Chapter V: Part 5

ELMER: There is a blue ring in Amy’s eyes.

MOTHER: This is called the iris, which means a rainbow. You know we all like to see pretty curtains hung before windows, and such beautiful curtains you never saw as these in the eye. They are only half an inch wide, but they open or draw together around the pupil so the eye has just the right amount of light. When you are where it is very light, this wee round curtain draws up very small. If you are in a dark room, it opens wide, so the eye can have all the light there is. Sometimes these curtains are brown, gray, or blue, just the color which will match the outside of the house best.

AMY: But won’t you please tell us, mother, how we see with our eyes.

MOTHER: I will try, and perhaps we can find out some things about it. Here is a picture which may help us. You see the front of the eye bulges out like a watch crystal, and it has a strong, glassy covering, called the cornea, which lets the light through. Passing through the pupil we come to the lens, which is shaped as you see in the picture. You have seen old persons wear spec´ta-cles to help them see. The glasses in the frames are lenses; but you must not think from this that the lens in your eye is made of glass. It is because of the shape that it is called a lens. A picture of people, houses, trees, or anything else you look at, is made by the lens on the inner part of the eye, which is called the ret´i-na. It is almost wholly made up of the little branches of the nerve of sight.

HELEN: And is that the way we see?

MOTHER: Partly. The picture passes through the clear, jelly-like substance of the eye to the back, where it is spread out, and the nerves of sight carry it into the brain, for the master to see. We may have perfect eyes, but if anything is wrong with the eye nerve, we can not see; so we really see and hear with our brain instead of our eyes and ears.

ELMER: Isn’t the eye something like the camera used to take photographs?

MOTHER: Yes, in some ways. One curious thing about it is that it turns its pictures upside down before they strike the nerves of sight, and in this it is like the camera.

HELEN: I am so glad that we all have good eyes.

MOTHER: And well you may be. We should always take the very best care of our eyes. Alcohol makes them red and bloodshot; for it makes too much blood go into them, just as it does all over the surface of the body. Tobacco injures them by making the nerves weak. It is a dreadful thing to be blind or have weak sight, and while we prize our eyes we will never take such poisons to injure them.

PERCY: I wish I could get a peep at the master when he looks through the windows.

MOTHER: You may at any time. We know just how he feels by the “look” of his eyes. When he is displeased and angry, they look so hard that it almost seems as though sparks flew from them. When he is pleased, they light up with kindness and pleasure, and you wish to be near him, he seems so happy, and it makes you glad, too. When he is loving and kind, there is such a tender feeling shines through that it seems like a warm, comforting fire, and you love him better than ever before. So the eyes “speak,” though they never say a word.

MY TWO WINDOWS.

“Two wonderful windows
The Lord gave me;
And through these windows
His wonders I see.

“The beautiful flowers,
The grass and the trees,
The hills and the valleys,
The birds and the bees,

“The faces of parents
So dear to me,
The stars in the sky,
The fish in the sea,—

“All these through my windows
Most gladly I see,
And praise my Creator
For giving them me.”

—_C. M. Snow._

A GOOD SERVANT

MOTHER: A little boy was once asked to repeat his Bible verse, and he said, “I don’t remember just what the words are, but it is the one where Paul said he _kept his soul on top_.”

ELMER: I think this must have been the one he meant, “But I keep under my body, and bring it into sub-jec´tion.”

MOTHER: Yes, and the child no doubt thought if his body was “_under_,” his soul must be “_on top_.” I think it means that the mind should be the master of the body, doing only that which will be for its good. The master, when he knows what is best, will not let one of his servants be master instead of himself.

HELEN: I should think every one would want to do what is best to keep the body well.

MOTHER: We would all think so, but there is one of the servants who often gets control of the master and coaxes him till he gets his own way. But, though he may be a good servant, he is a very bad master, and the body has a sorry time when this servant has his own way.

AMY: What is the servant’s name?

MOTHER: He is called Taste. His room is the passage where we found so many servants dressed in white. He wears a pink dress, and stays in the house most of the time, but once in a while he peeps out between the folding doors.

AMY: That is the tongue, I know.

MOTHER: Yes, that is where we find Taste at home. Sometimes when he has his own way, his dress becomes a dirty yellow or brown color, and if the master finds himself quite ill, he sends for a doctor, who comes, and about the first thing he does is to ask the tongue to step outside a moment, and as soon as the wise man looks at its dress, he knows whether Taste has been doing his duty or not.

PERCY: But what is his duty?

