Chapter XII: Part XI (2)

SHIPMASTER OF THE KEDRON.--"I was brought up in a temperance school, and when I shipped before the mast I stuck to my principles, though everyone else on board drank excepting two boys whom I persuaded to abstain. In a very severe storm off a lee-shore, when it was so cold they had to break the icicles off the ropes to tack the ship, all drank but myself and these two boys. The men would work very well for a few minutes, and then slack off and take another drink, until they were all keeled up, and we three boys had all we could do to keep the ship from going ashore. If we had drank with the rest, all would have been lost, for the men were too drunk to save themselves. Providentially, the storm abated before morning, and we were saved. Now, for many years I have been captain of my own ship, and I never give out one drop of liquor."--_Captain Brown._

ON THE PLAINS.--Twenty-six men, travelling on one of the great Western plains in the United States, were overtaken by cold and night. They had food, clothing, and whiskey, but no fire. They were warned not to drink whiskey or they would freeze. Three did not drink a drop, and though they felt cold they did not suffer nor freeze. Three more drank a little, and though they suffered much they did not freeze. Seven others that drank a good deal had their toes and fingers frozen. Six that drank pretty strong were badly frozen and never got over it. Four that got very boozy were frozen so badly that they died three or four weeks afterward. Three that got dead drunk were stiff dead by daylight. They all suffered just in proportion to the amount of whiskey they took. They were all strong men, and had about the same amount of clothing and blankets; the whiskey was all that made the difference.

THE RED RIVER EXPEDITION in Canada, in 1870, is often quoted as one of the most laborious on record, 1200 troops travelling 1200 miles through a very dense wilderness, and having all their supplies to carry. They were ninety-four days out, and none of them had liquor. They were constantly wet through, sometimes for days together, and all the while at the severe labor of rowing, poling, tracking, and portaging, yet they were always well and cheery, and there was a total absence of crime.

IN AFRICA it is far safer to do without intoxicating drink. Livingstone says that he lived without it for twenty years. Stanley performed his wonderful journey without it. Bruce said more than one hundred, years ago: "I laid down as a positive rule of health that spirits and all fermented liquors should be regarded as poisonous. Spring, or running water, if you can find it, is to be your only drink."

WATERTON, the great naturalist, who travelled so much in South America, says: "I eat moderately, and never drink wine, spirits, or any fermented liquors in any climate. This abstemiousness has proved a faithful friend." He died by accident at the age of eighty-three.

MR. HUBER, who saw 2160 perish of cholera in twenty-five days in one town in Russia, says that "Persons given to drinking are swept away like flies. In Tiflis, containing 20,000 inhabitants, every drunkard has fallen." Of 204 cases of cholera in the Park Hospital, New York, there were but six temperate persons, and these recovered. In Albany, where cholera prevailed with severe mortality for several weeks, only two of the 5000 members of temperance societies became its victims. In Montreal, where the victims of the disease were intemperate, it usually cut them off. In Great Britain, those who have been addicted to spirituous liquors and irregular habits have been the greatest sufferers from cholera. In some towns the drunkards are all dead.--_Bacchus._

MALT LIQUORS, under which title are included all kinds of porters and ales, produce the worst species of drunkenness. The effects of malt liquors are more stupefying than those of ardent spirits, and less easily removed. In a short time they render dull and sluggish the gayest disposition.--_Anatomy of Drunkenness._

GINGER-BEER.--A man who has been a temperance-worker for forty-five years, says that there is often alcohol in ginger-beer. He told of a case known to him of a reformed man who, after drinking some, felt strongly drawn to the bar-room, where he drank until he brought on delirium tremens. The beer will sometimes ferment enough in a few hours to produce alcohol--if it answers the conditions--a sweet liquid and a ferment.

DANGER TO THE REFORMED.--A lady who had become a drunkard through taking alcoholic drinks as medicines, at length, after many efforts, succeeded in breaking away from the power of the appetite, and for a long time she seemed to be saved. At length she went to visit her mother, and that mother put brandy peaches on the table for tea. They aroused the slumbering appetite, the victim fell again, became worse than ever, and died a miserable drunkard.

[6] From _Juvenile Temperance Manual_, by Julia Colman.

