"This week," writes a friend, "I met a captain puffing away at his pipe. His face had that dirty, tallowy, parchment hue so common among smokers, and I ventured to ask him what benefit he derived from the practice. " 'Benefit!' he exclaimed, 'what are you talking about? This here baccy is the greatest curse on earth, worse than drink itself, and that's bad enough. I can take a swill at the drink and leave off, but as for the baccy, I can't let it alone. I've seen me on board take a pipe before breakfast, and then I could scarcely eat a mouthful; same at dinner, and so on till the very flesh was wearing off my bones; and there are big blockheads who'll tell you that one of the great advantages of baccy is that you never know when you're hungry. Why, sir, my father, 73 years old, is no smoker, but sober and hearty. When we're walking together, folks say that I look older than the old boy himself—ay its true, too. I feel like an old man, though only 42. Well, sir, during one voyage our baccy run short, and we had to do without it for more than three months. Both me and the sailors began to enjoy our victuals, and before long we were as plump as partridges. We all declared we wished there wasn't a grain of that—rubbish left on the earth; but when we landed and saw others puffing away—why, like a pack of stupids as we were, we went back like so many pigs to their wallowin' in the mire. I tell you what, sir, I'm only a poorish fellow, but for all that I would pay down £50 this very day to be free forever from the slavery of the baccy.'" " 'Cheer up, captain,' I replied, 'I can tell you how to give the vile reptile his death blow, and that without money and without price.' " 'Ay, ay, sir, how's that to be done?' " 'In this way: whenever tempted to indulge in this degrading habit go at once, through Christ, to the Great Father of us all, and pray for strength to resist it, and you will come off victorious.' "He was clearly moved by these words, and looked thoughtfully at the ground for a minute or two, and then shaking my hand, said: 'Well, sir, you have struck out a new idea; I'll try it, and when we meet again I'll tell you how it works.'"—English Tract.