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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 29, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 35.

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Tobacco

By H. W. Reed; Gilstrap, N. D.

H. W. REED
The use of tobacco in both smoking and chewing is rapidly on the increase. With a determination worthy of a better cause, boys and men persevere in learning to use tobacco. They easily tire of trying to do something that would bless themselves, and others as well; but they persist in learning to smoke or chew tobacco, even if they become deathly sick. This is a form of intemperance that we meet everywhere; on the cars, steamboats, stage, in the hotels, in the streets, in the home, on the farm, and wherever we find men, the tobacco user is found. The use of tobacco is an expensive, unhealthful, and filthy habit. It is a narcotic poison that weakens and confuses the brain, also paralyzes its fine sensibilities. It breaks down the nerve force, and benumbs the finer perceptions. It wrecks the bodies and minds of men. Though created in the image of their Maker, and designated the most noble part of God's created work, men are made slaves to a slow and insidious poison.
Parents can do much to prevent their children from forming the tobacco habit if they will but teach them to abhor all stimulants, such as spices, condiments, tea, and coffee. Instead of doing this, parents often foster in their children the desire for tobacco by the use of a stimulating diet. It is largely at the family board that the appetite is perverted, and the foundation laid both for the tobacco and for the liquor habit. Many parents, unknowingly, give the kind of food that surely excites a desire for tobacco and stimulating drinks. The family sits down to luxurious dishes, rich gravies, highly spiced foods, with an abundance of cakes and pastries; these highly seasoned foods irritate and inflame the stomach, which causes a desire for still stronger stimulants. All unnatural excitants are harmful, and cultivate the desire for tobacco and liquor; and when once the habit is formed, it is not easy to break its power; for daily the victim grows weaker, and the habit stronger. I have found many persons who could not get free from the tobacco and liquor habit on their own part. If help came at all, it came from outside, and from the One who did not fall on the point of appetite. Christ’s victory is our assurance that we, through him, may also overcome all debasing habits.
Gilstrap, N. D.