Almost all men and boys who swear started where he did. They thought swearing would make them taller, heavier, wealthier, and smarter. This sin has never helped a boy to become a man. If a boy can swear and be manly, his mother and sister can swear and be perfectly ladylike. No man or boy can give a good reason why he swears. Intelligent people are supposed to understand and mean what they talk about. Idiots do not. Not one man or boy in a hundred, who swears, understands and means what he says. The words that he uses make him call upon God to send something or someone to hell. He does not understand or mean this. Idiots would be excusable for swearing; sensible men and boys are not. The kind of clothing a boy wears, the house he lives in, and the carriage he rides in, do not make his swearing manly.
Use of tobacco.—Months went by. This boy’s noble father had crossed over the river into heaven. He and his widowed mother were visiting among their relatives who lived in a rough country, many miles from their home. One night, after making a long journey on horseback, he slept so well that he did not wake until the sun was an hour high. On arising, he found that his cousin, a boy fifteen years old, had been out in the woods and had killed a number of squirrels before breakfast. In his estimation, his cousin was a hero, a great man.
Breakfast over, they rambled over a large tobacco farm. They became very chummy. At length they came to a large tobacco barn. His cousin pulled off a leaf of tobacco, rolled up a shapely cigar, lighted it and began smoking. As our friend stood and watched those dense clouds of smoke pour from the mouth and nose of his cousin, he whispered to himself, “Now I know why you can kill a mess of squirrels before breakfast. If I could smoke, I could do the same thing.” Once more he decided he would try to be a man. He selected the largest leaf that he could find. When he had finished making his first cigar, it resembled a saw log about as much as it did a first-class Havana. His cousin noticed that he could not get it into his mouth, and said, “You take my cigar and keep it going for a few minutes and I will make you one.” He kept it going for a few minutes, then it kept him going for about three hours. He lost little less than ten pounds of his former weight in a hurry. He was soon so weak that he could scarcely walk back to the house. His mother and friends were greatly frightened. His cousin’s face was as pale as a sheet. There was not a doctor in ten miles of the place. Many remedies were thought of and used. None did any good. Finally, his uncle’s father, quite an old man, suggested that the best remedy, ever used in those parts of Kentucky for sick stomach, was a sweetened toddy. This boy had been taught that the use of tobacco was a great sin and that the use of whisky was a still greater sin. He had acted very much like a fool and felt like one. He understood his case better than they did. He reasoned like this: “if whisky is worse than tobacco, the remedy they want me to take will kill me.” But, he was between two fires. If he confessed what he had done, he would get a switching, and if he took the remedy they were offering, he would die. What do you suppose that boy did? He was determined to keep his secret and he did not want to die, so, for convenience, he became a Christian Scientist, denied that he was sick and got well. This was his first, last and only experience in the use of tobacco.
Why boys are tempted.—Perhaps the average boy has no greater temptation than to use tobacco. He sees merchants, lawyers, doctors, occasionally a minister, and often his father using it. He does not see the expense side of the habit, because prosperous business men use it. He does not see the filthy side of it, because nicely dressed men use it. He does not see the injury to body and mind, for doctors use it. He does not see the wrong in the use of it, for good men use it. He does not see that thousands of children are in rags, live in rented cabins, go hungry and are deprived of many comforts and pleasures because the father has spent $50 a year for one or two score years on tobacco. He does not quite understand that doctors and sometimes ministers, like other men, die of a tobacco heart. He does not desire to imitate the dirty, ragged, stupid tobacco using wag on the street corner. He wants to be like the man dressed in broadcloth, wearing a fine beaver hat, twirling a golden-headed cane, with sparkling diamond ring and shirt studs and smoking a twenty-five cent cigar.
The cigarette habit.—The worst form of the tobacco habit is the use of the cigarette. When a boy falls into this habit, at the age of ten to fourteen, he never develops properly in his body or mind. You will understand this statement better, when it is referred to in another chapter. The boy who uses tobacco does not progress well in his studies. This has been tested in nearly all our military and naval schools as well as in other schools and colleges. Boys who use tobacco will gradually lose respect and courtesy for ladies. It is claimed by those who have studied the effects of the cigarette habit that it causes the boy to become dishonest. It is for these reasons that many business men will not employ a boy who is guilty of this habit.
There are many other wrongs that boys are tempted to engage in, that if yielded to will result in habits that prevent boys from becoming perfect men. It is hard for boys to see the injury that dishonesty and gambling, disobedience to parents and breaking the Sabbath will do for them. Some boys take pleasure in doing wrong and leading other boys to do wrong. If you keep company with them, do as they do, you will get a wrong start in life and find it a hard struggle later in life, when you would like to be a real man.
The kind of boys who make men.—Someone has said, “A dead fish can float down stream, but it takes a live one to swim up stream.” Any kind of a boy can float down the stream of life, have what he calls a good time in the world, live and die and never be missed. It takes a boy with a strong, healthy body, a sound mind, a pure heart and clean life, brave, determined and true to make a perfect man. You will need more than a strong will and the help of true friends, if you would resist the many temptations that are sure to come, be a perfect boy and become a perfect man. Christ alone can purify the heart and help you to live a clean life.
CHAPTER XXII
FATHER’S SECOND TALK—PERFECT BOYS MAKE PERFECT MEN
Why we are given sexual organs.—You have learned God’s beautiful and sacred plan of bringing into this world baby plants, fish, birds, animals and human beings. You learned from the stories of the plants and animals that God provided them with organs of sex, for the purpose of increasing their kind. When little children are born they have organs of sex. A boy’s sexual organs have several important uses. They are as important to a boy as his mouth, ears, eyes or heart. They are just as pure as any other organs of his body. These organs are very sacred. It is through their proper use that men and women obey God’s command to “be fruitful and multiply.” Without sexual organs, new plants, animals and human beings could not come into the world.
They are not sinful.—We should never think of these organs as being sinful. They are not. The true names of these organs are as pure as the words baby, home, mother, Bible, heaven, angels, God, so far as a word is concerned. The true names of these organs are found in the dictionary. Your sister and mother can find these words in the dictionary and just what they mean. They are placed in the dictionary because they are clean words and are a part of our language.