Smell’s room gets filled up so that odors can not get in. People having
a disease called ca-tarrh´ often can not smell at all.
HELEN: But of what use is Smell to us?
MOTHER: First, he helps us to eat proper food. We are not apt to eat
anything which has a bad odor; at least we should not do so. Smell
might be said to be a twin brother to Taste, and part of his duty is to
help Taste in selecting proper food for the body. Sometimes when dinner
is cooking, I hear you say: “Oh, how good it smells! It makes me feel
hungry.”
[Illustration: “_Dogs will follow the footsteps of their master._”]
PERCY: I have often felt that way, but I didn’t know it was Smell
giving me an invitation to eat.
MOTHER: Another way Smell cares for the body is by giving us warning
against bad air. Sometimes a lot of tiny folk called “germs” get into
the air and make it unfit to wash the blood. These germs are “seeds
of sickness,” and should never be allowed to get inside the body.
Sometimes they make the air smell bad, and then Smell sends word to
the brain: “Look out! Don’t come here; for this bad air will make you
ill.”
AMY: And does that mean that the master should take the body away?
MOTHER: Yes; or if we go into a room which is close and musty, and the
air is full of germs, it means to open the doors and windows, and let
the clean, pure air come in. Sometimes Smell gets so used to bad odors
that he does not give warning as he should; so we should always heed
his counsel at first. Any place or thing which has bad odors should
never be near the house.
HELEN: I think Smell must find some sleeping-rooms rather unpleasant
places for him to stay in.
MOTHER: He cer´tain-ly does. Sometimes he gives the one who sleeps in
such rooms quite a scolding. After he has been out in the fresh air,
and comes back into the room, I im-ag´ine I hear him talking something
like this: “Don’t you know it is a _dreadful_ thing for you to breathe
air like this? How would you like to drink the water your face or your
clothes had been washed in? But you have done worse than that: you
have kept washing your blood in the same air, over and over again, all
night. It is no wonder that you have a headache and feel all tired out
this morning. Now open the windows, and give this room a good airing,
and if you sleep here another night, see that there are places where
the good air can come in and the bad air go out, and I promise you I
will not talk like this again.”
PERCY: If the master of the house knew no better than that, he ought to
have a lecture.
MOTHER: I think so, too. When air costs nothing, and comes whistling
around every corner, begging to come in, we should never go without a
good supply. There is one more way in which Smell is useful to us.
ELMER: How is that?
MOTHER: It gives us pleasure. When God made us, He desired that we
should be happy; so He gave us eyes to see the beautiful things He has
made, ears to hear the music of the birds, taste to enjoy the fine
flavors He placed in our foods, and smell to breathe in the fragrance
of the violet and the rose. We ought to be very thankful for all these
senses, which make us happy.
A GENTLE NURSE
MOTHER: You remember I told you that the body-house is all the time
wearing out. Every time we think, move, play, or work, some part
becomes worn, and must be mended. Blood, the care-taker, passes swiftly
around every part, first up, then down; and every trip she makes, the
bones take something to mend them; the flesh takes its part; the skin
must have a share; the hair and finger-nails take something to make
them grow; and so, while we study, work, or play, the mending goes on,
and we hardly stop to think that it is done at all.
HELEN: This seems to me one of the most wonderful things about the body.
MOTHER: But there is another wonderful thing of which we have not yet
spoken. When we are tired with the work of the day, and the sun goes
down in the west, a gentle nurse steps in and says to the master of the
body-house: “Please give me the care of your house awhile. I will rest
you, and while I have you in charge Blood can do her work better, and
in a few hours you will feel as good as new.”
AMY: And does the master do as she says?
MOTHER: Sometimes he is not willing at first, but at last he is glad
to hand everything over to her. Then she quietly draws the curtains
down over the windows, shuts the doors in the hearing passages, and
the muscles of the arms and legs stop their work, the engine slows
down, air goes into the bath room more slowly, all becomes quiet in the
body-house, and the first thing the master knows he knows nothing at
all.
[Illustration: _Gentle sleep._]
ELMER: How strange to think that way of going to sleep!
AMY: Is Sleep the nurse, mother?
