CHAPTER XVII.CIGARETTE SMOKING.
I have now a few words to say to the boys. I hope the girls will also listen, and help to impress the words on their friends.
Most of you have fathers, mothers, and perhaps brothers and sisters. You love them more than all the world. What would you think if I should tell you I can make you hate your mother, strike your father, lie, cheat, steal, do everything vile, and at last send you, disgraced and despised, to a wretched death?
You are shocked and cannot believe it; but, if you will walk the path I mark out, you will do just what I have saidand reach the dreadful end—that is, if you live long enough.
The first step is cigarette smoking. It will give you catarrh, weaken the lungs, cause heart disease, destroy the health, and create a morbid thirst which will lead you to the second step,—the drinking of cider, beer, and malt liquors. Soon you will crave stronger fluids, and will swallow gin, wine, brandy, whiskey, rum, and all sorts of seductive drinks made from alcohol.
By this time, you will be far along the road to ruin. You will begin tolook upon your father and mother as slow, and will love the company of the wicked, and hate that of the good. Then will follow misery, woe, and eternal ruin.
You know plenty of boys who smoke cigarettes, and you cannot see that they suffer any harm on that account. But, as in many other instances, the harm comes after a time; and often when too late to be cured. A great many boys die every year from cigarette smoking, and thousands upon thousands are stricken by disease from that cause alone.
In 1883, about three quarters of a billion of cigarettes were smoked in thiscountry, of which more than one half were made in the city of New York. The tobacco used is the worst that can be found anywhere. Saltpetre is mixed with it to prevent moulding. Physicians will tell you that saltpetre, when thus taken into the system, is very hurtful.
The Havana cigarette is made of fair tobacco, but is rolled in thick, vile paper and soaked with creosote, which is very hurtful. But those cigarettes which pretend to be made of Cuban tobacco are imitations that are as bad as they can be.
The oil of tobacco is highly poisonous; but the oil of the paper used for cigarettewrappers is worse than that. It burns white, because of the acids and chemicals in it.
Smoking is specially harmful to the young. It weakens the stomach, causes indigestion, hastens the action of the heart, thus producing palpitation.
Cigarette smoking is almost certain to produce catarrh, one of the most offensive and incurable diseases. This arises from the fact that the cigarette being much shorter than a cigar, the smoke is inhaled to a greater extent. You have seen boys swallow the smoke and puff it through the nostrils, thus inviting catarrh.
CAUSES ASTHMA.
Cigarette smoking tends also to cause asthma.
It renders the system more liable to attacks of pneumonia and bronchitis. It destroys a healthy appetite for solid food, and by the constant spitting it causes, excites a craving for drink. Many instances are known where the nerves of the eye have been destroyed by cigarette smoking. The following are the words of Dr. S. H. Keep, one of the leading physicians of Brooklyn:
“If one could select a fine, healthy boy of from twelve to fifteen years of age, well known for his fine physique, evendisposition, and great strength, and start him in his career as a cigarette smoker under the observant eye of the public, what results might not accrue from such example as the panorama was unfolded to them?
“The decay of physical power, emaciation, the irritable temper, the sallow complexion, the drawn and anxious look, the unsteadiness of the hands, the dyspepsia, the capricious appetite, the aversion to parental and other advice, the tendency to seek lower companionship, could hardly fail to leave its impress upon such an audience.
“More especially in the nervous diathesis[1]does this rapid decay make itself apparent, and in varying degrees according to the amount of indulgence. Physicians daily watch this process with painand anxiety for those intrusted to their care. Indeed, if my own professional experience were to be my guide, I could declare the evil of cigarette smoking to be even greater than that of alcohol.”
1.Di ath´ e sis—A condition of the body which, predisposes it to a particular disease.
1.Di ath´ e sis—A condition of the body which, predisposes it to a particular disease.
So alarming has become this evil that in some States, laws have been passed against cigarette smoking. But I trust that if any of you has felt like forming the vile habit, your own good sense will not allow you to do so.
What is the first step toward the ruin of the body and soul? What is the second step? What follows?
Where will you be by this time? What then will follow?
How is it that some boys do not seem to suffer from cigarette smoking? What takes place every year?
How many cigarettes were smoked in this country in 1883? Of what are they generally made? What of saltpetre?
What is said of the genuine Havana cigarette? Are there many genuine ones made?
What of the oil of tobacco? Of the oil of the paper?
How does smoking affect the young?
What loathsome disease is almost certain to result from cigarette smoking? Why?
What does cigarette smoking tend to produce? What other effect has it on the system? What is its effect on the appetite? How does it excite a craving for drink?
What is said by Dr. Keep, of Brooklyn?
What has been done by some of the States? What are your own views on the vice of cigarette smoking? Are you weak-minded enough to be persuaded ever to place a vile cigarette between your lips?