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Temperance in the Home

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 13, 1908

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 85, No. 33.

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Temperance in the Home

By Augusta C. Bainbridge

AUGUSTA C. BAINBRIDGE
“Say no! to tobacco, that poisonous weed; Say no! to all evils; they only can lead To shame and to sorrow. O shun them, my boy, For Wisdom’s fair pathway of peace and of joy.”
“That preparatory department of the Northwestern University must be a fine place to learn, and get ahead,” said Nathan, looking up from the paper he was reading.
“Why? What is it doing that makes you think so?” asked Pearl.
“Here in the paper it says: ‘Professor Fisk, of the preparatory department of the Northwestern University, allowed his three hundred students to choose between giving up smoking and leaving school.’ That must have been hard to say, and still harder for some of the pupils to hear; the smokers, I mean.”
“Well, that is radical, true enough: I wonder what brought him to take that stand.”
“Three or four things, I should judge by this article,” responded Nathan.
“You would not think it wise for a teacher to interfere with the personal habits of his pupils unless there was a good reason for it,” said Mrs. Neal. “Professor Fisk is a wise man, I should judge, and he knows he is right, or he would never have made that move. Read it to us, Nathan, or tell it, if you have read it yourself.”
“It seems the faculty are seeking to maintain a very high standard of scholarship both in the university itself and in the preparatory schools; and they find that smokers are backward in their studies; they do not reach the standard. That lowers the grade of the school. They are untidy, even filthy, in their habits, and that lowers the morals of the school. They are hard to manage; that lowers the discipline of the school, and it takes valuable time and strength of the teachers that should be used in advancing their scholarship. Then they consider it a matter of honor that those attending should be true to the purpose of their parents or friends who are bearing the expenses of their education.”
“All good reasons, every one,” said Mr. Neal, “and any one of them alone would be sufficient ground for his action.”
“I wonder why smoking,—just smoking leaves of a plant,—would produce such a long list of bad results,” said Pearl, looking inquiringly at her father.
“It’s the stuff that’s in the smoke, isn’t it, father?” asked Nathan.
“Yes, that is it. Smoking wood, or paper, or straw, while harmful to some extent, would not produce the effect on the body that smoking tobacco does.”
“What is in tobacco smoke, father?”
“Carbon, or soot, ammonia, and nicotin, mainly. Carbon in one form produces sleeplessness and headache, in another it causes trembling. The ammonia bites the tongue, excites the salivary glands, and causes dryness of the mouth and throat. The nicotin does the most damage; for that is a deadly poison. It works slowly, because only a very small amount is inhaled. There is sufficient nicotin in two strong cigars, if taken into the stomach, to cause death.”
“Well, if it is a poison, father, it must surely poison the folks who use it. Yet, there are hundreds and thousands of men and boys, and some women and girls, using it, and they are alive.”
“That is true, daughter, but would you consider that an argument in its favor, when it is known to be a poison?”
“No, not that, but poison is poison, and why don’t the smokers all die?”
“The action of the nicotin, taken in this way, is so slow, that few realize they are being injured by it, until they are almost past recovery. Then there are many who have good resistive powers, and throw off poisons more easily than others. Students, clerks, and generally speaking those who work and live indoors suffer most.”
“They are really losing life by the practise, then,” said Mrs. Neal.
“I wonder how?” said Nathan.
“Get your note-books, and I’ll give you a few points,” said Mr. Neal.
“Wait a minute, and I’ll get mine,” said Mrs. Neal, “for Baby John will be asking me these questions some day.”
“Yes, write them all, mama; we do not want Baby to be a smoker,” said Pearl.
“Any one of these would form a study by itself; but I’ll give them to you, and some time I hope we can take each item up separately. Put your notes under the heading, ‘Injurious Effects of Tobacco on the Human System:’—
“1. It retards growth.
“2. It causes nausea, and produces dyspepsia.
“3. It makes the blood watery, and injures the red corpuscles.
“4. It weakens the heart action.
“5. It irritates the sensitive membrane of the bronchial tubes and lungs.
“6. It injures the nerves, particularly the special senses.
“7. It lessens brain activity.
“8. It injures mental faculties, and blunts the moral sense.
“9. It causes thirst, and often leads to the use of intoxicants.
“There, you have a good month’s work ahead of you.”
“That does not frighten us, when we have you to rely on for help and guidance in our study,” said Nathan.
San Francisco, Cal.