MOTHER: Yes, Amy; and a better one never lived. Sometimes when the
house is all out of order, and the father and mother watch over some
little body moaning with pain and tossing with fever, Sleep comes in
and gives the dear child a long, sweet rest, and the good doctor says:
“I am so glad! She will get better now.” He knows that if he can get
Sleep to nurse his sick people, they will all “do well.” She is so kind
that she comes of herself, takes us in her arms, comforts us, and when
we are quite rested, she leaves us to do as we will till she is needed
again. She never asks pay for her services, and the most skilful nurse
never had such success as she in taking away care and worry, and in
building up the house we live in.
PERCY: But why must we sleep, mother?
MOTHER: Because when we are awake, the body wears out faster than Blood
can mend it, but if we go to sleep, she can mend faster than it wears
out. We need sleep as much, and I sometimes think more, than we need
food and drink. When we feel tired and drowsy, that is the call of the
nurse for us to give ourselves into her care.
AMY: Should we sleep in the daytime?
MOTHER: Very young children should; for their body-houses are building
fast, and so they need much sleep. Very old people sometimes need sleep
in the daytime, because their houses are wearing out fast; but, as a
rule, we should sleep during the night, and keep awake during the day.
ELMER: How long should we sleep?
MOTHER: Some need more than others do. Grown people need seven or eight
hours and children should have still more. When we wake up, we should
get up. The Duke of Wellington once said, “When it’s time to turn over,
it’s time to turn out.”
HELEN: How can we get to sleep if wakeful when we go to bed?
[Illustration: _Good-night._]
MOTHER: Those who can not sleep well should spend much time
out-of-doors during the day. One should not eat for several hours
before going to bed; for if the stomach must work, it often keeps the
rest of the body awake. Every one should have a clean bed, and sleep
where he can have plenty of pure air. To work till one is tired, if not
carried too far, will also help. But, even though a person does all
these things, if he tries to sleep when the mind is worried or excited,
the gentle nurse will not come. One of the best helpers to sound sleep
is a clear conscience, and the knowledge that one has done his best in
everything.
HELEN: I heard a lady say that she drank a cup of tea and it kept her
awake half the night.
MOTHER: It often has this effect. If one has not been using it, this
is more apt to be the case, and this shows that tea contains poison,
and that it is not good for the body. When a person can not sleep, he
should know that danger is near. The master of the house we live in
must have rest. Sweet sleep is the best rest for a tired brain; for
while Sleep has charge of the body, she cleans the brain and makes it
bright and ready to do more work. If it does not get rest, it becomes
ill, and sometimes people lose the right use of the mind; then we say
they are insane, or crazy. That means that they do not know what they
are doing. They may try to kill themselves or other people, and they
must be locked up in strong rooms, so they can not get away and do
themselves or others harm. Sometimes they get well, but many live for
years in this sad con-di´tion. It often comes because people injure
their brains with strong drink.
PERCY: Do not people who sell such drinks often stay up late at night?
MOTHER: I think they nearly always do. The people who are at the
saloons should be in their beds, letting their brains and bodies rest.
When at last they go to bed, the brain is stupid because of the strong
drink they have taken. They lie in bed long after the sun is up, and
when they rise, they feel worn out instead of rested. The poor brain
bears such treatment for a time, but at last reason is gone, and the
person is ruined for life.
ELMER: What a shame! I know one lad who will never go where beer and
whisky are sold, and who will have his sleep at night if he can get it.
PERCY: And I know another.
MOTHER: I trust that my boys will never do anything to hurt the brain
and drive sleep away.
“Go to bed early--wake up with joy;
Go to bed late--cross girl or boy.
Go to bed early--ready for play;
Go to bed late--moping all day.
Go to bed early--no pains or ills;
Go to bed late--doctors and pills.”
—_St. Nicholas._
A WICKED THIEF
MOTHER: You know all houses are in danger from thieves. When no one is
watching, in the dark night, they come and steal our money and the most
precious things we have. There is also a bold thief who takes delight
in robbing the body-house.
ELMER: But who can it be? I’m sure no one would want to steal me.
AMY: Nor me.
MOTHER: You know thieves always try to find some way to get into a
house when they wish to steal, and this robber is just like the rest.
It is a little over three hundred years old, and it grows more bold and
cunning every year.
PERCY: Please tell us its name, mother.
MOTHER: It is called Tobacco. It was first found in America when the
country was discovered, but it did not begin to steal from white men
for nearly one hundred years. Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom you will
learn in your history, took it from America to England. It is said that
Sir Walter one day sent his servant for some beer, and he came back
sooner than was expected. He was greatly frightened to see smoke coming
out of the mouth and nose of his master, and at once threw the beer
into his face to put the fire out, calling loudly for help, and saying
that his master was on fire inside, and would surely burn up.