MOTHER: To tell the master what is good to build and mend the body, and to help him enjoy his food. If some good whole-wheat bread, oatmeal, or some fresh fruit passes the guards, Taste rolls it over and over and sends word to the master through some of the little telephone wires: “This is very good. I think we will have more of this.” Then the servants in the kitchen are pleased, and all goes well. You have heard that

“Little Jack Horner sat in a corner,
Eating a Christmas pie,”

but I have read of another boy, who bore the same name, and this is what is said of him:—

“Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner,
Eating a morsel of nice brown-bread.
‘Have some pie or some cake?’
‘Nay, not I,’ with a shake
And a toss of his wise little head;
‘For this bread will make bone,
And teeth white as a stone,
That neither grow soft nor decay;
But rich cake and rich pie
Sure will break by and by
My good health, and that never will pay.’”

HELEN: But does Taste not ask for more than the body needs sometimes?

MOTHER: Yes, very often; and that is one of the times when he needs a firm master. At other times he gets in such a hurry that he lets the food go down to the kitchen before it is half ready.

ELMER: But does Taste ever want things which are not good for the body?

MOTHER: Yes, many, many times. He coaxes so hard that I have seen some boys and girls even cry for that which would make them ill. If given a good piece of bread, they wanted pie or cake or some other hurtful thing. One thing I must tell you about Taste: If he has nothing at all given him when he gets the sulks, after a while he is very well pleased to get even plain food, and as he rolls it over and over, he says by his actions, “It tastes much better than I thought it did.”

AMY: A lady once asked me if I had a sugar tooth, mother. What did she mean?

MOTHER: When one’s taste calls for a great many sweet things, people sometimes say of such a person that they have a “sugar tooth,” but it is Taste, and not the teeth, who wants to be pleased that way. Candies, lollies, and sweet foods are bad for the teeth as well as the stomach; but Taste often begs for them, even though they do harm in the body. He sometimes learns to like what he dislikes very much at first, so you see it is the master’s duty to give him only that which he knows is best.

He often does great harm by asking the master for things to taste when the kitchen is full and the cook does not wish to be disturbed in her work. Really I think you will agree with me that he is a very selfish fellow, and cares more for his own pleasure than for the comfort of others or the welfare of his master. If he has his own way, it makes the master cross, and everything seems to go wrong.

HELEN: I shall try to teach my Taste to call for only those things that will make my body well.

MOTHER: If you do, you will sometimes have a quarrel with him, but all the other servants will be glad that you do not let him master you. That is one way the Bible means we should keep our bodies under. Sometimes we have to take Taste by the throat, as it were, and when we have him down, let him know that we are his master, and that we intend to rule our own house.

PERCY: Isn’t that the way people do when they leave off drinking wine and beer, and stop using tobacco?

MOTHER: Yes; and sometimes they have a terrible fight with Taste before they convince him that they intend to be master. Sometimes he gets them down, and again they put him under; many have fought the battle for weeks, it may be for months, night and day, and at last Taste gives up and the master wins.

HELEN: Wouldn’t it be better if they did not let him have his own way at first?

MOTHER: Surely it would. That is why I wish you, while children, to train your Taste, or appetite, so he will only call for the things which are best for your bodies, and so you will form no bad habits of eating and drinking. Then you will not have the battles of which we have been speaking; for, as I have said, Taste is a good servant. All he needs is to be taught that he must keep his proper place, and that he is not to rule the house. If boys and girls begin to eat between meals; if their Taste calls for rich food and sweetmeats; if they want spices, pepper, mustard, and hot sauces with their food, they are letting Taste become their master, and it will be easy for them to begin to use cigarettes and to drink beer. When they open the gate for Taste to become master, they know not where they will end. They have entered the path to death and ruin.

ELMER: I should think that this servant has more power to do harm than any of the others.

MOTHER: He has. Next to the master himself, he holds the most important position of all. Not only does Taste live in the tongue, but it is with the tongue that we talk. It is such an unruly fellow that it is fastened to the floor so that it can not get away; there are strong walls all around it; a double row of servants stand in front to guard it; and the double doors are made to shut closely, to keep out anything that should not go in, and to keep back anything that should not come out. Yet for all that it is so unruly that it often puts the master to shame, and wounds his best friends. The Bible says that if any one can control the tongue, which means, I suppose, their taste and talk, he can govern his whole body.

AMY: Who would think that such a little fellow could do so much harm!

MOTHER: Little things may do much good or evil. A bridle is a small thing, yet the bits turn the horse any way we wish him to go. I was once on a great ship at sea. There was a fearful storm. In the ship there was a little helm, which turned it any way the captain wished it to go. So it is with the tongue; life and death are in its power.

PERCY: But isn’t it a good thing to taste and talk, mother?

MOTHER: Yes, indeed. Animals can taste, but they can not talk, or laugh. This is one thing that makes us of a higher order of beings than they. What a blessing kind, gentle words are! How thankful we should be for a keen Taste, which helps us to enjoy our food! On the other hand, what pain and sorrow come when angry words are spoken, and how much sickness and death are the result of letting Taste have his own way! What we want is that the master of the body-house should keep this servant as with a bit and bridle; for he will obey if he must.

HELEN: I shall be more careful of my tongue after this.

