1897 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



821 



business uien seem strangely silent or stupid. 

 They are afraid to say or do any thing, because 

 there is " big money " in it. 



I do not kno\N but the peojile who sell theni 

 might give some sort of flimsy excuse, to the 

 effect that a modcratr use of them by j^iVccn- 

 up people would not do very much hann — 

 forgetting that practically nobody learns to 

 use tobacco after he is of age, but before, 

 when it is illegal to .sell to him. This woman 

 would have replied, however, to such an 

 excu.se, if it had been presented to her, that 

 the cigarette habit is worse than tobacco or 

 even the liquor habit, in that it can not be 

 controlled to what some people might call 

 "moderation." And even if the vender did 

 refuse to sell to minors, one big boy could 

 purchase enough to supply the whole school;'^ 

 and I am told that our school scholars are 

 getting them and using them quite freely. 

 Every teacher knows the effect of cigarettes 

 on his pupils — not only on the physical health, 

 but on the mind, which begins to be affected 

 by even a small amount of tobacco. Boys are 

 going to the insane-asylum, and dying in 

 almost every neighborhood, on account of 

 cigarettes. A death has recently occurred 

 among my own relatives, and another is likely 

 to follow sooi . 



Some may say, " If you^do not like cigar- 

 ettes, let them alone." But the vender is 

 getting the addresses of schoolchildren, and 

 mailing them letters or circulars, with a prom- 

 ise of something for nothing. Boys are curious 

 about the effect of cigarettes, just as they are 

 curious about electricity and other wonderful 

 things that they have seen. Children are 

 folding up make-believe cigarettes in order to 

 have some fun when some one begins to scold 

 and make a fuss. Trifling with any thing 

 which is so dangerous, frightens and alarms 

 me. 



One of the writers in this same Rural inti- 

 mates that the best of parents can not always 

 control this thing. They say one boy will 

 grow up steady and temperate while his 

 brother is just the opposite. This may be 

 true to some extent ; but I can not help be- 

 lieving that the father and mother can make 

 sure that their boys will never be addicted to 

 these things if they care enough about it. 

 Long before cigarettes were invented, and 

 long before I became a Christian, I was satis- 

 fied that tobacco was a stepping stone to the 

 liquor habit. Both Ernest, antl Huber com- 

 menced remonstrating with people about the 

 use of tobacco almost as soon as they could 

 talk plainly. I had to check them in order 

 that they might not commence on entire 

 strangers on the street in regard to the matter. 

 They had probah>ly heard it discussed .so nmch 

 by their father and mother that they grew up 

 with an aversion to it. I know that, as the 

 years pass by, they bring great changes ; but 



* bince writing the above, an attorney in our employ 

 tells me Ihat one evening, while standing on the 

 street near the posloffice his attention was attracted 

 by a group of small boys, evidently waiting for and 

 expecting something or sonitbody. Pretty soon a 

 larger bey approached, opened a package, and di,s- 

 tributed among the small boys what he afterward 

 found to be cigarettes. 



I can not believe that any change can come to 

 pass that will induce either of our boys to use 

 tobacco. I am not boasting of our own chil- 

 dren, dear friends — I am only insisting that, 

 if .sufficient pains be taken, the matter can be 

 managed. 



Where will all this thing end if we do nol 

 take pains? I see little notices in the dailies, 

 to the effect that the girls in some cities are 

 forming clubs where they smoke cigarettes. 

 I do not think this thing will go very far, 

 however, for public opinion — at least the 

 opinion of the intelligent and educated public 

 — will be so strongly against it that a woman 

 will not dare to bear the scorn and di.sgust 

 that will come from the public at large. I 

 admit that the cigarette business has been 

 given some severe checks ; and several times 

 I have thought it was going to be stamped 

 out ; but j-et in almost every community there 

 can be found some man or boy who says by 

 his actions, if not by his words, "It is noth- 

 ing to me whether cigarettes kill or cure 

 people. As long as they want them, and 

 there is money m the traflfic, I am going to 

 sell them." the laws are helping us some ; 

 but, oh dear me ! why don't they wake up? 

 The adulteration of food is an outrage on the 

 community, especially when something really 

 baneful is put in it that is supposed to be pure 

 food. But how about feeding our people 

 opium under some sort of disguise, because 

 the vender knows, when they get about so far 

 along, they will have it any way, no matter 

 what it costs ? If this meets the eye of any 

 of the professors who have charge of our ex- 

 periment stations and the bulletins emanating 

 therefrom, I should like to have them answer 

 me ; and if anybody sees it who has to do 

 with the Agricultural Department at Wash- 

 ington, I wish such party would tell me w'hat 

 they mean by putting out a bulletin on tobacco 

 culture, without any intimation as to whether 

 or not it is a good thing to furnish our people 

 a terribly baneful and poisonous article. 



A man was once announced to speak at a 

 farmers' institute in defense of tobacco-grow- 

 ing. He was a pretty good sort of man, 

 except that he was largely engaged in grow- 

 ing tobacco. He stood before the audience 

 for a brief period, looked very red in the face, 

 and then said he did not think he had any 

 thing to say in defence of tobacco, after all. 

 I suppose he discovered that, instead of hav- 

 ing an audience of tobacco growers and users, 

 he was confronted by a lot of Christian people. 



Now, I have not said very much directly in 

 regard to our text ; but I have had this in 

 mind : That nothing in the world can do so 

 much to keep our boys honest and pure and 

 clean as to bring them up in 1\\^ fear of the 

 I^ord. Let them listen to Bible-reading and 

 prayer, and that from the lips of the father 

 and' mother, every day of their lives. Let the 

 Bilile teachings al.so be made so plain that 

 they will see the bearing, and its practical 

 application on every event of their lives. Do 

 this, and walk consistently yourself, and I 

 have no fear that the children vdll ever con- 

 sent to take even a start in using tobacco or 

 strong drink. 



