Tobacco, Cigarettes, etc
By W. S. Sadler
DEMORALIZATION OF THE YOUNG MAN. No. 8.
Tobacco, Cigarettes, etc.
As the result of errors in diet, and from other causes of an exciting and demoralizing nature, the young man of to-day is early observed to take one of his first decisive steps in the downward course. The cigaret makes its appearance. It should be regarded as a signal of alarm, indicating that the lad is stepping down from the path of rectitude, purity, and happiness, and has entered upon the down grade of vice, pollution, and misery. As the tender nerves are benumbed and paralyzed by tobacco poisoning, there is set up within his nature a continual clamoring for excitement and further stimulation. Tobacco-using is a vice which seldom makes its appearance in the life of a child unaccompanied by other vicious and debasing practises. Tobacco is an evil belonging to a family of other bad habits, and they are seldom separated in their destructive work of preying upon the young and innocent. We have known of children who have used tobacco for years before being detected by their parents. The devil has very wisely, from his point of view, placed upon the market a great variety of breath-smotherers and odor-destroyers, which are eagerly seized upon by the youth in their efforts to hide from parents and associates the odors of a telltale breath. Sometimes because of vicious associates, sometimes through idle curiosity, sometimes to avoid the suffering of physical pain, the young man is led to resort to the use of opium, morphine, cocaine, and other drugs. These are often taken in the vain hope that the sensibilities of the mind will be so stupefied, and that sinful and unholy indulgences and amusements will be made to satisfy the heart. Thousands of youth are being sealed for destruction and marked for the tomb by the habitual use of drugs. This one habit stands as the great barrier against rescue work among the fallen women of our large cities. Those who have had experience in this work, say without hesitation that more than fifty per cent. of these unfortunate creatures are addicted to the use of one or more of the above-mentioned drugs. Bright, intelligent, promising young men have had their prospects blighted and their hopes wrecked by the use of these drugs, which the enemy of the soul has invented to take the place of the sweet and refreshing ministry of the Spirit of God. Altho largely unnoticed, among the greatest demoralizing influences with respect to the young man, are those social conditions and moral standards induced by what we usually term "social inequality." Society at large, and, sad to say, even woman herself in particular, has come to expect much less of man in meeting the standard of morality than is invariably exacted of the woman. Public opinion has been strangely molded, and society has taken a most singular and unreasonable attitude with reference to these vital questions. And while the young woman might do much to uplift the standards of Christianity and morality for the young man, too often she carelessly dismisses this subject with all its weighty bearings, with the remark, "O, he is a little wild, but after all a very nice young man!" Little does she realize that thus is she directly assisting in a seed-sowing whose harvest of sorrow and sadness she herself may afterwards be called upon to share. Too little does she realize that she must answer before the judgment bar of God for exerting this demoralizing influence, and for her failure to exalt the standard of purity and virtue. To say the least, there is something strangely wrong with the social law of to-day, which receives the profligate young man with open arms, and re-enstates him in his former position in society and public confidence, at the same time placing its crushing weight of scorn and ostracism upon the erring girl, from whom it would appear nature had already exacted more than her share of remorse, humiliation, and sorrow. But even so it be, the records of an infinite God will some day disclose the errors of human judgment, and rectify the mistakes of modern society. How the Saloon and the Brothel Work Together for the Young Man's Destruction.
In the first article it was intimated that little would be said concerning the saloon, the brothel, etc.; but we can not close the consideration of the various causes tending to the demoralization of the young man, without noticing these two gigantic evils and the manner in which they conspire together—augmenting the ability and opportunity of each—for the accomplishment of the greatest possible evil. The saloon, with its adjuncts of free lunch, music, "ladies' entrance," dance hall, and gambling room, and in our large cities, ofttimes an opium den in the basement and a brothel overhead, certainly represents a station in the course of demoralization of the young man that must be situated very near the fatal falls. It is a well-known fact that these two institutions,—the saloon and the brothel,—carry forward their nefarious work of health destruction and moral devastation hand in hand. For physiological and other reasons, the one evil augments the other. To fall under the influence of either of these two iniquitous institutions, is well nigh equivalent to taking the last step in the final departure from the pathway of purity and morality.