The Deck of Cards
During the North African campaign,
a bunch of soldier boys had been
on a long hike and they arrived in
a little town called Cascina.
The next morning being Sunday,
several of the boys went to Church.
A sergeant commanded the boys in
Church and after the Chaplain
had read the prayer, the text
was taken up next.
Those of the boys who had
a prayer book took them out, but
this one boy had only a deck
of cards, and so he spread
them out.
The Sergeant saw the cards
and said ,"Soldier put away
those cards."
After the services was over,
the soldier was taken prisoner
and brought before the
Provost Marshall.
The Marshall said, "Sergeant,
why have you brought the man here?"
"For playing cards in church, Sir."
"And what have you got to say for
yourself, son?"
"Much, Sir."Replied the soldier
The Marshall said, "I hope so, for if
not I shall punish you more than any
man was ever punished."
The soldier said, "Sir, I've been on
the march for about six days, I had
neither Bible nor prayer book, but I
hope to satisfy you, Sir, with the
purity of my intentions."
With that, the boy started his story.
You see Sir, when I look at the "ACE",
it reminds me that there is but one God.
And the "DEUCE" reminds me that the Bible
is divided into two parts; The Old and
the New Testaments.
And when I see the "TREY", I think of
the Father, the Son,and the Holy Ghost
And when I see the "FOUR", I think of
the four Evangelists
who preached the Gospel.
There was Matthew, Mark,Luke and John.
And when I see the "FIVE",
it reminds me of the five
wise virgins who trimmed
their lamps.
There were ten of them,
five were wise and were saved.
Five were foolish and were shut out.
And when I see the "SIX", it reminds
me that in six days,God made this great
heaven and earth.
When I see the "SEVEN", it reminds me
that on the seventh day,
God rested from His great work.
And when I see the "EIGHT", I think
of the eight righteous persons God
saved when He destroyed this earth.
There was Noah,his wife, their three
sons and their wives.
And when I see the "NINE",
I think of the lepers our Saviour
cleansed.And nine out of the
ten didn't even thank Him.
When I see the "TEN", I think
of the Ten Commandments God
handed down to Moses on a
table of stone.
When I see the "KING", it reminds
me that there is but one
King of Heaven, God Almighty.
And when I see the "QUEEN",
I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who is Queen of Heaven.
And the "JACK" or "KNAVE"
is the Devil.
When I count the number of
spots on a deck of cards,
I find 365, the number of
days in a year
Then There's 52 cards, the number
of weeks in a year
There's 4 suits, the number of
weeks in a month,
There's 12 picture cards, the
number of months in a year
There's 13 tricks,the number of
weeks in a quarter,
So you see, Sir, my pack of cards
serves me as a Bible,
Almanac and Prayer Book.
"And friends, this is a true story,
because I was that soldier." |