All children are interested in stories about Arctic explorers, whose ships get frozen into great ice-fields, who travel on sledges drawn by dogs, and sometimes live in Esquimau huts, and drink oil, and eat walrus meat.
These men tell us that alcohol will not keep them warm, and you know why.
The hunters and trappers in the snowy regions of the Rocky Mountains say the same thing. Alcohol not only can not keep them warm; but it lessens their power to resist cold.
Scene in the Arctic regions.
Many of you have heard about the Greely party who were brought home from the Arctic seas, after they had been starving and freezing for many months.
There were twenty-six men in all. Of these, nineteen died. Seven were found alive by their rescuers; one of these died soon afterward. The first man who died, was the only one of the party who had ever been a drunkard.
Of the nineteen who died, all but one used tobacco. Of the six now living,—four never used tobacco at all; and the other two, very seldom.
The tobacco was no real help to them in time of trouble. It had probably weakened their stomachs, so that they could not make the best use of such poor food as they had.