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STORIES ABOUT THE RIGHT WAY TO TREAT ALE, BEER, Etc.

THE RIGHT SIDE.--"Boys, which is the right side of the public house? Can you tell me?"--"Yes, sir, the outside."

THE GOAT AND THE ALE.--Many years ago, when everybody drank freely, a Welsh minister named Rees Pritchard was at the ale-house drinking, when he took it into his head to offer some ale to a large tame goat. The animal drank till he fell down drunk, and the minister drank on till he was carried home drunk. The next day he was sick all day, but on the third day he went again to the ale-house, and began to drink. The goat was there, and he offered him more ale, but the animal would not touch it. The minister, seeing the animal wiser than himself, was ashamed, and gave up drinking, and became a worthy minister.

HOW THE MONKEY WAS CURED.--A monkey named Kees had been taught to drink brandy. At dinner every day he had his share like his more manly (?) neighbors, only that his was given to him in a plate. One day, as he was about to drink it, his master set it on fire, and he ran off frightened and chattering. No inducement could afterward make him drink brandy. We have many stories of animals who would never drink again after they had once experienced its effects.

THE KEEN MARKSMAN does not poison his nerves and brain with alcohol. Angus Cameron, a Highlander, at the age of twenty, took the Queen's prize for the best marksmanship, and when he was twenty-two (in 1869), he won in the same way a cup worth $1000. He made the best shot each time that ever had been made in the contest, and neither of them has been beaten by anyone else. Angus is a slight, modest, unassuming young man, who had been a Band of Hope boy. When he was announced as the winner, and all the friends made an ado over him, and offered him a generous glass of champagne, he quietly refused their mistaken kindness, and kept his pledge.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, when a printer boy in London, would drink no beer, and his companions called him the water American, and wondered that he was stronger than they who drank beer. His companion at the press drank six pints of beer every day, and had it to pay for. He was not only saved the expense, but he was stronger than they, and better off in every way. If he had gone to drinking beer at that time, like the other printer boys, it is likely we should never have heard of him.

OATMEAL DRINK.--"In Boulton and Watts' factory we saw an immense workman at the hottest and heaviest work, wielding a ponderous hammer, and asked him what liquor he drank. He replied by pointing to an immense vessel filled with water and oatmeal, to which the men went and drank as much as they liked." This is made by adding one pound fine oatmeal to each gallon of water, and is much used in factories and at heavy work of all kinds in Government works, instead of the old rations of alcoholic liquors. Iron puddlers, glass blowers, and athletic trainers, all do their work now better without alcoholic liquors.

A CHANGE IN AFFAIRS.--A poor boy was once put as an apprentice to a mechanic; and, as he was the youngest, he was obliged to go for beer for the older apprentices, though he never drank it. In vain they teased and taunted him to induce him to drink; he never touched it. Now there is a great change. Every one of those older apprentices became a drunkard, while this temperance boy has become a master, and has more than a hundred men in his employ. So much for total abstinence.

BOOKS BETTER THAN BEER.--An intelligent young mechanic stood up in a temperance meeting and said: "I have a rich treat every night among my books. I saved my beer money and spent it in books. They cost me, with my book-case, nearly $100. They furnish enjoyment for my winter evenings, and have enabled me, by God's blessing, to gain much useful knowledge, such as pots and pipes could never have given me."

A LITTLE DRUMMER-BOY was a favorite among the officers, who one day offered him a glass of strong drink. He refused it, saying that he was a Cadet of Temperance. They accused him of being afraid; but that did not move him. Then the major commanded him to drink, saying: "You know it is death to disobey orders." The little fellow stood up at his full height, and fixing his clear blue eyes on the face of the officer, he said: "When I entered the army I promised my mother on bended knees that, by the help of God, I would not taste a drop of rum, and I mean to keep my promise. I am sorry to disobey orders, sir, but I would rather suffer than disgrace my mother, and break my temperance pledge." He was excused from drinking.

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TOBACCO.

INTRODUCTORY LESSON.

You have been learning about the poison alcohol, and what mischief is done by it; we will now study about another poison which thousands of persons are using every day. It is rolled in cigars and cigarettes, and hidden in snuff and pieces of tobacco, and does more harm to children and young people who use these things than to grown persons.