MOTHER: But the Bible says again, “The tongue can no man tame.” We can never master it in our own strength. We must ask God to help us; for we can never control our Taste or our talk without His aid.

A FAITHFUL WATCHMAN

AMY: Here are some violets for you, mother. I just gathered them in the garden. See how fragrant they are.

MOTHER: They are indeed, and I thank the little girl who was so kind and thoughtful. Did you ever think of the sense which makes us enjoy the flowers and all pleasant perfumes?

AMY: Why, yes; we smell them, do we not?

MOTHER: Yes; and now let us see if we can learn a few things about this sense which gives us so much pleasure. You may each take a few of these violets. How shall we find out where Smell lives?

PERCY: He must be in the nose.

MOTHER: I suppose you think so because you do not put the violets to your ears, eyes, or mouth to enjoy their odor, but hold them near your nose. Now hold them quite close to it and breathe out.

ELMER: But we can’t smell anything when we do that way.

MOTHER: No; then when we enjoy the sweet flowers, we place them near the nostrils and draw a deep breath, and we say, “Ah, how sweet!” We do this so that more air will touch the nerves of Smell, which are in the upper part of the nose. These little nerves form the tiniest branches you can think of, and all unite in one large nerve, which goes to the brain. They quickly tell us about things we can neither taste nor see. They are thickly spread over this room of Smell, which is indeed a wonderful place. Here is a picture of the nerves of which I have been telling you.

PERCY: I think in a dog Smell must have good nerves.

MOTHER: Yes; for some dogs will follow the footsteps of their master, though he has been out of sight for hours, and Smell is so keen that they use him in tracking game while hunting. Some Indians in South America can tell if a stranger comes near them, even in a dark night, by the use of Smell alone. They can also tell if a stranger is black or white. In some people Smell is much keener than in others.

ELMER: When I had a cold last week, I couldn’t smell at all.

MOTHER: Sometimes when one has a very bad cold, the opening into Smell’s room gets filled up so that odors can not get in. People having a disease called ca-tarrh´ often can not smell at all.

HELEN: But of what use is Smell to us?

MOTHER: First, he helps us to eat proper food. We are not apt to eat anything which has a bad odor; at least we should not do so. Smell might be said to be a twin brother to Taste, and part of his duty is to help Taste in selecting proper food for the body. Sometimes when dinner is cooking, I hear you say: “Oh, how good it smells! It makes me feel hungry.”

PERCY: I have often felt that way, but I didn’t know it was Smell giving me an invitation to eat.

MOTHER: Another way Smell cares for the body is by giving us warning against bad air. Sometimes a lot of tiny folk called “germs” get into the air and make it unfit to wash the blood. These germs are “seeds of sickness,” and should never be allowed to get inside the body. Sometimes they make the air smell bad, and then Smell sends word to the brain: “Look out! Don’t come here; for this bad air will make you ill.”

AMY: And does that mean that the master should take the body away?

MOTHER: Yes; or if we go into a room which is close and musty, and the air is full of germs, it means to open the doors and windows, and let the clean, pure air come in. Sometimes Smell gets so used to bad odors that he does not give warning as he should; so we should always heed his counsel at first. Any place or thing which has bad odors should never be near the house.

HELEN: I think Smell must find some sleeping-rooms rather unpleasant places for him to stay in.

MOTHER: He cer´tain-ly does. Sometimes he gives the one who sleeps in such rooms quite a scolding. After he has been out in the fresh air, and comes back into the room, I im-ag´ine I hear him talking something like this: “Don’t you know it is a _dreadful_ thing for you to breathe air like this? How would you like to drink the water your face or your clothes had been washed in? But you have done worse than that: you have kept washing your blood in the same air, over and over again, all night. It is no wonder that you have a headache and feel all tired out this morning. Now open the windows, and give this room a good airing, and if you sleep here another night, see that there are places where the good air can come in and the bad air go out, and I promise you I will not talk like this again.”

PERCY: If the master of the house knew no better than that, he ought to have a lecture.

MOTHER: I think so, too. When air costs nothing, and comes whistling around every corner, begging to come in, we should never go without a good supply. There is one more way in which Smell is useful to us.

ELMER: How is that?

MOTHER: It gives us pleasure. When God made us, He desired that we should be happy; so He gave us eyes to see the beautiful things He has made, ears to hear the music of the birds, taste to enjoy the fine flavors He placed in our foods, and smell to breathe in the fragrance of the violet and the rose. We ought to be very thankful for all these senses, which make us happy.

A GENTLE NURSE

MOTHER: You remember I told you that the body-house is all the time wearing out. Every time we think, move, play, or work, some part becomes worn, and must be mended. Blood, the care-taker, passes swiftly around every part, first up, then down; and every trip she makes, the bones take something to mend them; the flesh takes its part; the skin must have a share; the hair and finger-nails take something to make them grow; and so, while we study, work, or play, the mending goes on, and we hardly stop to think that it is done at all.

