The morning call., 1894-01-15
Principal South San Francisco Sci

! Mrs. Nettie r. Craven, principal of the
! Mission Grammar School. yesterday IA
! vOred CALL reporter with her views IN
brief upon the subject of igarette-smoking
among the school children.
st is matter that l have made study
! of for years." said she, "and l think the
| high standard of scholarship of the boys
who leave my school for the high school is
due TO the fact that cigarette-smoking has
been almost ntirely stopped.
"I disagree entirely with the reports
made by some of the principals of the large
grammar schools that the parents of chill
dreD are TO blame, for the reason that in
not one instance in 100 do the parents
know of the child'5 Dabt. The principals
of schools, especially where the teachers
under them are careful, can invariably de-
! tect the cigarette smoker. There is a
peculiar expression of the eye, which
always makes itself manifest. and then the
stain upon the fingers is almost always for
| gotten by the boys
my Investigations satisfy me that nearly
! every boy who smokes began when he was
! from to 10 years of age. l have asceT-
| tained by kindly questioning the boys that
! they almost invariably gave as a reason for
acquiring the habit that they thought it
! would make them more manly. In several
! instances which have been under my OBJ
/ servati0n boys have said: We go 10 the
! theaJer occasionally and all the men on
the stage smoke cigarettes This fact that
all the heroes (and some heToines. tOO) of
! the stage force the habit into prominence
may have greater effect upon the sus-
ceptible minds Of boys than we are willing
To admit
"As the habit is formed before the boys
entar the grammar schools, ! think the
work Of reformation should be pursued
more particularly in the other depart
/ ments."
Mrs. Craven stated that she had found
! that good results followed placing the boys
/ upon their honor TO smoke one less cigar
! cite day for time and gradually break
| ing the habit in that way. The principals
and teachers. she thought, were the ones
/ who could control 1t If proper means were
/ adopted, and the movement inaugurated
! by The CALL, she said, met with the
! hearty appreciation of all the teachers
| whom she had heard express themselves
! upon the subject.
"ThiDk it's manly to smoke cigarettes,
do they?" asked man of the world sar-
| csstically.
"Why, men smoke tobacco" he con-
! tinued, mot refuse. These cheap cigar
! cites are not made of tobacco at all. They
! are composed of stuff that perhaps has been
! tobacco once, but has been converted into
| trash. Old Yegeta bic refuse is mixed up
! with old cigar stumps and reeking snipes
/ sinking with nicotine. These things are
! pounded up together, treated with solu-
/ tiOn of opium aud different kinds of flavor
! ing tiDctures, bleached, dried and cut up
| for cigarettes. They retain the nicotine
dregs, the waste saliva, catarrhal mucus
/ and teeth-fOulnesses of q thousand pre-
vlOus chewers and smokers, besides having
! been manipulated with all kinds of drugs.
The boys smoke these things and think
! they are manly, do thsy?" and the man of
! the world laughed again. 81 tell YOU" he
! continued scOrnfully, even Chinese refuse
! nlyat hnp phaaV nj,
one kind which they patr0nIZe, recognizing
! its opium favor, but they turn up their fiat
/ noses at the cheap brands which are greed
! lily smoked by our own boys at home"
! a principal of a cosmopolitan school
entered class composed OF seventh-grade
! pupils on Thursday evening, and asked ali
| me boys who smoked cigarettes TO hold
| up their hands. To her surprise nine-
! teuths of the sch holars Immediately held
no cigarette-stained bunch of digits.
Now, all who approve of cigarette
smoking hold up their hands," was the
next demand
One hand was raised. It proved to be-
! long to an Italian.
So" said the principal, you approve
OF clgarette-smoking, do you?"
Yes, replied the boy in broken Eng
! lish.
Why do you approve of itP" asked the
principal.
Because the doctor he tell nv father
that II L smoka da cigarette much longer |
die sooner, was the unexpected reply
TIE hoy had misunderstood the question
and bad uncOnsciously contributed weighty
| evidence against the practice to which he
confessed himself slave.
The class laughed, but the principal re-
hected seriously. 1T had been auVan ced
that 30 per cent of the boys smoked cigar
cites, but here were nine-tenths of one
class self-confessed smokers, while not one
attempted to defend the vice