Perhaps you know how a person feels who takes tobacco or smokes a cigar for the first time; if not, we will tell you. He begins to be dizzy, to tremble, to become faint, and to vomit; his head aches, and he is so sick for hours, often for several days, that he scarcely knows what to do. Why is he so sick? Because tobacco poison has been taken into his lungs; also, some has mixed with the saliva and gone down into his stomach; and each part it has reached is striving to drive it out, and is saying, by the pain it causes, "You have given me poison; do not give me any more." If he had taken enough it would have killed him.

He recovers from this sickness and tries chewing or smoking again and again, until he becomes accustomed to the poison and can chew or smoke and it does not hurt him; so he thinks, but he is very much mistaken.

Tobacco is a poison, and hurts everybody who uses it every time they do so, although it does its evil work very slowly, unless taken in large quantities. To understand more about this we will try to learn how tobacco is obtained, what poison is in it, and in what way it harms people.

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THE STORY ABOUT TOBACCO.

_HOW IT CAME TO BE USED._--Tobacco is the leaves of the tobacco plant, a native of America. It was used by the Indians of this country before Columbus came here in 1492. Some of the Spaniards who were with him on his second visit took some of it back with them to Portugal, and told the people they had discovered a wonderful medicine. From Spain tobacco seed was sent to France by Jean Nicot, in 1560. It is said that Sir Walter Raleigh carried it to England in 1586, when Elizabeth was queen.

In a few years many civilized people were snuffing, chewing, and smoking tobacco, like the wild Indians, although it cost them a great deal of money to do so. King James does not seem to have liked it very much, for he said, "It is a custome loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs." He called the smoke "stinking fumes."

_THE TOBACCO PLANT._ This plant belongs to the same family as the deadly nightshade, henbane, belladonna, thorn-apple, Jerusalem cherry, potato, tomato, egg-plant, cayenne pepper, bitter-sweet, and petunia. Most of the plants of this Nightshade family have more or less poison in their leaves or fruit. Tobacco is supposed to have been named from the pipe used by the Indians in smoking its leaves.

The common tobacco plant grows from three to six feet high, and has large, almost lance-shaped, leaves growing down the stems; its flowers are funnel-shaped and of a purplish color. When fresh the leaves have very little odor or taste.

_HOW TOBACCO IS USED._--When the plants are ripe, they are cut off above the roots and placed where they will become dry, sometimes in a building made for this purpose, called "a tobacco house." After a short time they begin to smell strong and taste bitter. They are then stripped from the stems very carefully and sorted. The leaves nearest the root are considered the poorest, those at the top generally the best.

The different sorts are packed in separate hogsheads, and sent away to be sold to manufacturers of cigars, snuff, etc.

The manufacturer has some leaves rolled into cigars, some pressed into cakes for chewing, or into little pieces to be smoked in a pipe; while some are ground for snuff. While the dried leaves are being rolled, pressed, or ground, various substances are mixed with them to give them an agreeable odor and pleasant taste.

Yet, however pleasant the manufacturer may make them as he rolls, presses, or grinds, he cannot take the poison out of them. It remains in its brown covering to do much harm to those who may smoke the cigars, use the snuff, or chew the tobacco.

BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.

THE TOBACCO PLANT.
NATIVE OF FOUND BY TAKEN TO GROWS IN THE
America. Columbus, 1492. Portugal, Torrid and
1496. temperate zones.
France, 1560.
(About 50 species.) England, 1586.

DESCRIPTION. FAMILY _Height_, 3 to 6 feet. _The same as the_ Jerusalem Cherry, _Leaves,_ lance-ovate, and running Petunia, down the stem. Potato, _Stem,_ hairy and sticky. Tomato, _Flowers,_ funnel-shaped and Egg-plant, purplish. Red pepper, etc.

HOW MADE READY FOR USE. (1) (2) Cut-off above the roots. Flavored and scented. Dried. Rolled for cigars. Stripped; sorted. Pressed for chewing. Packed, and sold to the Ground for snuff. manufacturers.

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THE POISON IN TOBACCO AND THE HARM IT DOES.

_THE POISON._--What is the poison in fermented liquors?--"Alcohol." In distilled liquors?--"Alcohol" True; and the strongest poison in tobacco is _nicotine_, named from the man who first sent it to France, Jean Nicot. Beside this it contains several others, some of which we shall tell you about when we make up our blackboard outline.