[Illustration: _Tobacco._]
HELEN: It is a pity there are not more such servants now, for they
might cure some people of this filthy habit.
ELMER: But why do you call tobacco a thief, mother?
MOTHER: Because it steals.
PERCY: But what does it steal? I thought people just chewed, smoked,
and snuffed it, and I can not see how that is stealing.
MOTHER: It steals health. Its first effect is to cause sickness and
vomiting. Every servant in the body-house rises up in arms against it,
and there is a great uproar as they try to defend their master from
the deadly poison. The servants in the kitchen throw all there is in
that room out at the front door. The lungs throw it out headlong in the
breath. All the little waste-pipes in the skin work as hard as ever
they can to push it out that way. The kidneys, bowels, and, in fact,
every servant in the house, shows it the door, and will not let it stay
inside if he can help it.
ELMER: But can’t the master keep it out?
MOTHER: Yes, if he _would_. That is the trouble. But tobacco pretends
to be such a good friend, and makes so many good promises, that the
master believes its lies, and lets it in. Boys think they are almost
men if they can only smoke cigarettes. Some men say “a good smoke”
rests them when they feel tired. Others say they must have it “to keep
their food down.” Many smoke or chew because others do. And so tobacco
deceives them all.
PERCY: But doesn’t tobacco do some good, mother?
MOTHER: I have never heard of it if it does. The nicotin of tobacco
is such a deadly poison that one drop will kill a cat in about three
minutes. It does not take a large amount to kill a man in five minutes.
If a tea is made from it, it will cause death in three hours. Sometimes
soldiers who do not wish to do their duty will put a leaf of tobacco
under the arm or over the stomach to make them sick.
AMY: I should think if it is such a poison it would kill people to use
it.
MOTHER: It would if they took enough of it. You know arsenic is a
deadly poison, yet some people take it in small doses and live a long
time. When the servants of the body-house find that their master _will_
use it whether it hurts them or not, they give up making so much
trouble as they did at first; but they still keep turning it out as
quietly as they can, and say but little about it.
PERCY: But I heard an old man say he had used tobacco for fifty years,
and it never did him any harm.
MOTHER: Perhaps he did not know how much it had harmed him. Alcohol
does not seem to hurt some people, and yet we have learned that it
works mischief in every part of the body; and it is the same with
tobacco. If such men do not suffer themselves, their children often
suffer in their stead. Because a few can use these poisons without
seeming injury, it does not make it safe for others to do so. While we
are learning how to care for the body, we should not ask, “Will this do
me _harm_?” but, “Will this habit do me any _good_?” Let us see what
good tobacco does.
PERCY: It is good to kill sheep-ticks and plant-lice.
MOTHER: That shows how deadly it is, and how unfit for any human being
to use in his body.
HELEN: I do not think there are many persons who would say it does them
good.
MOTHER: We find that its first effect is to take away the appetite;
and it hurts the stomach. Second, it does harm in the throat, making
the voice coarse and husky, and men sometimes have a disease known
as “smoker’s sore throat.” Third, it hurts the nerves, the wonderful
telephone system; the tobacco-user is nervous, cross, and hard to
please. Fourth, it weakens the eyes, and causes buzzing sounds in the
ears. Fifth, it makes the heart weak, so a doctor can tell by feeling a
man’s pulse whether he uses tobacco or not. His hands become unsteady,
and they tremble, and his heart trembles just as his hands do.
PERCY: I think that is enough, mother, to show that tobacco does no
good, but a great deal of harm.
MOTHER: There is one more thing I wish you to know about this poison,
and that is that it makes the master of the house weak. He feels so
happy and rested while he is taking his smoke, that he thinks surely
tobacco does him good and not evil. But the reason he _feels_ rested is
because his nerves have been put to sleep by the poison. Our nerves are
like a faithful watch-dog. The first thing tobacco does is to put the
nerves to sleep, just as a thief would kill a dog that would warn its
master of his coming. You can see, I think, what a foolish thing it is
for a boy or man to do anything which would put the faithful nerves to
sleep so they can not warn him of danger.
ELMER: But, mother, do not the nerves wake up after a time?
