TOBACCO.


FOR BOYS.



MOST boys are inquisitive, and, I have noticed, are most inquisitive about that which they have been positively forbidden to pry into. If father or mother says they must know nothing about a certain thing, that, of all others, seems to be the thing they wish to know most about. Frequently, I am sorry to say, they disobey their parents' command, and set about gaining a personal knowledge of the forbidden thing; and when they have learned all about it, and have their curiosity satisfied, they are ready to say, "Oh, that I had believed what was told me!" Now I want to tell the boys about tobacco, and I hope they will believe what I say, without a personal experience.

Every boy who reads this article has doubtless seen tobacco. Some people smoke it, some chew it, others snuff and dip it. What do they use it for? Scientific men tell us they all use it for the same reason, because of the poison it contains; and that if the poison were extracted, no one would care for tobacco. The name of this poison is nicotine. It is almost as deadly as prussic acid. When it is first taken, it will cause dizziness, vomiting (for proof, watch the boy who is learning to smoke), and bad taste in the mouth. Now take a larger dose, and you will have congestion of the brain; and if you live through that, you will find that your memory has been much injured and your courage weakened. Lastly, tobacco causes death.

These are the effects of the poison when first taken, and when taken in large doses. When taken in small doses, continually, as in smoking or chewing, the effect is not so violent, but rather an intoxicating, half-asleep, easy, quiet feeling which, after awhile, people learn to love, instead of the wide-awake clear mind and tender conscience which they ought to love, and which I hope every one of my readers possesses.  Every one has to learn to use tobacco, for no one likes it at first. And I assure you it is no easy task to gain the mastery of the poison, which it contains; and after you have mastered the habit, you find, to your sorrow, that the habit has at the same time mastered you. Now let us see if I am not right.

Suppose a man who is in the habit of using tobacco, "runs out;" he is a long way from a store, and if it were not for tobacco he would not go there for a week or more; what will his tobacco appetite say to him? 

"Go today!" "Don't put it off!" "Go right now and get some tobacco!" But suppose he really cannot go; what will his appetite say to him now?" Go to one of your neighbors and beg some!" And I have seen men do just as it said. So, you see, tobacco may actually make a beggar of a man. Some boys think it will make them look manly to use it. Does the one just described look manly, begging!

The boy who begins to use tobacco may have a tender conscience and gentle manners; he may be kind, obedient, happy, and truthful. But it will soon be found that his manly habit has destroyed his tender conscience; in place of gentleness it has made him coarse; kindness is displaced by rough, unkind acts; disobedience takes the place of obedience; and oh, how many untruths it helps him to tell! Truly, tobacco hurts the morals, and deadens the conscience.  Boys, if you want a home in God's kingdom, don't use tobacco.




GEO. B. STARR.




TOBACCO.



FOR GIRLS



THIS may seem a strange heading for an article, but as I know of some girls who use tobacco, you will excuse the heading.

I have asked boys, when I have seen them using tobacco, how they would like to see their sisters learning to smoke or chew; and the answer always is, "I would not like it at all." This is the way boys feel about their sisters using tobacco. 

But have not girls as good reason to say the same of their brothers? If tobacco will defile a girl, will it not a boy? And ought not boys to be just as nice and pure as girls? I think so.

But now of the girls who use tobacco. In some of the Southern States women and girls use it, and seem to think it all right as firmly as men and boys in the North do for them to use it. The practice is called "dipping snuff."

The snuff is put into a little tin box resembling a blacking box, or something nicer if they can afford it. A small stick is then whittled to use as a dipper, one end of which is chewed until it makes quite a brush; some fasten a small piece of sponge to the stick, with which they dip it, putting it into their mouths, and rubbing it over their gums and teeth. 

You can imagine how it looks.  The effect is nearly the same as that of chewing or smoking, since the poison is the same. So you see even women and girls, with naturally delicate tastes, can learn to love so defiling and filthy a habit as "dipping snuff." And they become so attached to it as to be unable to control their appetites, even in the presence of strangers.

Unless such overcome and through grace become pure again, as God designed they should be, I am afraid the Lord Jesus will find no place for them in his kingdom.




GEO. B. STARR