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 said and reach the dreadful
end—that is, if you live long enough.
SMOKING CREATES A MORBID THIRST.
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.
SMOKING DEGRADES THE TASTES.
By this time, you will be far along the road to ruin. You will begin to
look 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.
BAD EFFECTS SHOWN IN TIME.
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.
QUALITY OF CIGARETTE TOBACCO.
In 1883, about three quarters of a billion of cigarettes were smoked in
this country, 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.
CIGARETTE PAPER.
The oil of tobacco is highly poisonous; but the oil of the paper used
for cigarette wrappers is worse than that. It burns white, because of
the acids and chemicals in it.
HURTFUL TO THE YOUNG.
Smoking is specially harmful to the young. It weakens the stomach,
causes indigestion, hastens the action of the heart, thus producing
palpitation.
PRODUCES CATARRH.
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.
OTHER EVIL EFFECTS.
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, even disposition, 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 pain and 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.”
Footnote 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?