MOTHER: Indeed they do, and then if the man can not get his tobacco,
you will see how unhappy he can be; all his good nature and rested
feelings have passed away. He soon finds this out if he tries to leave
off the poison. He feels “all gone,” and thinks that he must have
something to brace him up. He becomes thirsty, and so the temptation
comes to use strong drink. A doctor who knows, has said, “Nine out
of ten of the boys and young men who become drunkards, have _first_
learned to smoke or chew tobacco.”
Tobacco makes that part of the mind which is called the “will” so weak
that thousands who use it have no strength to resist the temptation
to drink when it comes to them. Besides, the mind is so weakened that
they can not stop using tobacco even when they know it is hurtful to
them, but they say--
“For thy sake, tobacco, I
Would do anything but die.”
And many even die because they have no strength to let it alone. Boys
think it makes them manly to smoke and chew. Manly, indeed! I wish I
could speak to every boy in every land to whom tobacco comes, and tell
them that if they wish to grow up clean, noble, unselfish, manly men,
they will _never_ taste tobacco. It does more to harm boys than men.
One doctor has said, “Boys and young men who use tobacco lose one-fifth
of the enjoyment and value, and at least one-tenth of the length of
their lives.”
PERCY: But cigarettes are not very bad, are they, mother? I know many
of the boys in school smoke them.
MOTHER: Bad! Indeed, they are very bad! They are made of the stumps
of old cigars picked up in the streets, and from other vile, filthy
things. Even the paper they are wrapped in, which seems so harmless, is
steeped in deadly drugs, which makes them still worse. They are made
and sold by millions, and thousands of boys are being ruined in mind
and body because of using them. I often read in the papers of the death
of some boy, caused by smoking cigarettes. I have no words to tell you
the mischief they do; and yet thousands of people think them harmless.
AMY: I wish Uncle John wouldn’t kiss me, for he uses tobacco.
HELEN: You are like the little girl it tells about in the verses I
learned. I will repeat them for you:—
“‘What ails papa, mother?’ said a sweet little girl,
Her bright laugh revealing her teeth white as pearl;
‘I love him and kiss him and sit on his knee,
But the kisses don’t smell good when he kisses me.
But, mama’--her eyes opened wide as she spoke--
‘Do _you_ like his nasty kisses of ’bacco and smoke?
They might do for boys, but for ladies and girls
I don’t think them nice,’ and she tossed her bright curls.
‘Don’t somebody’s papas have moufs nice and clean,
With kisses like yours, mama--that’s what I mean?
I _want_ to kiss papa, I love him so well,
But kisses don’t taste good that have such a smell.
It’s nasty to drink, and smoke ’bacco, and chew;
The kisses ain’t good and ain’t sweet, ma, like you.’
And her blossom-like face wore a look of disgust,
As she gave out her verdict, so earnest and just.
‘Yes, yes, little darling, your wisdom has seen
That kisses for daughters and wives should be clean;
For kisses lose something of nectar and bliss
From mouths that are stained and unfit for a kiss.’”
MOTHER: Yes, I read this poem in the last number of the
_Prohibitionist_, and I think every girl, big and little, should feel
just as this one has expressed it. When Horace Mann was asked where
gentlemen should smoke, he said, “Gentlemen never smoke.” Billy Bray
said, “If God had intended man to smoke, he would have put a chimney at
the top of his head to let the smoke out.”
By giving up every bad habit we may help others to do the same. I must
tell you a short story about a friend of mine who helped a young man
stop using tobacco.
AMY: Please tell it now, mother.
MOTHER: She had often asked him not to use tobacco, but the habit was
so strong that he felt that he could not give it up. At last he said
one day: “I think you are as much a slave to tea as I am to tobacco. If
you will stop drinking tea, I will use no more tobacco.” That put the
matter in a new light, and she told him she would think about it. She
knew that tea contained a poison, and that it did her no real good, but
only harm; so she finally decided to drink it no more. When she next
met her friend, she told him that she would use no more tea, and in a
short time he left off using tobacco.
ELMER: That must be what the Bible means when it says that we should
“provoke one another to good works.”
MOTHER: Yes, that is one way. You know I said when we began talking
that tobacco was a thief. I will now tell you of something it steals
from the master of the house besides his health.
PERCY: I wonder if it is money. I know that is what thieves almost
always try to get.
