Any one who habitually smokes cigarets, in this climate especially, has something connected with his record or his qualifications that makes him a dangerous person.
Dr. Sims Woodhead, professor of pathology in Cambridge University, says that cigaret smoking, in the case of boys, partially paralyzes the nerve-cells at the base of the brain, and this interferes with the breathing or heart action.
Now produce a flag made of black muslin which you call the Cigaret Flag, on which you have pinned small slips of paper on which you have written some of the short sayings herewith given, Read these lines from the flag and say, "We will now listen to the message of the Cigaret Flag."
If you blow a mouthful of cigaret smoke through a clean white handkerchief, it will leave a dark brown slimy stain. In this carbon deposit are the different poisons which eat on the delicate spongy membrane of the back of the throat like acid on a piece of cloth.
Conclude by warning the boys not to smoke the deadly cigaret, never to begin; and if they have smoked, then first urge them to make the last cigaret the last forever. Tell them that Jesus wants boys with clean lips and pure hearts. The cigaret habit has roots which go deep into the heart. This is what makes the grip of the habit so strong. Jesus said that "Every plant my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up." So this is one of the plants doomed by God. Let him pull it out from your heart by the roots; only thus can it be taken away to stay.
4
HEALING LEAVES
OBJECTS: A Collection of Eucalyptus Leaves
Secure from a regular drug-store a few dried leaves of the eucalyptus tree which grows in California. Mount them on cardboard or hold them up in a cluster so all the hearers may see them. Then open your Bible and read Revelation 22:2, "and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." This can be used as a text for this lesson.