p. 379 | TOBACCO COMFORT

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Apr 17, 1893

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 24.

TOBACCO COMFORT.

NEXT to the whisky stain comes the filth of tobacco, which is one of the world's dirtiest tyrants. Riding from the ferry to the railway station, I noticed that a decent woman tried in vain to escape the volley of tobacco juice that used the fresh straw on every side of her as a spittoon.

A man opposite came as near to her feet as he could and not hit her every time. On one side a big boy made quite a puddle of tobacco juice in the straw, and on the other side the man aimed his expectorations away from her, which was the only relief the poor thing had, for there was no vacant seat for which she could exchange her own.

"But I smoke like a gentleman," says a boy at my elbow. Ah, yes! and if you could only continue to smoke like a gentleman, it might not be so bad; but the moment you thrust into your little sister's face lips that smell of tobacco, to give her your brotherly kiss; the moment when you are uneasy after dinner, and have to leave wife, or mother, or friend, till you have had your smoke; the hour when you are cross, and nervous, and uneasy, because you failed to get your cigar at the accustomed time, you have ceased to smoke like a gentleman, and are smoking like a slave.

A gentleman cultivates no habit that cannot be laid aside if the happiness and comfort of others demand it, and no gentleman but prides himself on holding in his own hands the reins of personal control.

When tobacco cannot be resisted, he falls to the position of a servant to a very poor master indeed. The only way to keep free from this dominion, too, is to let it utterly alone.

It stunts the growth, my narrow-chested, spindle-legged boy, who would be glad to believe you would grow, by and by, into the fine proportions of a man. And if it did nothing but prevent that growth, the manliness in you would scorn anything that would do that.

It takes, not only the energy from the nerves and the vigor from the limbs, but the brightness from the eye and the sweetness from the breath; and if you don't care for these things now, by and by, when some sweet girl turns away her head while you talk to her, you will find yourself wishing you had cared.

Now, these two things, strong drink and tobacco, are among those that, entering in at the lips, defile the whole man. One word more, by way of warning, as to something that, coming forth from the lips, shows the degree of inward defilement that the soul has already reached.

Guard your speech, that it be pure. Banish from your memory, if possible, every vile or profane utterance you ever heard, and never, under any provocation, reveal an impure stream within, by letting impure words flow from your lips.

Think what a promise of glorious manhood there is in a life as high and pure as must grow out of bodily conditions like those we have considered. Is it not the true manhood worth striving for and worth keeping?—Exchange.