HELEN: This seems to me one of the most wonderful things about the body.

MOTHER: But there is another wonderful thing of which we have not yet spoken. When we are tired with the work of the day, and the sun goes down in the west, a gentle nurse steps in and says to the master of the body-house: “Please give me the care of your house awhile. I will rest you, and while I have you in charge Blood can do her work better, and in a few hours you will feel as good as new.”

AMY: And does the master do as she says?

MOTHER: Sometimes he is not willing at first, but at last he is glad to hand everything over to her. Then she quietly draws the curtains down over the windows, shuts the doors in the hearing passages, and the muscles of the arms and legs stop their work, the engine slows down, air goes into the bath room more slowly, all becomes quiet in the body-house, and the first thing the master knows he knows nothing at all.

ELMER: How strange to think that way of going to sleep!

AMY: Is Sleep the nurse, mother?

MOTHER: Yes, Amy; and a better one never lived. Sometimes when the house is all out of order, and the father and mother watch over some little body moaning with pain and tossing with fever, Sleep comes in and gives the dear child a long, sweet rest, and the good doctor says: “I am so glad! She will get better now.” He knows that if he can get Sleep to nurse his sick people, they will all “do well.” She is so kind that she comes of herself, takes us in her arms, comforts us, and when we are quite rested, she leaves us to do as we will till she is needed again. She never asks pay for her services, and the most skilful nurse never had such success as she in taking away care and worry, and in building up the house we live in.

PERCY: But why must we sleep, mother?

MOTHER: Because when we are awake, the body wears out faster than Blood can mend it, but if we go to sleep, she can mend faster than it wears out. We need sleep as much, and I sometimes think more, than we need food and drink. When we feel tired and drowsy, that is the call of the nurse for us to give ourselves into her care.

AMY: Should we sleep in the daytime?

MOTHER: Very young children should; for their body-houses are building fast, and so they need much sleep. Very old people sometimes need sleep in the daytime, because their houses are wearing out fast; but, as a rule, we should sleep during the night, and keep awake during the day.

ELMER: How long should we sleep?

MOTHER: Some need more than others do. Grown people need seven or eight hours and children should have still more. When we wake up, we should get up. The Duke of Wellington once said, “When it’s time to turn over, it’s time to turn out.”

HELEN: How can we get to sleep if wakeful when we go to bed?

MOTHER: Those who can not sleep well should spend much time out-of-doors during the day. One should not eat for several hours before going to bed; for if the stomach must work, it often keeps the rest of the body awake. Every one should have a clean bed, and sleep where he can have plenty of pure air. To work till one is tired, if not carried too far, will also help. But, even though a person does all these things, if he tries to sleep when the mind is worried or excited, the gentle nurse will not come. One of the best helpers to sound sleep is a clear conscience, and the knowledge that one has done his best in everything.

HELEN: I heard a lady say that she drank a cup of tea and it kept her awake half the night.

MOTHER: It often has this effect. If one has not been using it, this is more apt to be the case, and this shows that tea contains poison, and that it is not good for the body. When a person can not sleep, he should know that danger is near. The master of the house we live in must have rest. Sweet sleep is the best rest for a tired brain; for while Sleep has charge of the body, she cleans the brain and makes it bright and ready to do more work. If it does not get rest, it becomes ill, and sometimes people lose the right use of the mind; then we say they are insane, or crazy. That means that they do not know what they are doing. They may try to kill themselves or other people, and they must be locked up in strong rooms, so they can not get away and do themselves or others harm. Sometimes they get well, but many live for years in this sad con-di´tion. It often comes because people injure their brains with strong drink.

PERCY: Do not people who sell such drinks often stay up late at night?

MOTHER: I think they nearly always do. The people who are at the saloons should be in their beds, letting their brains and bodies rest. When at last they go to bed, the brain is stupid because of the strong drink they have taken. They lie in bed long after the sun is up, and when they rise, they feel worn out instead of rested. The poor brain bears such treatment for a time, but at last reason is gone, and the person is ruined for life.

ELMER: What a shame! I know one lad who will never go where beer and whisky are sold, and who will have his sleep at night if he can get it.

PERCY: And I know another.

MOTHER: I trust that my boys will never do anything to hurt the brain and drive sleep away.

“Go to bed early--wake up with joy;
Go to bed late--cross girl or boy.
Go to bed early--ready for play;
Go to bed late--moping all day.
Go to bed early--no pains or ills;
Go to bed late--doctors and pills.”

—_St. Nicholas._

A WICKED THIEF

MOTHER: You know all houses are in danger from thieves. When no one is watching, in the dark night, they come and steal our money and the most precious things we have. There is also a bold thief who takes delight in robbing the body-house.

ELMER: But who can it be? I’m sure no one would want to steal me.

