ums who drink and smoke, I
suppose I might break off."

"Why not here? Are you at your age a slave to cigarettes?"

"Well, you see it's this way: all the fellows know I drink and smoke,
and they would laugh at me if I should say I'd stopped. They wouldn't
believe it. They would keep at me until they shamed me into keeping on."

"Then you confess that you have not the will power to refuse and stick
to it. Can't you see that your will power is weakened?"

"It's not that; it's because I don't wish to be laughed at and jollied."

"Which is a confession of weakness. Let them laugh; in the end, if you
stick to your good resolutions, they will stop laughing and learn to
respect you."

"Perhaps that's right; but I've seen some mighty mean, narrow,
contracted men who never drank, never smoked, and never swore. I've seen
some rascals who had none of the small vices, and usually they are the
meanest sort of rascals."

"I don't doubt it; but does that prove that all men, or even the
majority of men, who have none of the small vices are mean or rascally?
I don't fancy you believe that. You know it's natural to suppose that a
bad man should be a drinker, a smoker, and a swearer. When you see a bad
man who does none of these things, it is so unusual that you immediately
look on him as a representative of his kind."

Art nodded.

"Perhaps that's so," he acknowledged. "Of course, I do know men who have
no vices, and who are good fellows. I swear, Merriwell, you've almost
converted me."

Frank smiled.

"Would that I might wholly convert you!" he exclaimed. "Does your father
know you drink?"

"Lord, no! I wouldn't have the governor know it for anything! He takes a
little himself, but he thinks I'm on the water wagon yet--thinks I'm not
old enough to get out with the boys and whoop her up."

After a moment he dropped the half-smoked cigarette on an ash tray.

"I believe I'll quit!" he exclaimed. "I've been working for chest
development, and it's coming slower than any other part of me. Perhaps
smoking is holding me back. I believe I'll let tobacco alone for a few
months and see if I improve."

"Good!" cried Merry. "But you should knock off drinking at the same
time."

"I will! It's going to be a hard thing to do, but I'll try it."

"Give me your hand on it, Arthur! Don't merely try, but make up your
mind that nothing shall cause you to break your resolution. Show that
your will power and determination have not been we