PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2668, 3 May 1905, Page 75

PATER'S CHATS WITH THE BOYS.

THE CIGARETTE FIEND

Just before Christmas, I think it was, '' Magister." in his column, drew attention to the evil effects of cigarette smoking. The other day I was asked if I wouldn't have a Chat in my column. on the same subject, and I agreed to say something about it. Just a little while after I was reading an. American educational journal, and came across a long article drawing attention to the evil effects of tobacco, especially on young constitutions, and from it I am about to quote. It may be that in after life smoking may be beneficial to health, or ifc may give an amount of harmless pleasure ; \ but all are agreed that boys should not, under any circumstances., smoke or dririE. It may be useless to advise boys not to smoke ; but any boy wishing to become an athlete, to grow up with a sound constitution, to preserve a clear brain — in fact, to become a true man — must not smoke before his constitution is set. To niake matters worse, boys — and men, too — smoke Uie deadly and expensive cigarette.

The following is a part of the article I have referred to. The quotation is part of a letter written by a teacher to the editor : —

I had under my charge 25 boys, ranging in age from 9 to 15 years. The boys were perfeetlj- frank with me, and did not attempt to conceal the fact that they smoked cigarettes. One day one of them told me That out of ths 25 boys in my room, mly three did not smoke. Two out of tiiese three, by their own admission, had once tried to smoke. You can see something of the "problem that confronted me. I did not know what to do, but felt that 1 must exert as much influence againsc it as I could.

The boys had been in the habit of smoking, and then coming directly to school, sometimes with a packet of cigarettes in. their pockets. I told them that I would send homo anyone who came into school laden with eigaette smoke. The cigarettes brought to school were taken from their owners and destroyed. I dwelt on the evils of the habit ; told the boys of personalexamples that I had known ; read to • them any little item that I could find that might more firmly impress their danger upon, them ; and, at last, when other ways seemed to have failed, I brought our own room up as an example. I had two boys who might be called cigarette fiends, and who were notably behind their classes in school work. One was then, doing the grade work for the second year, he being the - only one of a class of 17 not promoted to tho seventh grade. I told the children that they need not mention names, but I was sure that they knew who did the poorest work in the room, and they also knew who were the worst smokers. I then asked them to name the one who always did the best work in the room. The ■vots was unanimous in favour of a ten-j'ear-old lad who was one of the three nonsmokers. Of course, natural ability had something to do with it, but abstaining from cigarettes had more. This illustratio i seemed to sink deeper int<^ their minds than any I could read to them. I also read the cigarette law, which 1 makes it a misdemeanour punishable by a fine for a,ny boy under 18 years of age to bo seen smoking. That law would be a very good one if the State would furnish someone to enforce it ; but in that town, at least, everyone is afraid to attempt to enforce it for fear of offending the parents of the boys. The boys go with impunity to any of the stores where cigarettes are kept, and buy all they want, thus laying the shopkeeper liable to a fine if there were only someone who dared enforce the law ; bu6 there isn't, and the boys are safe from all interference.

One boy. a great deal, stop, l^>l several week*, and spoke to me of the difference he noticed in. his class work : but he could not resist tha temptation, and went back to his cigarettes. Several of the boys who were only occasional smokers told me they had stopped, but I do not know for how long. The two worst smokers were in a terrible condition, and it will be only a matter of a fejS, years before one of them will be in his grave if he does not turn back from the roacj h-3 has taken. One of them is unable t<i keep quiet for any length of time, and" s at times, appeal's to be almost foolish ; thq other one is pale, sickly, and nervous. Hii mother told me that school made him s^" Eervous that she did not know if he wouid ibe able to stand it until school was, out.,

„ did not tell her that it Was cigarettes, and not school, that caused his nevousness, for did she not know that school was a cause of nervousness, and not so small an object as a cigarette?

Several weeks before I had told her in the presence of the boy how he was smoking, and even gave her the name oE the place where her boy and several others spent all their spare time in card-playing and cigarette-smoking.

I am in a different school this year, and cannot tell how much, good my influence has wrought, but hope it had some effect oa some of the beginners, if not on the confirmed smokers.

Will any lad who is a smokei quietly resolve to give it up? In one of our schools there were several boys wlic smoked, but who haye — so they say, and they had no reason to tell an untruth — with one or two exceptions, given up tbe habit entirely. I hope it is so, and! that they will quietly work to persuade others to quit smoking also.

The following are excerpts from papers I subscribe to or have had sent to me. They are worth reading, though written for " grown-ups " : — —People Who Fuss and Fidget.—

Some people never seem to be at case. They are always fussing, fidgeting, worrying, or borrowing trouble. They actually feel uncomfortable if they do not find something to worry about.

People of this kind always have small, narrow minds. Worrying is a sure indication of weakness. It is a confession that w* are not equal to our daily tasks, and that we have not the ability to cultivate and oare for the little plot of ground that has been entrusted to us We worry because we are not self-centred, and because wo have not learned to walk with the poise and dignity beconing the ohilden of a great Father.

No large, generous soul was ever a worrier. Calmness, serenity, poise, and power to move through life rhythmically, without jar or fret, are characteristic of greatness and true nobility.

— There Is No Need to Woiiy. —

""There is- no need to worry. Whep God shuts a door He opens a, window." A world of sunshine and hope is epitomised in this Italian, proverb. To look out on the world with eyes unclouded by shadows of fear or doubt or worry ; to go forward in the spirit of love and trust, never for an instant wavering in faith or hope ; to resolve Never to look behind me for an hour ; To wadt in weakness and to walk in power, But always fronting forward to the light,

is to take a long step toward a happy and successful life. To look back constantly oa past mistakes and failures is as destructive to the growth of spiritual beauty and power — aye, and to the development of material success^ — as it is to look forward to ills that may never come. The people who take a melancholy pleasure in recalling the fact that they "have eeen better days " and in bemoaning present conditions never see "better days" again. Their attitude of mind shuts them out from all possibility of happiness or prosperity. The following were Abraham Lincoln's maxims for longevity : "Do not worry ; eat three square meals a day ; say your prayers ; think of your wife; be courteous to your creditors ; keep you digestion good ; steer clear of biliousness ; exercise ; go slow and easy; maybe there are other things that your special case requires to make you h a rpy, biit, my friend, these, I reckon, will give you a good life." "DON'T GRUMBLE, LAD." Don't grumble, lad, don't grumble 1 About the load you bear, F.or grumbling makes it heavier And sinks you to despair. Find in your heart a cheering song And sing it as you move along. Don't worry, lad, don't worry • Because the way is drear, " For worry makes it hardei And fills the soul with fear. Find in youi heart a cheering song And sing it as you move along. There's nothing half so helpful As a little song of cheer When the burden groweth heavy And the way becometh drear. — James Rowe. BY JES' LAUGHIN.' It's curious what a sight o' good a little thing will do ; How ye kin stop the fiercest storm when it begins ter brew, An' take the sting from whut commenced to rankle when 'twas spoke, By keepin' still an' treatin/ it as if It wnz a joke. Yell find that ye kin fill a place with smiles instead o' tears An' keep the sunshine gleamin' through the shadow of the years By jes' laughin'. Folks sometimes fail to note the possibilities that lie In the way yer mouth is curvin' an' the

twinkle in yer eye ; It ain't so much whut's said thet hurts ez what

ye think lies hid ; It ain't so much the dotin' ez the way a thing is did. An' many a home's kep' happy an' contented, day "by day, An' like as not a kingdom liez Tbeen rescued from decay By je&' laughin'. —Selected.