AMY: Nor me.

MOTHER: You know thieves always try to find some way to get into a house when they wish to steal, and this robber is just like the rest. It is a little over three hundred years old, and it grows more bold and cunning every year.

PERCY: Please tell us its name, mother.

MOTHER: It is called Tobacco. It was first found in America when the country was discovered, but it did not begin to steal from white men for nearly one hundred years. Sir Walter Raleigh, of whom you will learn in your history, took it from America to England. It is said that Sir Walter one day sent his servant for some beer, and he came back sooner than was expected. He was greatly frightened to see smoke coming out of the mouth and nose of his master, and at once threw the beer into his face to put the fire out, calling loudly for help, and saying that his master was on fire inside, and would surely burn up.

HELEN: It is a pity there are not more such servants now, for they might cure some people of this filthy habit.

ELMER: But why do you call tobacco a thief, mother?

MOTHER: Because it steals.

PERCY: But what does it steal? I thought people just chewed, smoked, and snuffed it, and I can not see how that is stealing.

MOTHER: It steals health. Its first effect is to cause sickness and vomiting. Every servant in the body-house rises up in arms against it, and there is a great uproar as they try to defend their master from the deadly poison. The servants in the kitchen throw all there is in that room out at the front door. The lungs throw it out headlong in the breath. All the little waste-pipes in the skin work as hard as ever they can to push it out that way. The kidneys, bowels, and, in fact, every servant in the house, shows it the door, and will not let it stay inside if he can help it.

ELMER: But can’t the master keep it out?

MOTHER: Yes, if he _would_. That is the trouble. But tobacco pretends to be such a good friend, and makes so many good promises, that the master believes its lies, and lets it in. Boys think they are almost men if they can only smoke cigarettes. Some men say “a good smoke” rests them when they feel tired. Others say they must have it “to keep their food down.” Many smoke or chew because others do. And so tobacco deceives them all.

PERCY: But doesn’t tobacco do some good, mother?

MOTHER: I have never heard of it if it does. The nicotin of tobacco is such a deadly poison that one drop will kill a cat in about three minutes. It does not take a large amount to kill a man in five minutes. If a tea is made from it, it will cause death in three hours. Sometimes soldiers who do not wish to do their duty will put a leaf of tobacco under the arm or over the stomach to make them sick.

AMY: I should think if it is such a poison it would kill people to use it.

MOTHER: It would if they took enough of it. You know arsenic is a deadly poison, yet some people take it in small doses and live a long time. When the servants of the body-house find that their master _will_ use it whether it hurts them or not, they give up making so much trouble as they did at first; but they still keep turning it out as quietly as they can, and say but little about it.

PERCY: But I heard an old man say he had used tobacco for fifty years, and it never did him any harm.

MOTHER: Perhaps he did not know how much it had harmed him. Alcohol does not seem to hurt some people, and yet we have learned that it works mischief in every part of the body; and it is the same with tobacco. If such men do not suffer themselves, their children often suffer in their stead. Because a few can use these poisons without seeming injury, it does not make it safe for others to do so. While we are learning how to care for the body, we should not ask, “Will this do me _harm_?” but, “Will this habit do me any _good_?” Let us see what good tobacco does.

PERCY: It is good to kill sheep-ticks and plant-lice.

MOTHER: That shows how deadly it is, and how unfit for any human being to use in his body.

HELEN: I do not think there are many persons who would say it does them good.

MOTHER: We find that its first effect is to take away the appetite; and it hurts the stomach. Second, it does harm in the throat, making the voice coarse and husky, and men sometimes have a disease known as “smoker’s sore throat.” Third, it hurts the nerves, the wonderful telephone system; the tobacco-user is nervous, cross, and hard to please. Fourth, it weakens the eyes, and causes buzzing sounds in the ears. Fifth, it makes the heart weak, so a doctor can tell by feeling a man’s pulse whether he uses tobacco or not. His hands become unsteady, and they tremble, and his heart trembles just as his hands do.

PERCY: I think that is enough, mother, to show that tobacco does no good, but a great deal of harm.

MOTHER: There is one more thing I wish you to know about this poison, and that is that it makes the master of the house weak. He feels so happy and rested while he is taking his smoke, that he thinks surely tobacco does him good and not evil. But the reason he _feels_ rested is because his nerves have been put to sleep by the poison. Our nerves are like a faithful watch-dog. The first thing tobacco does is to put the nerves to sleep, just as a thief would kill a dog that would warn its master of his coming. You can see, I think, what a foolish thing it is for a boy or man to do anything which would put the faithful nerves to sleep so they can not warn him of danger.

ELMER: But, mother, do not the nerves wake up after a time?