Tobacco, like alcohol, is a narcotic; that is, it soothes pain and produces sleep. Alcohol acts first upon the nerves; tobacco upon the muscles, which it weakens and causes to tremble. It often causes palpitation of the heart.

If the skin is scratched or punctured, and tobacco poison put into the wound, it will do the same harm as if it were taken into the stomach. Tobacco is so dangerous that physicians do not use it much as a medicine.

_HARM DONE IN THE STOMACH._--You remember that after alcohol has been swallowed, the little mouths of the stomach take it up and carry it to the liver, which sends it with the blood to different parts of the body.

Tobacco, as we have already told you, poisons more slowly. People do not swallow it purposely, yet some of it goes down, accidentally, into the stomach with the saliva, and makes trouble there, causing nausea and vomiting when taken for the first time. By and by the stomach seems to take the poison without being hurt, but it really suffers from dyspepsia or other diseases, and often loses its appetite for wholesome food.

_HARM DONE IN THE MOUTH, THROAT, AND LUNGS._--The mouth takes in some of the poison through the pores of the membrane, or skin, which lines it; those who smoke, sometimes have what is called "smokers' sore throat"; besides this, the senses of taste and smell arc more or less injured by nicotine and the other poisons in tobacco.

The fumes, or smoke, from the weed fills the air with poisonous vapor which irritates the lungs, not only of the smoker, but of all who are where they must breathe the same atmosphere. Lungs thus irritated are liable to become diseased.

Cigarettes are still more injurious than cigars because of the smoke from their paper coverings; also, because from the way they are made, more of the tobacco poison goes into the lungs. The cheap cigarette which boys use is made from cast-away cigar stumps and other filthy things.

_HARM DONE IN THE BRAIN AND NERVES._--The smoker feels so rested and comfortable, after his cigar, and his brain is so rested, that he does not think about the mischief that is going on among its blood-vessels and nerves; perhaps he has never heard that tobacco, snuffed, chewed, or smoked hurts the brain, and does not learn about it until he finds he is losing his memory, that his mind is not so strong to think as it should be, and his will too weak to help him conquer his love for the snuff, tobacco, or cigar, when he wishes to stop using it. He has become the slave of tobacco, and it is not easy to get free from his cruel enemy.

The nerves also lose their power, or become more or less paralyzed by nicotine and the other tobacco poisons.

_MORE ABOUT THE HARM DONE BY TOBACCO._--Some persons who continue to use tobacco are strong enough to throw off the poison through the lungs, the skin, and in other ways; but how much better it would be if they were not obliged to employ their strength in getting rid of that which does them no good, which only gives a little pleasure to nobody but themselves, and often makes those suffer who are compelled to remain where they are having "a good smoke." Beside, their breath and clothing have the tobacco odor, which not only makes the air impure, but is disagreeable to most people.

If this be true of smoking, what shall we say about the filthy habit of chewing, and the utterly useless and disgusting practice of taking snuff, which injures the voice as well as the senses of taste and smell?

And what about spitting tobacco juice on the floors of cars, steamboats, churches,--any place where it is convenient for the man or boy who has lost his common politeness in his love for tobacco?

We must not forget that cigars, etc., cost money. No one who smokes, chews, or snuffs would throw away dollars and cents which might be put into the savings bank, or used in buying something worth having for himself or somebody else.

Lastly, we would have you know that tobacco causes thirst, and this often leads to drinking alcoholic liquors. Some one who has studied this subject, says that "nine out of ten of the boys and young men who become drunkards have first learned to smoke or chew tobacco." A New York daily paper gave a list of 294 cases of insanity caused by drinking, in 246 of which the whiskey drinking followed tobacco chewing.

Tobacco and alcohol make thousands of wretched homes, and send a great many people to prison or to the insane asylum; so we entreat you to turn from beer, wine, and all alcoholic liquors as you would from a serpent, and say No, when tempted to smoke a cigar or use tobacco in any form.

Do this all the more decidedly because, as we have told you before, alcohol and tobacco hurt children and young persons in every way more than they injure any one else. If you have begun to use these poisons, give them up this very day, before the habit of using them becomes too strong for you to break.

