A Unique Presentation of a Truth Important to Every Child and Youth.
THE LESSON—That Indulgence in injurious habits undermines the moral and physical structure and is a barrier to true success.
The chalk talk here presented is certain to prove of enduring value in impressing upon young minds the truth of the deadly effects of the use of cigarettes. The talk may form a part of a progra
"We are going to talk for a few minutes about our food. Of course, we all know that when we are very young children our food consists very largely of milk, and the physicians say that boys and girls should not be allowed to drink tea and coffee or to eat meat and other solid foods until they have reached a certain age when their bodies demand such food. But ofttimes we find that parents do not know about this or else they try to please their children, for they frequently allow them to eat and drink the forbidden things. The result is that as they grow older, their bodies, having become accustomed to the foods which were too strong for them, demand still stronger food. So it is, often, that a young man possesses a craving for a stimulant which is unnatural at his youthful age, and we find him turning to drinking and cigarette smoking. But this does not satisfy the hungering and thirsting for stronger and more exciting things. Many times the life of the young man is ruined in his mad search for something to meet the demands of his physical nature and he goes down to the grave a physical, mental and moral wreck!
"And now, with this thought before us, I want to speak for a few minutes particularly about cigarettes. And in this, also, I want to speak only to the girls. Will every girl please listen and do as I ask? Now, then: I am going to ask you to take your paper and pencils, if you have them, and copy the picture that I shall draw, and, if you haven't them, carry the picture with you in your mind so that you may use it when the occasion comes.
"Here we go! Whenever you see one of your boy friends with a cigarette in his mouth, ask him if he ever saw the picture of the 'Cigarette Face.' Of course, he will say, 'No.' Then you will ask him to spell 'cigarettes' for you, very slowly, and as he pronounces the letters, you put them down, just like I shall do. Now, watch:
"'C' [Step 1, Fig. 49].
"'I' [Step 2].
"'G' [Step 3].
"'A-R-E-T-T-E-S' [Step 4].
"And now, we will draw the cigarette itself [Step 5].
"And finish the picture by drawing the encircling smoke. [Step 6, completing the final scene].
"Is it a true portrait? Go and ask any physician. Go and ask the warden of any insane asylum. Go and ask many a heartbroken mother.
"Does cigarette smoking make criminals out of boys? Magistrate LeRoy B. Crane, of New York City, says that three hundred boys were brought before him, charged with crimes. All but five of them were cigarette smokers, and that report ought to cure forever every boy in this town of the expensive curse.
"Does cigarette smoking make failures out of boys? Once, when he was asked about it, the late E. H. Harriman, one of the greatest railroad managers in the history of America, said that railroads might as well go to lunatic asylums for their employes as to hire cigarette smokers. Yet some boys I know haven't a bit more sense than to smoke them. Girls, isn't it a pity?
"Let us remember that habit is the very foundation of our lives. Everything that we do repeatedly becomes easier for us to do each succeeding day. This would be a most discouraging condition if it applied only to bad habits. But, thanks be to God, the rule applies equally well to good habits. Diligence, economy, perseverance, gentleness, pure thoughts—may all become the governing habits of our lives if we will but center our attention upon them repeatedly and crowd out the evil tendencies. We are so constituted that we must form habits. We cannot think or say or feel anything without leaving an effect which will influence every succeeding thought or action or feeling. Let us, therefore, look carefully to the forming of our own habits and to helping others form theirs."