MOTHER: Indeed they do, and then if the man can not get his tobacco, you will see how unhappy he can be; all his good nature and rested feelings have passed away. He soon finds this out if he tries to leave off the poison. He feels “all gone,” and thinks that he must have something to brace him up. He becomes thirsty, and so the temptation comes to use strong drink. A doctor who knows, has said, “Nine out of ten of the boys and young men who become drunkards, have _first_ learned to smoke or chew tobacco.”

Tobacco makes that part of the mind which is called the “will” so weak that thousands who use it have no strength to resist the temptation to drink when it comes to them. Besides, the mind is so weakened that they can not stop using tobacco even when they know it is hurtful to them, but they say--

“For thy sake, tobacco, I
Would do anything but die.”

And many even die because they have no strength to let it alone. Boys think it makes them manly to smoke and chew. Manly, indeed! I wish I could speak to every boy in every land to whom tobacco comes, and tell them that if they wish to grow up clean, noble, unselfish, manly men, they will _never_ taste tobacco. It does more to harm boys than men. One doctor has said, “Boys and young men who use tobacco lose one-fifth of the enjoyment and value, and at least one-tenth of the length of their lives.”

PERCY: But cigarettes are not very bad, are they, mother? I know many of the boys in school smoke them.

MOTHER: Bad! Indeed, they are very bad! They are made of the stumps of old cigars picked up in the streets, and from other vile, filthy things. Even the paper they are wrapped in, which seems so harmless, is steeped in deadly drugs, which makes them still worse. They are made and sold by millions, and thousands of boys are being ruined in mind and body because of using them. I often read in the papers of the death of some boy, caused by smoking cigarettes. I have no words to tell you the mischief they do; and yet thousands of people think them harmless.

AMY: I wish Uncle John wouldn’t kiss me, for he uses tobacco.

HELEN: You are like the little girl it tells about in the verses I learned. I will repeat them for you:—

“‘What ails papa, mother?’ said a sweet little girl,
Her bright laugh revealing her teeth white as pearl;
‘I love him and kiss him and sit on his knee,
But the kisses don’t smell good when he kisses me.
But, mama’--her eyes opened wide as she spoke--
‘Do _you_ like his nasty kisses of ’bacco and smoke?
They might do for boys, but for ladies and girls
I don’t think them nice,’ and she tossed her bright curls.
‘Don’t somebody’s papas have moufs nice and clean,
With kisses like yours, mama--that’s what I mean?
I _want_ to kiss papa, I love him so well,
But kisses don’t taste good that have such a smell.
It’s nasty to drink, and smoke ’bacco, and chew;
The kisses ain’t good and ain’t sweet, ma, like you.’
And her blossom-like face wore a look of disgust,
As she gave out her verdict, so earnest and just.
‘Yes, yes, little darling, your wisdom has seen
That kisses for daughters and wives should be clean;
For kisses lose something of nectar and bliss
From mouths that are stained and unfit for a kiss.’”

MOTHER: Yes, I read this poem in the last number of the _Prohibitionist_, and I think every girl, big and little, should feel just as this one has expressed it. When Horace Mann was asked where gentlemen should smoke, he said, “Gentlemen never smoke.” Billy Bray said, “If God had intended man to smoke, he would have put a chimney at the top of his head to let the smoke out.”

By giving up every bad habit we may help others to do the same. I must tell you a short story about a friend of mine who helped a young man stop using tobacco.

AMY: Please tell it now, mother.

MOTHER: She had often asked him not to use tobacco, but the habit was so strong that he felt that he could not give it up. At last he said one day: “I think you are as much a slave to tea as I am to tobacco. If you will stop drinking tea, I will use no more tobacco.” That put the matter in a new light, and she told him she would think about it. She knew that tea contained a poison, and that it did her no real good, but only harm; so she finally decided to drink it no more. When she next met her friend, she told him that she would use no more tea, and in a short time he left off using tobacco.

ELMER: That must be what the Bible means when it says that we should “provoke one another to good works.”

MOTHER: Yes, that is one way. You know I said when we began talking that tobacco was a thief. I will now tell you of something it steals from the master of the house besides his health.

PERCY: I wonder if it is money. I know that is what thieves almost always try to get.

MOTHER: You guessed it at once. Let us see how much this robber will take from a man if he once lets it into the house. One who is a very moderate smoker will spend about forty dollars a year for cigars. People in England would call that sum seven or eight pounds. Suppose a man should smoke thirty years. Here is an example for you, Amy.

AMY: Twelve hundred dollars. How much would that be in English money?

┌────────┐
│ $40 │
│ 30 │
│ ————— │
│ $1,200 │
└────────┘

MOTHER: About two hundred and forty-six pounds. That would buy him a nice little home, would it not? Or if he was a lover of books, he could get a good library for that sum. And you must remember that this is for a _moderate_ smoker. A merchant said that by saving the money he would have spent for cigars, he laid up twenty-nine thousand dollars, or nearly six thousand pounds. If he had spent it for tobacco, what would he have had for his money?

PERCY: Smoke.

