410 PLAIN FACTS FOR OLD AND YOUNG 



for either old or young; but for the young they are 

 absolutely dangerous. 



The use of beer, wine, hard cider, and tobacco, is 

 especially damaging to boys on this account. These 

 stimulants excite the passions, and produce a clamor- 

 ing for sensual gratification which few boys or young 

 men have the will-power or moral courage to resist. 

 Tobacco is an especially detrimental agent. The early 

 age at which boys now begin the use of tobacco may 

 be one reason why the practice of secret vice is becom- 

 ing so terribly common among boys and young men. 

 We consider a boy or young man who uses tobacco 

 liable to the commission of some vile act. 



The use of tea and coffee by boys is also a practice 

 which should be interdicted. All wise physicians for- 

 bid the use of these narcotic drinks, together with that 

 of tobacco, and always with benefit to those who ab- 

 stain. In France, the government made a law forbid- 

 ding the use of tobacco by students in the public schools. 

 In Germany, a still more stringent law was made, for- 

 bidding the use of tobacco by boys and young men. 

 These laws were considered necessary on account of 

 the serious injury which was evidently resulting from 

 the use of the filthy weed to both the health and the 

 morals of the young men of those countries. There is 

 certainly an equal need for such a law in this country. 



Closing Advice to Boys and Young Men.— One 

 word more, and we must close this chapter, which we 

 hope has been read with care by those for whom it is 

 especially written. Let every boy who peruses these 

 pages, remember that the facts here stated are true. 

 Every word we have verified, and we have not written 

 one-half that might be said upon this subject. Let the 

 boy who is still pure, who has never defiled himself 



