The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1903-11-19
THE DEADLY CIGARETTE.
From Medical and COmmOn-Sense
Standpoint II Is Wholly
Evil.

From a medical and common-sensa
standpoint the cigarette is one of the few
things in this world which can be CLASH
fled as purely evil. No good thing can
come out of it. Its poison reaches and
affects every part Of the human system
Fortunately, tObacco-chewing is fall
ing into disrepute, even among those
who constantly use the weed, ard many
woman whose innate sense of refine
ment and delicacy rebels against the dis
gushing habit, will be thankful But in
the cigarette we have foe whose deadly
influence weakens the body, mentally
and physically, and the use of which
blunts every sense of moral obligation to
God and humanity.
Tobacco dealers report now that
among their best cigarette customers
are hundreds of women. Society women,
women of wealth and position, and the
dissipated girls of our land are among
this number In the end the former go
to sanitariums and hospitals; the latter
are sent to the penitentiary on a charge
of being drunk and disorderly. Vice is
no respecter of persons, and once it Sc
cures firm hold, not even the virtue of
woman can hold its own against the con-
sequent results.
The statement has been made that the
average man who uses tobacco sacrifices
ten years of his life. Surely it is not
worth this. How much better to keep the
body clean and pure. fit temple for the
indwelling of Gods spirit The boy who
smokes cigarettes is battling against the
forces of his own nature. Every
cigarette smoked means a cannon ball
sent craaning through some nerve cell.
Tia brain is paralyzed, the nerves are
made tremulous, the blood becomes
thinner and paler, the boy is irritable
and peevish, he loses his appetite and
cannot sleep at night. and if nature holds
out and the habit is continued. he finally
becomes insane. This is not an over
drawn picture. Many a lad has trodden
this downward path to insanity and self
destruction. The metamOrphosis comes
slowly; it comes nevertheless surely. A
noted physician says: That the tobac-
co habit should be taken up in early
youth. with the nervous system in perfect
condition, and a disease deliberately in
vited that makes the highest sense Of
comfort impossible except drawn
through a cigar-that such a habit
should be deliberately formed when
there is not the least sense of any want
for its soothing effects, is a human
anomaly"
Mothers who are bemoaning the faults
of their boys should see to it that they
| themselves are not blameworthy. Have
you made a companion of your boy?
Have you kept yourself in touch with his
conditions. his failings, his struggles?
Have you helped him with that strong
sweet influence which only mother pos
| sesses? Are you placing before him at
the table those viands which excite the
appetite for alcohol and tobacco, or are
you helping him to be strong by giving
him the pure healthful products of fields,
orchards and vineyards with which our
Father has so bountifully supplied his
children?
The boy is to be helped. He must be
delivered from this terrible vice with
which Satan is endeavoring to rob him
of his rightful heritage-a strong, pure,
agent? 1t cannot be left entirely to the
boy, to the church. to outside influences.
The home has its part to perform in this
great tragedy.-Anna c. White, in Good
Health