6S A LECTURE 017 TOBACCO. 



volve much self-sacrifice on their part, they may learn 

 that they are themselves under bondage. 



The Temperance movement in England has not been 

 strong enough to counteract the effect of increased means 

 of indulgence ; more is drunk now than when it com- 

 menced ; yet it has saved hundreds of thousands, and has 

 done much to enlighten public opinion, to weaken bad 

 customs, and to influence the conduct of those who wish 

 to live reasonably. To be consistent, it should resist that 

 which intoxicates,^ whether it be chewed or drunk, whether 

 smoked or snuffed. That smoking checks drinking is a 

 delusion. It has been found, in districts where investiga- 

 tions have been made as to those who have broken their 

 Temperance pledges, that most of them were smokers.^ 

 Since all wise persons wish to keep the young from the 

 habit, it has become not unusual to forbid tobacco to 

 members of Bands of Hope ; ^ it is also prohibited in Juve- 

 nile Temples. So far, so good ; but if a boy is told that 

 he must not smoke till he is sixteen, is it not in boy-nature 

 that he should look forward to it as a manly privilege — 

 unless he remembers the babies in Burmah ? 



It is satisfactory to find that shopkeepers are question- 

 ing whether they ought to deal in what they regard as 

 unwholesome and demorahzing. A tract, entitled " Con- 



1 Tobacco-smoking was in old times called tobacco-drinking. 

 Persons are sometimes " smoke-drunk." See " Monthly Letters," 

 p. 264. 



2 " May Young England smoke ?" p. 21, second edition. 



3 "The Band of Hope Chronicle" for 1880 and 18S1, has con- 

 tained a cjuarterly " Outline Address " for Bands of Hope, on 

 " Tobacco, and its Effects ; " a similar series will appear this year. 

 It is very important to give the young good reasons for not form- 

 ing bad habits. 



