"The Deck of Cards"

During the North African campaign, a bunch of soldier boys
had been on a long hike when 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 were 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;
And the "JACK" or "KNAVE" is the Devil;
And when I see the "QUEEN", I think of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, who is Queen of Heaven;
When I see the "KING", it reminds me
that there is but one King of Heaven, God Almighty;

When I count the number of spots on a deck of cards,
I find 365, the number of days in a year;
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.