p. 519 | A Strong Fetter

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 28, 1884

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 10, No. 33.

A Strong Fetter.

THE Hartford Times tells a story of a boy in that city who had a good place, and attended faithfully to his duties, but had one bad habit, that of chewing tobacco. He used it more freely than men who had been addicted to its use for fifty years.

One day a gentleman offered the boy five dollars if he would quit chewing for a year; another made him the same offer, and a third did the same, all signing their names to a paper to that effect.

The boy said he would win the money, and so he washed his mouth and made a start. The next day was Sunday, and he felt badly; Monday he felt worse; Tuesday he shook like a man with delirium tremens; and Wednesday and Thursday he was sick in bed, with a fair prospect of a long struggle before he would get free from the “evil disease.”

Yet persons say tobacco does not hurt them, and they waste their money, and squander their lives, in the formation of habits and appetites the strength of which they only realize when at last they struggle to get free, and often find that their struggles are in vain. Many a person who has been addicted to the use of both tobacco and strong drink has found it harder to break from the tobacco than the rum.

A man who wishes to free himself from this curse should make up his mind to stop work, give up thinking, and expect to carry around for several days a head as large as a pumpkin, and about as sensible; and to feel meaner, more nervous, more lonesome, more discontented, and more uneasy than he ever did before in his life.

He should rest, eat lightly, wash all over in warm water frequently, drink liberally cold or warm water as preferred, pray for help, and go through. It will be a hard road to travel, but “’tis better farther on;” and it pays to be free.