Evening star., 1903-08-01
EVILS OF TOBACCO
TIMELY LECTURE SERIES
By
PROFESSOR SEYON, G. +.

NO. l.
Ny pupils. to advance in knowledge and to
gather from the well of truth its most beau
tiful pearls you must read well the newspa-
pers Much you will find in them that 1t is
best to forget If you can but much also that
you should treasure in your hearts. OF the
latter character is a news paragraph print
ed a few days ago in the Chicago Inter
Ocean. 1t was dispatch from Kalamazoo.
Mich. and told of the death of William G.
Pattison as a result of the excessive use
of tobacco. Mr.. Pattison was in his eighty
ninth year when death enforced the anti
smoke law In twenty years it was esti-
mated that he had smoked 10000 cigars.
costing $4,000. If any of the members of
this class use tobacco let them pause and
reflect ON the sudden and premature death
of William G. Pattison at the early age of
eighty-nine. after having riotously burned
up $4,000.
Do not let me hear any frivolous remarks
from the foot of the class. There Is not
the slightest evidence that If Mr.. Pattison
had saved that $4,000 he would have spent
it on an automobile. The probabilities are all
against 1t. The smoking of all those cigars
shows Mr.. Pattison to have been of Il con-
tempiative disposition. and surely no one
Of a contemplative mind-not to say of
reasoning mind-wOuid buy an automobile.
Then how can you know that If Mr. Patti
son had not smoked he would not have
Guanted with man who has been moder-
ate in his smoking He has consumed but
5000 cigars in twenty years and he buys
them for 3 cents apiece. and he is 100 years
old. He told me so himself a peculiar
thing is that his mother is still alive and
is only sixty-five herself. You must learn
to reason. my children and stop jumping
at conclusions. Mr.. Pattison might have
felt like which is the same living, 23J
instead of %. when he died. if he hadn't
smoked.
No. smoking is an awful thing" quote
a witness who knows. 1t is young man
who called on not long ago. He was
between five and six years old. and when
l offered him cigar he made the astound-
ing statement that he had never in all his
life used tobacco. He then kindly explained
to me that tobacco was a weed, that in
using it We were copying Savages. and that
altogether smoking awful thing
and that besides you might burn your fin
gers with the matches. He knew that these
things were so because he had heard his
Muver' tell his "Farver." Then he gazed
fxedly at a bottle of ink on the mantel and
asked me if l ''drinked.'
This incident should teach the class that
they should be careful of the example they
set to youth. If YOU smoke be moderate in
your smoking. Ten cigars a day are enough
for any man. OF course. a few pipes and
cigarettes thrown in would not count; but
of cigars ten during the day ought to sat
iSfy you. This would only be $3.50 year,
or 5000 in twenty years, or 2IED less than
Mr.. PattiSOn smoked. showing in figures
the difference between moderation and eX-
cess.
But even smoking in moderation invaria-
bly, leads to death. Always remember this
my dear pupils. You may ward the reaper
off fer ninety one hundred years or in
extreme cases for l2o years. but the deadly
tobacco Will get you finally. There is no
necessity to rest this proposition on Mr..
Pattisons sad case. All history teaches
us the same truth Sir Walter Raleigh in
troduced tobacco to England and / defy
you not to admit that Sir Walter Raleigh
is dead. Bismarck was a great smoker.
and it is commonly admitted that Bismarck
is dead. Andrew jackson and General
Grant both smoked and both are in their
graves. George Washington only used
snuff. but even that moderation did not
save him He is dead. The thing is GER
tain. Go through your histories of the
year 1S0 and whenever YOU find man who
used tobacco, you will find on little
search that the man is dead.
There rs another terrible danger to the
smoker that YOU should constantly bear in
mind. | refer to the temptation to swear
Off. Charles Lamb was hard smoker. He
used to smoke induStriously every night
and be sorry for it every morning Finally
he wrote very touching poetical Farewell
TO IobaccO. and then smoked more than
ever for ten years. His case is typical
There is nothing that drives a man from
moderation to excess in smoking like swear
ing Off When the facts are fully developed
it will be found that Mr. PattiSon had sworn
off. 1t is almost as bad if by any chance YOU
should happen to make the swear-off stick
1t usually results in your getting fat and
obnoxiously healthy. I have known men to
shock to the prospective heirs was some
thing fearful man owes something to
the feelings of his heirs.
The class will now adjourn.