750 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Sept. 



munity is not generally sufficiently understood, ex- 

 cept by physicians, nor by all of them. For in- 

 stance, last Sunday I dined with a man in a small 

 town of a few hundreds, and he told me that he had 

 so used himself up \% ith tobacco that he could not 

 write with a pen, and with a pencil only as he 

 steadied one hand with the other, barely to write 

 his name. By the advice of physicians, and with a 

 very great trial, lie succeeded in giving it up; and 

 now he can write with a pen, and is enjoying quite 

 good health. He also told me of another man, 

 quite young, in that town, who had to give up busi- 

 ness; he called him demented; said he was able to 

 walkabout town some, and that doctors were try- 

 ing to keep tobacco from him. They hope to see 

 this young man recover, and he probably will, if 

 they can keep tobacco from him. 



The effects of tobacco are functional, at least for 

 a time; and if the habit can be broken, and not re- 

 turned to, we can be hopeful of a permanent cure. 

 I have met with two physicians in my lecture-tour 

 who have told me that, during the past year, they 

 have met with patients who did not know what was 

 ailing them, and all they had to do was to prescribe 

 the non-use of tobacco. In both instances, they 

 said, the prescription was' followed rigidly, and 

 proved efficacious. There have been, in former 

 years, two difficulties in the way of such prescrip- 

 tions as I have just mentioned. Some patients 

 have not been willing to believe that the doctor has 

 rightly diognosed his diseas-e, and perhaps still 

 more who have been unwilling to follow the pre- 

 scription. However, we will hope, as more light is 

 being shed on the subject, that physicians and pa- 

 tients will get along better in the future than they 

 have in the past. 



In my lectures (giving but one lecture in a place, 

 of course), 1 can say only very little of what might 

 be said on the subject. After a brief introduction 

 I give the poisonous properties of tobacco, as 

 shown by analysis, and then lay down a few well- 

 known propositions, such as are easily proved by 

 undoubted testimony. They are substantially as 

 follows: Tobacco interferes with physical develop- 

 ment; it hinders intellectual attainments; it lowers 

 moral character; it is disease-pioduciug; and I 

 close by showing the influence of tobacco on the 

 present condition and future prospects of the 

 church. Under the last head I attempt to show the 

 vast amount of waste of time and money, a portion 

 at least of which rightly belongs to God. The no- 

 torious fact that there are twice as many names of 

 females as males on our church rolls, when taken 

 in connection with the fact that at least nineteen- 

 twentieths of all the tobacco used in our land is 

 by the males, is significant in the discussion of 

 the last proposition. Do away with the production 

 and sale of liquor as a beverage, and tobacco, and I 

 believe we should see our boys and young men as 

 willing to take the vows of the Lord upon them as 

 are our girls and young women. I am quite tired 

 of hearing it argued, as is done in some quarters, 

 that our all-wise Creator " has formed the female 

 mind, by nature, more trustful than he has the 

 mind of man." 1 would rather trust the mercy of 

 God now than to bring the charge against him, at 

 the judgment, that he did not form my mind as 

 " trustful " as he did the mind of my wife, or the 

 mind of my son as " trustful " as he did the mind of 

 my daughter. I would not restrain the grace of 

 God; but I must confess that 1 have but small hope 



of seeing the boy, or young man, converted, if he 

 keeps himself narcotized with tobacco. 

 Mapleton, Minn., Aug. 19, 1889. N. A. Hdnt. 



Your array of facts prompts me to give 

 something from actual experience here in 

 our own town of Medina. One of our prom- 

 inent physicians, perhaps the most promi- 

 nent, was a few months ago very sick. In 

 fact, it was currently reported that he must 

 die, and I never expected to see him out on 

 the street again. In a ftw weeks, however, 

 I was surprised to meet him. Some little 

 time afterward 1 asked him what it was 

 that brought him up so quickly — whether it 

 was some important remedy or the skill of 

 some city physician. In short, I told him 

 that I should very much like to know what 

 doctors did when they were dangerously ill. 

 He laughingly replied that he guessed it was 

 a duty of his to tell me all about it. He 

 finally said that, so far as he could deter- 

 mine, his recovery came solely and simply 

 from leaving off a bad habit. 



" Why, doctor, you don't mean to say that 

 you were addicted to bad habits while on a 

 sick-bed, and near death?" 



"Yes, Mr. Root, I do mean to say just 

 that. And when I decided it was tobacco 

 that was killing me, I cut off right sharp, 

 and got well at once." 



But he did not stop his story there. Some 

 little time before the above events, a promi- 

 nent druggist in our town had a strange 

 affection that made him fear he was losing 

 his mind. He kept getting worse, ami he 

 was finally unable to attend to business. 

 He just stayed at home and brooded over 

 the dark cloud that hung over him. He 

 had not even the solace of sleep, for, to tell 

 the truth, he could not even sleep nights. 

 Now, this druggist has a father-in-law who 

 is an old and skillful physician. Of course, 

 the father-in-law did all he could for the 

 patient, but all to no avail. He had already 

 given up business, so as to have his mind 

 free from care or anxiety, but tw was nothing 

 better, but rather grew worse," as we read 

 in the language of Scripture. Finally, at 

 the very urgent solicitation of his friends, he 

 called in the physician who had recently re- 

 covered. The symptoms were but too well 

 known to him, and he pronounced the whole 

 trouble the result of using tobacco— nothing 

 else. Now, this man rather thought he had 

 not used more than three or four cigars in a 

 day. or possibly half a dozen. The cigars 

 weie stopped, when, presto! nature pro- 

 ceeded to build up ; reason settled down 

 squarely on her throne, and our friend was 

 able to take care of his business, and to en- 

 joy life. Well, I should like to add that he, 

 like the doctor, cut right square off. Truth, 

 however, compels me to add that the old 

 tyrant did not let him go quite so easily. 

 The last I kuew of the case was when I 

 overheard him telling a friend that he could 

 not accept his invitation to smoke, for his 

 physician had cut him down to only three 

 cigars a day — one after each meal. 



Our proof-reader just now points me to an 

 item in the Pacific Bural Press, for June 15. 

 Here it is : 



Dr. Hammond has a wise remark on cigarette- 

 smoking— that laws to prevent children from smok- 



