MORAL AND SPIRITUAL VIEW. 223 



The trustees of Williston Seminary, Easthamp- 

 ton, Mass., have passed the following vote : " No 

 member of the school shall be allowed to use 

 tobacco, unless he bring a statement in writing 

 from his parent or guardian that he does it with 

 his approval." In a letter, speaking of this cir- 

 cular, Principal Fairbanks says : " Many young 

 men connected with this institution have been 

 injured physically, mentally, and morally by the 

 use of tobacco. At present, very few use it, and 

 only those who have the written consent of parents 

 or guardians. We shall enforce the prohibition 

 more strictly from year to year." 



Principal Bancroft, of Phillips Academy, An- 

 dover, Mass., writes that in reply to a similar 

 circular sent to parents, guardians, school-officers, 

 and physicians, he received " a hundred and forty- 

 seven replies, not one of them approving the use 

 of tobacco by boys." He goes on to say: "To- 

 bacco is the bane of our schools and colleges, and 

 increasingly so. Teachers who have given any 

 attention to the subject agree that boys go down 

 under its use in scholarship, in self-respect, in 

 self-control. It takes oft' the fine edge of the 

 mind, injures the manners, and dulls the moral 

 senses. School disorders are always rank with 

 the fumes of tobacco. We can select the boys 

 who smoke heavily by a certain hesitation in an- 

 swering questions, by a peculiar huskiness of 

 voice, by a dulness of complexion, by a tremor of 

 the hand. 



