During the North African Campaign, a bunch of soldier boys had been on a long hike and they arrived at a small town called Casino. The next morning, being Sunday, several of the boys went to church. A sergeant commanded the boys at 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, 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 marshal.    

The marshal said, "Sergeant, why have you brought this man here?" "For playing cards in church, sir." "And what have you to say for yourself, son?" "Much, sir," replied the soldier. The marshal said, "I hope so, or I shall punish you more than any man has ever been punished."

The soldier said, "Sir, I have been on a march for about six days, and I have 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 when I see the deuce, it reminds me that the bible is divided into two parts, the old and the new testament and when I see the three, 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. 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, and five were foolish and were shut out. When I see the six, it reminds me that in six days God made this great 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 God saved when he destroyed this earth. There was Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives. When I think of the nine, I think of the Lepers our saviour cleansed and that nine out of 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 all Mighty. When I see the queen, I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary who is Queen of Heaven, and the jack of knave is the devil. When I count the number of spots on a deck of cards, there are 365, the number of days in a year. There are 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year. There are four suites, the number of weeks in a month, there are twelve picture cards, the number of months in a year, and there are thirteen tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter."

"So you see, sir, my pack of cards serves me as a bible, almanac and a prayer book."

And friends, this story is true. I know. I was that soldier.

Words Spoken by "Tex Ritter"