dead I might say, for he undoubtedly is : as I wrote you, he was seen to enter a gambling saloon, apparently in great haste, and we have not been able to trace him any farther. I never knew him to gamble, but whether he has been enticed into it, or whether he was drawn in on that night on account of the large sum of money he was known to have upon his person, I cannot tell. I only know lie is gone, and my heart has been wrung, Thomas, oh, how cruelly, bitterly.”

“ I feel for you deeply,” said Mr. Gelding, “as I would for a brother ; but what design have you in view, in regard to the prosecution ?”

“ Why, I have heard that the porter, who saw him enter, noticed particularly the coat he wore. My sons are very peculiar about their dress, being desirous of having it different, if possible, from any one else ; to this end, they had coats alike last spring, the cloth of Lincoln green, and the buttons were five-dollar gold pieces, with their initials marked just above the eagle. Each coat had ten buttons, fifty dollars. The porter noticed these buttons as he passed up the street before him. Now, if it is possible to trace the coat, we can probably trace the murderer.”