MOTHER: You guessed it at once. Let us see how much this robber will
take from a man if he once lets it into the house. One who is a very
moderate smoker will spend about forty dollars a year for cigars.
People in England would call that sum seven or eight pounds. Suppose a
man should smoke thirty years. Here is an example for you, Amy.
AMY: Twelve hundred dollars. How much would that be in English money?
┌────────┐
│ $40 │
│ 30 │
│ ————— │
│ $1,200 │
└────────┘
MOTHER: About two hundred and forty-six pounds. That would buy him a
nice little home, would it not? Or if he was a lover of books, he could
get a good library for that sum. And you must remember that this is for
a _moderate_ smoker. A merchant said that by saving the money he would
have spent for cigars, he laid up twenty-nine thousand dollars, or
nearly six thousand pounds. If he had spent it for tobacco, what would
he have had for his money?
PERCY: Smoke.
AMY: A dirty mouth and bad breath.
ELMER: A weak heart and weak nerves.
HELEN: He might not have lived to smoke so long, and he might have been
a drunkard.
MOTHER: Not very much that is good, for spending such a large sum of
money, I must say.
PERCY: I once heard grandmother say that when she saw a man with a
lighted cigar, the thought came into her mind, “A fire at one end and
a fool at the other.” It does seem foolish to waste money that way. I
wish I had some of it that goes up in smoke to send me to college when
I am ready to go.
MOTHER: Here is a picture which I think shows this matter in about the
right light.
HELEN: Why, what are those people burning in that big fire?
MOTHER: Money, money--nothing but money. Here is a rich man; he is
throwing in one thousand dollars; and here is another, who is bringing
one hundred pounds. Others are throwing in different sums, some less,
some more. See how many young men there are who need that money for
something else.
ELMER: And see the workingmen, too.
[Illustration: A crowd apparently burning money]
MOTHER: Yes; and many of them have no homes, and they wear poor
clothes, and eat very plain food. They need many things. It may be the
wife at home has not had a new dress for years, and the children have
no shoes.
AMY: And just see the little boys burning up their money, too!
MOTHER: How very sad! They are only children, and yet they throw away
their pennies and dimes. What are all these people getting for their
money?
HELEN: Smoke--nothing but smoke.
MOTHER: They get smoke, it is true, but they also get pains and aches.
Tobacco laughs as it takes their money, and grows larger and stronger
every day.
PERCY: But, mother, can nothing be done to stop their burning up money
like that?
MOTHER: You think some one should call out, “Stop, thief!” do you?
Perhaps that was what King James, of England, thought; for when people
began using it in that country, he wrote a book, in which he said that
smoking was “loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to
the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.” The Russian Government tried
to put a stop to smoking by saying that if a person were caught using
tobacco, his nose should be cut off. Perhaps it was thought that people
who abuse smelling that way had no right to have a nose. The sultan of
Turkey once put to death those who smoked, or used snuff.
PERCY: I should think such laws would have stopped its use in a little
while.
MOTHER: They did not; for people can not be made to do right in that
way. They used it more than they had before. I think the best way is
for the master of every body-house to say, “I will never, no, _never_,
touch it; and I will do my best to let others know how hurtful it is,
so they will not use it.” Many, very many, do not know how much harm
tobacco does in the body, nor what a sinful waste of money it causes.
They spend it a few pennies at a time, and do not stop to think how
much it amounts to in a year or a lifetime. More money is spent for
tobacco than for bread. One hundred times as much money goes up in
tobacco smoke as is given to missions. Let us do all that we can to
prevent this waste. No bird or animal would ever be guilty of taking
into its body anything so harmful.
MINNIE AND HER CANARY.
MINNIE’S REBUKE.
“You were a naughty bird to-day;
It shocked me, do you know,
To see you fly from brother Frank,
And pick at cousin Joe.
“Now tell me why you acted so;
There, don’t begin to sing,
But tell me why you were so rude,
You saucy little thing!”
THE BIRD’S REPLY.
“I _had_ to leave your brother Frank,
Or else to stay and choke;
He had a nasty cigarette;
I could not stand the smoke.
“And with your cousin Joe--oh, dear!
He put his mouth to mine,
And, oh! I thought I’d faint away,
For he’d been drinking wine.
“The little birds don’t do such things;
No crow, or paroquet,
Or other bird, would swallow wine
Or smoke a cigarette.”
A CRUEL MURDERER