girls are joining together to fight
against consumption and make an end to it, and a big fight it is. Then,
again, in the struggle with yellow fever some of our noble American
heroes willingly laid down their lives.

Another great battle is against Dirt. Dirt causes people to get sick and
die, and since we have known this we have been fighting hard against it.
The boys and girls have helped a great deal in this battle.

One of the finest fights to be in is the battle against Tobacco. What do
you think? Could the boys and girls defeat the use of tobacco and drive
it out of the country if they tried hard enough? I really believe they
could.

But, perhaps, you have not all made up your minds that it would be a
good thing to fight tobacco. Let us think of some of the reasons why we
should fight it.

REASON NUMBER ONE is because the tobacco habit is a dirty habit. Are the
lips of the smoking boy nice and clean for mother to kiss? What about
his hands? Isn't he ashamed of that yellow stain that won't come off?
How much cleaner the streets, and cars, and railway stations would be if
nobody used tobacco!

REASON NUMBER TWO is because tobacco injures a boy's body. It hurts his
heart, causing it to beat too fast for a while and afterwards making it
weak and tired. It hurts his lungs, for when he draws the smoke in he
carries the poisonous nicotine to the tender and delicate air-cells. We
must talk more about that at another time. It hurts his stomach and
gives him indigestion, and no one knows how bad that is until he has had
it for himself.

REASON NUMBER THREE is because tobacco harms a boy's mind. Boys who
don't smoke make better grades than those who do. Some college boys
found this out for themselves a while ago. Don't you forget it.

REASON NUMBER FOUR is because it is a dangerous habit. The insurance
men, whose business it is to find out what causes the fires, say that
cigarette smokers are often to blame, because they throw the cigarettes
down with fire on them.

If you spend nickels on cigarettes, a dollar is soon gone. You don't
exactly burn the dollar bill, but you spend the bill and buy cigarettes,
and burn them. Isn't that just the same as burning the bill, after all?
If a boy spends a nickel a day on cigarettes, how much will he lose in a
week? Thirty cents in six week-days. In four weeks, what will he have
spent? A dollar and twenty cents. A month is a little over four weeks,
so we will add an extra nick