A teacher said the other day that ninety boys out of every hundred who
fail in grammar schools and high-schools smoke tobacco. He says also
that boys who smoke are nearly all unruly and disobedient in school. And
he says again, that boys who get their lessons well and stand high in
grammar-schools take lower marks in high-school if they begin to smoke
in high-school. This ought to be enough to make any boy stop and think
before he begins to smoke, for it shows that it not only hurts a boy's
mind, but his morals also.
I think the reason most boys take up smoking is not because they like
it, but because their schoolmates do it, and they want to be one of "the
crowd." When you boil that down it means either that a boy wants to be
smart, or else he has not courage enough to stand alone; that is, he is
a coward.
You would not think much of a boy who was about to enter a race and,
just before he entered it, hurt his foot on purpose, so that he could
not run his best, would you? Well, that is just what every boy does who
smokes: it hinders him in the race of life. You ought not to smoke
before you are twenty-one years old, because your body is not strong
enough to stand it. The safest way is not to smoke at all, but at least
don't smoke until you get your growth.