The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1885-04-08
SAVING THE CHILDREN.

Intoxicating Drinks and Smoking Among
the worst Foes of the oung.-AlarminE
Fncts aud Statistics.
Among Che ehiidrcn's 'gord foes are
Intoxicating drinks and smotingl Tens
of thousands Of them are in imminent
perl-are already on the road TO ruin,
temporal and eternh And yet parents
fail 10 take the alarm-remain I'm seem
ing ignorance of the appalling fact
and I'm multitude Of instances hold
ont the temptation TO theml
The fact that the peril exists, thht in
toxication aEong children and youth Is
fearfullv on the increase. and that the
use of tobacco. especially cigarettes, is
fast poisoning the rising generation. is
common matter of observation. The
latter habit is becoming fearfully preva-
lent among u.s. And vet see what one
of the highest medical authorities Of
London, DR. Pope, Professor Of Hygiene
of the Health Society, says:
''No boy ought 60 be suffered TO touch TO-
bncCO. The oil which iG distilled from the to-
bncCo leaf I'm smoking O. OF an acrid and most
poisonous nature, producing a sensation Of
burning IN the mouth, and pBralyzlng partlCu-
larly the spinal chord and motor nerves while
more directly the heart through the brain e.
self There ia this undOubted fact llsO-nOth-
growing youths than the use of tobacco I'm any
of IFS forms. There can be no hesitation about
this matter; IL points to physical degenora-
tiun, and is probably the greatest source Of
physical evil that the next generation viii
have 20 lament, Boys it IS, indeed, deadly
| poison TO you Itstunts your growth; it de-
lziug your food into hgsh and blood; Sc blunts
/ your brains, which should be brilliant and
/ active; and it threatens your very manhood
! Facts and statistics are coming to
light and being gathered up in refer
/ ence to the early formation of drinking
| habits that are sufficient TO astound and
| startle the whole community, and sound
an alarm in every household. We have
space only for the following statistics,
which are kindly furnished by Miss
T Lucy NJ Hall, superintendent of ''The
Reformatory Prison for Women" at
Sherburne, Mass:
/ 'Of gOi inebriate women examined for an
especial grOun of statistics, l83 were commit
tod TO the prison for drunkcuues5l Average
. age when last committed lsOme had boon com
7 mittCd several timesl, was 3Oh years. OF sho
2Oi cases % began 70 drink intnXicants before
they were 10 years old; II between 8 aud 10;
"a between IA and p; 30 between 20 and S6i IS
between 70 and 81; 10 between 30 ana Al; ana
9 between 40 and 81 years. Average eEe Abh
years More than one.hnlf OF the whole mum
/ Der had formed habits of inUempcrrnCe berOro
they were q years Of age; and more than cue
third at tho giddy age Of from 10 TO aOl'
And these, remember, were girls.
Our boys are in far greater peril More
and greater temptations assail them,
And the fatal habit, both as to drinking
and smoking, prevails far more eXteu
siyely among them. Boys are being
constantly arrested in our streets for in
toNication They frequent our drinking
saloons in large numbers Liquor Il
one of the great demoralizihg influence
at work amCng our boys, especially il
our cities, and one of the greatest eX
citivcs to precocious crime. The Citi
zens' League of Chicago, which is DO
ing a grand work in that ciNy to RESTRAIN
this great evil, states that when the so
ciety was formed seven years ago ther
81 were 10000 boys and girls-mauy o
them Of tender age-whO frequentet
the saloons, which then numbere
5000, in the city which at that tim
b numbered only about 100000 inhabit
, ants. Six thousand of the childre
figured in the police courts, many G
l ! whom went from there to Bridewel.
. If parents do not awake from thei
Z lethargy; if the bottle in every form b
. not banished from our homes; if tn
Q saloons, where drunkards are mad,
5 into which the young are enticed by
= thousand devices, be not legally SUI
= pressed or rightly restrained: if I'll
b press and the pulpit and the platform
70 do not speak out and lead on a speed
Il reform, the next generation will be
= generation of HOmjiet
i ReUteW.