Part 37

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.