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QUESTIONS ON THE USE OF TOBACCO.

Of what poison beside alcohol have you been studying?--"Tobacco."

How is tobacco used?--"Some take it in snuff; some chew it; some smoke it in a pipe; some smoke it in cigars or cigarettes."

What is the name of the strongest poison in tobacco?--"Nicotine."

What harm does tobacco poison do to the body?--See Blackboard Outline.

What harm does it do to the mind?--See Blackboard Outline.

Whom does it harm most?--"Those who begin to use it when they are children or very young."

What happens to children or young people if they use tobacco in any way?--"They are not healthy; they are not strong; they do not grow fast; they look pale and sickly."

How does the tobacco poison hurt their minds?--"They cannot learn fast; they often forget what they have learned."

What often makes tobacco-chewers, snuffers, and smokers disagreeable to clean people?--"Their breath smells of tobacco; their clothes smell of tobacco; they poison the air with tobacco-fumes; some have the filthy habit of spitting tobacco-juice wherever they happen to be."

What other harm does the use of tobacco do to people?--"It makes them waste time and money; it leads some to drink alcoholic liquors and to go with bad company."

If you are wise how will you treat tobacco?--"I will let it alone."

If you have begun to use it what had you better do?--"Give it up to-day."

Why to-day?--"Because the longer I use it the harder it will be for me to give it up."

If you keep on using it what will you be?--"A tobacco slave."

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BLACKBOARD OUTLINE.

TOBACCO. POISONS IN TOBACCO SMOKE. EFFECTS OF THE POISONS. Carbonic acid Causes sleepiness and headache. Carbonic oxide Causes trembling of the muscles and heart. Ammonia Bites the tongue; makes too much work for the salivary glands. Nicotine See below.

NICOTINE IS CAUSES Odorous, Weakness, Pungent, Nervousness, Emetic, Dizziness, Poisonous, Nausea, Pain-soothing, Faintness, Sleep-producing, _i.e._ Narcotic. Loss of strength, Stupor, _If taken in large quantities_ Convulsions and Death.

SOME OF THE HARM DONE BY TOBACCO TO THE BODY. TO THE MIND, ETC. Poisons the saliva. Makes the memory poor. Injures the sense of smell, taste, Lessens the power to think. sight, and hearing. Weakens the will. Causes "smokers' sore-throat." Makes people grow in selfishness Injures the stomach, causing and impoliteness. dyspepsia, etc. Makes people waste time and Often takes away the appetite for money. wholesome food. Often leads to drunkenness and bad Irritates the air-cells of the company. lungs. Sometimes causes insanity. Causes palpitation of the heart. Weakens the muscles, causing trembling. Injures the eyes. Excites, then stupefies and paralyzes the brain and the nerves.

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OPIUM AND OTHER NARCOTICS.

_OPIUM._--Opium is the juice obtained from the seed-vessels of the white poppy before they are ripe; this is dried, and smoked in a pipe or chewed. It makes a person feel very pleasant and happy for a little while, then so horribly wretched that he takes more of the poison to forget his misery. So he keeps on until mind and body are a complete wreck. Now and then an opium slave gets free from the dreadful habit which has mastered him, but usually the slavery ends only in death.

_LAUDANUM AND MORPHINE._--These soothe pain and cause sleep; but beware of them; they are made from opium, and like it, though more slowly, hurt mind and body.

Beware also of _chloral hydrate_ and _chloroform_, which physicians give to ease suffering and produce sleep. _Endure pain_ rather than form the habit of using these narcotics.

_HASHISH, ETC._--This is prepared from the hemp plant growing in hot countries, and is a terribly exciting poison.

The _areca nut_, the seed from a kind of palm, pear-shaped, and resembling a nutmeg, is mixed with quick-lime and wrapped in a betel-leaf, which grows on a vine belonging to the pepper family. This mixture reddens the saliva and lips, and blackens the teeth. It is chewed by millions of people in India.

The leaves of the _coca_, also of the _thorn apple_, are smoked or chewed by the South American Indian.

ALL these poisons mean the same thing,--

_A little pleasure_, DISEASE, and DEATH.

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Practical Work in the School-Room.

BY SARAH F. BUCKELEW & MARGARET W. LEWIS.