The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1894-05-11
CIGARETTES! |!
Our Public School Boys Are
Not Addicted to Them.

/
Boston over the subject of cigarette smok-
ing by school boys makes it interesting to
nnu out the extent OF the use ot cigarettes
In the Providence schools.
Alter a careful inquiry into the subject,
| IL can be stated that, comparatively speak
ing, the use OF cigarettes is not as great
among school boys in this city as III the
two large cities mentioned. This fact
seems TO be due TO two reasons: nrst, De-
cause OF the recent anti-c.carette legisla-
tion, and second, becaSe OF the
! instruction given in all of the public
schools below the High School grade in
physiology and hygiene. A third reason
| may perhaps be added, the constant guard
OF the teachers against the appearance or
| the cigarette evil, and their continuai
fight against IL when it does appear.
| The effect of the antl-cigarette bill
passed by the General Assembly at its
January session in 1872 was soon noticed,
and those who are Interested In the
matter say that this law, as much as any
thing, has prevented a larger use OF clg-
arettes among school boys. The law reads
as follows:
SECTION, l. No person shall SELL give or deliver
TO any minor under sixteen years OF age nytobGcco
in the form Of cigarettes. Any person violating
the provisions Of this section shall be fined not
more than twenty dollars for each odense
SIC. g No person under sixteen years OF age
shall smoke chew in any public street, place, on
resort any tobacco in any form whatsoever. Any
such person violating the provisions of this sec
tion shall be fined not more than five dollars Tor
each oifense.
SEC. 8. All acts and parts Of acts inconsistent
herewith hereby repealed, and this act shall
take effect upon its passage.
Near every Grammar school building in
the city are two or three-iittle stationery
stores where cigars and cigarettes are
also in stock. Before the passage OF
the act, thriving cigarette business
was done by the proprietors OF thesQ
stores who would sell the
cigarettes ''two for a penny" to tho
school boys. Now comparatively little OF
this is done, and in this way the use of
cigarettes has been greatly lessened. IL
must be said, however, that the law seems
TO have had little effect among the street
gamins.
The pernicious effects of cigarette smok-
ing are clearly shown TO the school boys
in their lessons In physiology and hy-
reaching and well lasting. Scientific
temperance instruction is given in all
grades OF the primary aDo grammar
schools. Oral instruction Is given to pupils
not sufficiently advanced to use text books
For example, series OF lessons on the
blood is given. How the blood looks and
what il does, the blood vessels, blood the
food carrier, and topics of a like nature are
considered and the effects of cigarette
smoking on the heart and blood are
shown.
A sample lesson is somewhat as follows:
The teacher talks about the sports of the
boys and asks il boy could run well IL
his heart worked badly. Having received
a negative answer. the fact is written on
the blackboard. After more ques-
lions and answers, The state-
ment is added, that when boy
esu ttac NJ ha fnh
poison from the cigarette will get into
his blood and be carried to his heart,
causing ii to work badly. In this manner
the teacher shows that the boys who use
cigarettes cannot be the equal in athletic
sports of their mates who do not use them.
1t would appear from the statements
made by the teachers talked with by THE
NEWS representative, that cigarette smok-
ing is more prevalent among grammar
school boys than among the High
school boys, for as general
rule, the BOYS who smoked Gig
arettes while in grammar school rarely get
beyond that grade OF schools. II is inter-
esting to note the statements of the
boys who use cigarettes. They
are that they are the boys who create the
most disturbance and whom the truant
officer is most after, that they are the
ones who take the lowest rank in the
classes.
Ore of the upper grade teachers told OF
q conversation with the superintendent of
the sockanosset School who said that
the confirmed cigarette smokers
who were sent To reform
school were lethargic in mind, but after
being deprived OF cigarettes for a
time they came up considerably iI
mental alertness. This conversat on
led the teacher 10 undertake
some observations for himself. After
boys, the pupils wrote, without
giving their names, whether they used
cigarettes. But five boys out of 90 were
found TO be cigarette smokers. The
teacher believed that about 10 per cent. OF
all the boys in the school smoked.
The mental capabilities OF boys who
smoke cigarettes is shown by some facts
submitted by DIR. G.. Descaine to the
Society Of Public Medicine in France,
on the effects Of the use of tobacco among
thirty-eight boys, varying in age from .
to 12 years, submitted to his care. The
effects of cigarette smoking on the heart
is also shown.
Says DIR. Descaine: "Twenty-two OF them
had distinct disturbances Of the circuia-
tion, unnatural sounds of the valves
OF the heart, palpitation, deficiency
OF digestion, siuggishness OF intellect,
and craving, more or less pronounced
for alcoholic drinks" The statement in
regard TO the physical and mental injury
are borne out by teacher of many years
who says he has always noticed that the
boys who smoked were dull and not
strong
The watch of Providence teachers against
the appearance of the cigarette evil has
been sharp one. OF course no authority
is possessed by them to forbid smoking
except in the school building, but
quiet word to the parents of the smoker
of the seductive cigarette seldom fails to
have its effect. Besides this, the influence
of the teacher over the boy gees to great
way in keeping away the evil.
Thus, it would appear that Providence |
not only has "a fine a system of public |
schools as any city in the country, but |
the morals of the school boys are even |
better watched over than than |
those of the boys in the cities
where so great has been the use OF cigar
cites that anti-cigaretto leagues have been
formed, and where the boys OF the League |