il they learn to long for it. Young lads
regret that they are not men; they would like to go to bed boys and wake
up men. Little Charlie and Harry see their fathers or uncles smoke, if
not, then they see somebody's father or uncle puffing along the street,
"taking comfort," and they think that is one of the essentials of being
a man. So they get a pipe and fill it with tobacco, and as the parents,
instead of persisting until they gain their affections, slowly teaching
them to detest wrong, fly to pieces and say, "I will whip you if I see
you doing that again." So little Charlie and Harry get out behind the
barn and light up. By and by Charlie says, "Do you like it, Harry"? And
that lad dolefully replies, "Not very much; it tastes bitter." Presently
he turns pale and soon offers up a sacrifice on the altar of fashion.
But the boys stick to it, and at last conquer even their appetites,
learning to prefer their quid to the most delicious peach.

I speak from personal knowledge, for I have seen the time that I never
felt prouder than when behind a five or ten cent cigar or meerschaum.
But that time is passed with me, and I never see a poor clerk going
along the street puffing a cigar which he must know he can ill-afford to
buy, but I think of what a man once said in speaking of a cigar: "It is
a roll of tobacco with fire on one end and a fool on the other." One
cigar excites the desire for another, hence the habit grows on a person.
These remarks apply with ten fold force to the use of intoxicants. No
matter how bountifully a man is blessed with intelligence, if the brain
is muddled, and his judgment warped by intoxicating drinks, it will
simply be impossible for him to succeed, to his utmost bounds, at least.

Orators for years have told you of the degradation and want that the
"social glass" brings us to. Stories innumerable have been told of
husbands leaving all they loved in this world to satisfy these unnatural
desires. One habit indulged leads to another. We have seen how even the
"innocent" habit of smoking may have an influence in deciding a young
man to take the next step. Once in the billiard room it is not hard to
see how the young can be led on to drink, first one thing, then another.
We will say nothing of cards. Card-playing, gambling, is only the
natural result of these other evils, that is, they tend that way, they
go with it and it goes with them. Where one is found you will often find
the other.

The cor