Deck Of Cards

Spoken：

During the north african campaign a bunch of soldier boys had been on a long hike

They arrived in a little town called casino

The next morning being Sunday several of the boys went to church

A sergeant commanded the boys in church

After the chaplain read the prayer the text was taken up next

Those of the boys that had a prayer book took them out

One boy had only a deck of cards and he spread them out

The sergeant saw the cards and said soldier put away those cards

After the service was over the soldier was taken prisoner and brought before the provost marshall

The marshall said sergeant why have you brought this man here

For playing cards in church sir was the response

The marshall asked the soldier and what have you to say for yourself son

Much sir replied the soldier

The marshall stated I hope so for if not I will punish you more than any man was ever punished

The soldier said sir I have been on the March for about six months

I have neither bible nor a prayer book but I hope to satisfy you sir with the purity of my intentions

And 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

When I see the trey I think of the father the son and the holy spirit

And when I see the four I think of the four evangelists who preached the gospel：there was matthewmarkluke 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 savedfive were foolish and were shut out

When I see the six it reminds me that in six days god made this heaven and earth

And 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 that

God saved when he destroyed the earth：there was noahhis wifetheir sons and their wives

And when I see the nine I think of the lepers our saviour cleansed and that nine of the ten didn't even thank him

When I see the ten I think of the ten commandments that god handed down to moses on a tablet 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 the queen of heaven

And the jack or knave is the devil

When I count the number of spots in a deck of cards I find 365 the number of days in a year

There are 52 cards the number of weeks in a year

There are four suits the number of weeks in a month

There are twelve picture cards the number of months in a year

There are thirteen tricks the number of weeks in a quarter

So you see sir my deck of cards serves me as a bible an almanac and a prayer book

And friends this is a true story

I know I was that soldier