206 Social Training for Farm Boys and Girls 



rank low in scholarship ; that they are prone to fail 

 in their classes and quit the schools ; that almost none 

 of them take high rank as students. The moral 

 effects are even worse. In times of temptation the 

 young boy who smokes is more inclined to yield 

 and to choose the worse form of conduct instead of 

 the better. He lacks especially that fine sense of 

 inner worth so necessary for the one who would 

 succeed in arousing his own moral courage sufficiently 

 to withstand the temptations that naturally beset 

 young life. The rural parents will not of course 

 despair about the boy or turn against him should 

 they discover that he has secretly become confirmed 

 in the use of tobacco. There are still possibilities of 

 his development into a substantial character; but 

 because of his smoking the problem becomes a much 

 more involved and difficult one. 



All that has just been said in reference to tobacco 

 may be emphasized many fold in respect to intoxi- 

 cants. To allow a growing boy to begin the use of 

 intoxicating drink in any form seems to be wholly 

 indefensible. However, if there are open saloons 

 in the adjoining town or city, even the best country 

 boys are always somewhat in danger of taking the 

 first false step. Rural parents must not be satisfied 

 with the thought that their boy is "too good" to 

 take up such a thing ; they must be assured that he 

 is not doing so. Now, the only way to obtain such 

 assurance is by means of keeping in intimate touch 