AMY: A dirty mouth and bad breath.

ELMER: A weak heart and weak nerves.

HELEN: He might not have lived to smoke so long, and he might have been a drunkard.

MOTHER: Not very much that is good, for spending such a large sum of money, I must say.

PERCY: I once heard grandmother say that when she saw a man with a lighted cigar, the thought came into her mind, “A fire at one end and a fool at the other.” It does seem foolish to waste money that way. I wish I had some of it that goes up in smoke to send me to college when I am ready to go.

MOTHER: Here is a picture which I think shows this matter in about the right light.

HELEN: Why, what are those people burning in that big fire?

MOTHER: Money, money--nothing but money. Here is a rich man; he is throwing in one thousand dollars; and here is another, who is bringing one hundred pounds. Others are throwing in different sums, some less, some more. See how many young men there are who need that money for something else.

ELMER: And see the workingmen, too.

MOTHER: Yes; and many of them have no homes, and they wear poor clothes, and eat very plain food. They need many things. It may be the wife at home has not had a new dress for years, and the children have no shoes.

AMY: And just see the little boys burning up their money, too!

MOTHER: How very sad! They are only children, and yet they throw away their pennies and dimes. What are all these people getting for their money?

HELEN: Smoke--nothing but smoke.

MOTHER: They get smoke, it is true, but they also get pains and aches. Tobacco laughs as it takes their money, and grows larger and stronger every day.

PERCY: But, mother, can nothing be done to stop their burning up money like that?

MOTHER: You think some one should call out, “Stop, thief!” do you? Perhaps that was what King James, of England, thought; for when people began using it in that country, he wrote a book, in which he said that smoking was “loathsome to the eye, hateful to the nose, harmful to the brain, and dangerous to the lungs.” The Russian Government tried to put a stop to smoking by saying that if a person were caught using tobacco, his nose should be cut off. Perhaps it was thought that people who abuse smelling that way had no right to have a nose. The sultan of Turkey once put to death those who smoked, or used snuff.

PERCY: I should think such laws would have stopped its use in a little while.

MOTHER: They did not; for people can not be made to do right in that way. They used it more than they had before. I think the best way is for the master of every body-house to say, “I will never, no, _never_, touch it; and I will do my best to let others know how hurtful it is, so they will not use it.” Many, very many, do not know how much harm tobacco does in the body, nor what a sinful waste of money it causes. They spend it a few pennies at a time, and do not stop to think how much it amounts to in a year or a lifetime. More money is spent for tobacco than for bread. One hundred times as much money goes up in tobacco smoke as is given to missions. Let us do all that we can to prevent this waste. No bird or animal would ever be guilty of taking into its body anything so harmful.

MINNIE AND HER CANARY.

MINNIE’S REBUKE.

“You were a naughty bird to-day;
It shocked me, do you know,
To see you fly from brother Frank,
And pick at cousin Joe.

“Now tell me why you acted so;
There, don’t begin to sing,
But tell me why you were so rude,
You saucy little thing!”

THE BIRD’S REPLY.

“I _had_ to leave your brother Frank,
Or else to stay and choke;
He had a nasty cigarette;
I could not stand the smoke.

“And with your cousin Joe--oh, dear!
He put his mouth to mine,
And, oh! I thought I’d faint away,
For he’d been drinking wine.

“The little birds don’t do such things;
No crow, or paroquet,
Or other bird, would swallow wine
Or smoke a cigarette.”

A CRUEL MURDERER

MOTHER: Bad as it is to steal, it is worse to kill. Dreadful as it may seem, yet it is true that a murderer watches to get into the body-house; and unless it is kept out, sooner or later it will ruin the house and kill the master. It has different names, but the most common are Cider, Beer, Wine, Ale, Brandy, and Whisky; but its real name is Alcohol. I have some here in this bottle.

ELMER: Why, it looks like clear water!

MOTHER: So it does. Let us see if we can find out how it is different from water. I will pour a little into this saucer. Percy, you may light a match and hold close to it.

AMY: Oh, it burns!

MOTHER: Will water burn?

HELEN: No, water puts out fire.

MOTHER: Here is a tester. I will pour a little whisky in it and boil it over this spirit lamp. Now the steam comes out. Percy, you may light a match and hold it close to the steam.

PERCY: Oh, see it burn!

MOTHER: Will steam from the teakettle burn?

AMY: No, mother.

MOTHER: So you see the American Indians gave it a very good name when they called it “fire-water.” Another difference between water and alcohol is that water will freeze, but alcohol never freezes. I will show you one thing more. Here is some oil in this bottle. If I should pour in some water, would it mix with the oil?

PERCY: No; the oil would stay on top.

MOTHER: But alcohol will mix with oil. Let us try again. Here is a fresh egg broken into a glass. If I should pour some water over it and stir them together, it would not change the looks of the egg. Instead of water, I will pour in some alcohol. Now watch the mixture as I stir them together.

ELMER: Why, the egg looks as though it were cooked! It is getting hard.

MOTHER: Yes, and if I should put a little piece of lean meat in alcohol, it also would become hard. Now the reason that the egg or a piece of meat becomes hard is because alcohol has such a liking for water that it draws the water out, leaving the egg or meat hard and dry. Alcohol does the very same thing in our bodies; that is, it takes up the moisture in the nerves, muscles, and other parts; and I think that must be why it creates such a terrible thirst, which can not be satisfied. The poor man who drinks, thinks that he wants more alcohol, when it is really for water, water, that every part of his body is calling. I think you already see that alcohol is so different from water, the drink that God made for man, that it was never intended that we should drink it.

PERCY: But how is alcohol made?

MOTHER: Alcohol comes from death. Something must decay and die to produce it. We do not find it in wheat or any other grain. Peaches, plums, pears, apples, and grapes say, “It is not in me,” yet it can be made from all of them. Do you remember when I was canning fruit how I put it boiling hot into glass jars, and put the cover on as quickly as I could, to keep the air out?

HELEN: But why did you do that?

MOTHER: Because there are little germs, or “ferments,” in the air, and if they should get into the fruit, it would decay, ferment. I once had a jar of fruit spoil, and before I noticed it, it had turned to wine. In wine and cider the ferments are not shut out, and they make it “work,” ferment, or turn to alcohol.

AMY: Is beer made in the same way?

MOTHER: Very much the same. When a brewer makes beer, he takes some corn, wheat, rye, or barley, puts it in a dark place, and wets it. Soon it begins to sprout, or grow. The grain is dead. He dries it in an oven to stop its growing, and the grain is then called malt. After this he mashes the malt, soaks it in water, and drains off the liquid, boils it, and puts in some yeast, which you know is made of millions of little ferments. They are like seed; and millions more grow from them. A dirty scum rises to the top, and alcohol has come to stay in the liquid. It is the alcohol that makes it taste good to those who like beer.

ELMER: But where does alcohol like this you have shown us come from?

MOTHER: By dis-til´ling wine or beer.

AMY: What does “distil” mean?

MOTHER: To distil means to fall in drops. See the drops of water gather and fall as I hold this glass of ice-water in the steam coming from the teakettle. The drops are distilled water.

HELEN: Is that the way they distil wine and beer?

MOTHER: They could hardly do it in this way, but men found that by boiling beer or any liquid having alcohol in it, and letting the steam pass through a long tube called a “worm,” they got stronger alcohol. You see the alcohol comes out in the steam, and as it passes through the long tube, or coil, it is cooled, and drops into a cask. The oftener it is distilled, the stronger it grows, that is, the more pure alcohol there is in it.

ELMER: But why do you call alcohol a murderer?

MOTHER: Because it kills. Strong alcohol will kill any living thing. Dr. Richardson, of England, has said: “There is no animal that may not be affected by alcohol. A pigeon will take opium enough to kill several men, and receive no harm; but alcohol will poison it. A goat can take enough tobacco to kill several men, but it can not take alcohol.”

HELEN: I once read of a minister in Wales who was drinking in an ale-house, and he gave some of the drink to a tame goat. The animal drank until it became drunk and fell down. The minister, too, became so drunk that he had to be carried to his home. He was very sick the next day, but the third day he again went to the ale-house and began drinking. The goat was there, and he offered it more ale, but it would not touch it. When the minister saw that a goat was wiser than himself, he was so ashamed that he gave up drinking.

MOTHER: That was a sensible goat surely. There are many stories which might be told about animals that have drunk alcohol, but, having learned its effect, would never touch it again. It is a pity men are not as wise.

AMY: I do like stories, mother. Won’t you tell us one, please?

MOTHER: Here is a picture taken from life. This coon is trying to get a drink of beer. A coon, like a man who gets an appetite for strong drink, will do almost anything to satisfy his taste. I once read of a man who had two tame coons. One, I am glad to say, was a temperance coon, and, though his owner had barrels of beer, he never tried to get a drink. The other by tasting learned to like beer, and he would do many strange tricks to get it. One of his tricks was to go to a beer barrel, and when he had partly unscrewed the tap, he would lie on his back under it and drink till he was dead drunk.

ELMER: I should think that was bad enough for a coon; he did not have as much sense as the goat; but I think it is very much worse when a man fills himself with beer.

PERCY: But, mother, how do we know that alcohol is a poison?

MOTHER: By the results which come from using it. Its first effect is to make the body feel warm, and the extra blood sent to a man’s brain makes him sing, talk, and feel very gay. He says things he would be ashamed to say if sober. He thinks he is rich when he is poor, and that he is very strong when he is really weaker than before. If he drinks still more, his feet begin to go wrong; but I need not tell you how a drunken man walks.

AMY: He staggers.