Another way in which the nicotine gets directly into the blood is by the chewing of tobacco. The saliva dissolves the nicotine; some of this is expelled; the rest, poisoned as it is, has to prepare the food for entrance into the stomach. Dr. Steele, in speaking of the physiological effects of smoking, says, "The poison of tobacco, set free by the process either of chewing or smoking, when for the first time swept through the system by the blood. powerfully affects the body. Nausea is felt, and the stomach seeks to throw off the offending substance. The brain is inflamed, and headache follows; the motor nerves become irritated, giddiness ensues. Thus Nature earnestly protests against the formation of the formation of the habit. But after repeated trials, the system apparently adjusts itself to the new conditions." The truth is, that the nerves have become paralyzed by repeated abuse, and the mischief goes on without the user's knowledge. "Such powerful substances cannot be constantly inhaled without producing marked changes. The three great eliminating organs, the lungs, the skin, and the kidneys, throw off a large part of the products, but much remains in the system. When the presence of tobacco is constant, and especially when smoking or chewing is excessive, the temporary disturbance leads to chronic derangement. From this, the strong and healthy seem to escape entirely, while the weak, and those predisposed to disease, suffer according to the extent of indulgence. Those who lead an active, outdoor life, seldom show signs of nicotine poisoning, but the man of sedentary habits will sooner or later be the victim of dyspepsia, sleeplessness, nervousness, paralysis, or some other organic difficulty. Here again the law of heredity asserts itself, and though the tobacco user himself capes, his offspring only too often inhe an impaired constitution, and a tenden to nervous diseases." Dr. Richardson tells us that by the of tobacco the action of the heart is wear ened, and becomes irregular, and t muscles of the whole body are weak an flabby from lack of blood. Medical sta tistics show that out of every four to bacco users, one has heart trouble. Th memory is enfeebled, the will paralyzed the moral sensibility weakened. fessor in an Eastern college, writing on the influence of tobacco on character said: "The tobacco habit tends to deaden the sense of honor as well as de cency, and none are more apt to practice deception than those who use tobacco." A pro The Faculty of Dartmouth College, recognizing the evils of the tobacco habit, refuse to grant a scholarship to a man who smokes. A law made in 1880, prohibiting smoking by the clergymen is the Methodist Church, has been rigidly enforced. In speaking of the influence of tobacco on youth, Dr. Steele says, "The law of Nature is that of steady growth. not admit of a daily disturbance that weakens the digestion, causes the heart to labor excessively, and deranges the nervous system." The Germans, great smokers themselves, realize the effect of tobacco upon the young, and anybody under sixteen years of age found smoking in Germany is arrested and fined. Smoking is strictly forbidden in the French military schools, because it was found that those who smoked were more feeble in body and duller of intellect thar those who did not. At West Point and Annapolis, smoking as well as chewing, is prohibited. The one form of tobacco that is doing the worst harm to our youths is the igarette, made from vile tobacco, opium, and poisonous flavors. One hundred and ninety-five cases of leprosy in San Francisco have been traced by a physician to the smoking of cigarettes made by Chinese lepers. "Few things," says a writer, "are more hurtful to boys, growing youths, and persons of unformed constitution, than the use of tobacco in any form. On March 10, 1891, the State Legislature of California passed a law making it a misdemeanor for any person to sell to another person under sixteen years of age, tobacco in any form, unless on prescription of a physician, or written consent of the guardians of the buyer. This is a good law, but very few observed it. On March 23, 1892, the San Francisco Morning Call began a crusade against this selling of tobacco to minors. A reporter of that paper accompanied by a little messenger boy, visited the principal retail stores down town, in the hope of finding out which dealers observed and which did not observe the law. Of sixtythree stores visited, at only three was the little messenger refused cigarettes. The following morning the paper published an account of the trip, and the names of the three firms who refused to sell the tobacco. The names of those who did sell it were not published, and they were given a chance to sign an agreement made by the principal cigar dealers, promising to obey the law hereafter, and to place in their stores a placard stating the fact. This agreement was to go into effect when fifty of the retail cigar dealers in San Francisco had signed it. In three days almost three hundred had signed it. It is to be hoped that the police will see that there is no further evasion of this law. I have been able to tell but a few of the many dangers which result from the habit of using tobacco with its deadly nicotine, "which degenerates man, demoralizes society and lowers nations." But surely here are facts enough to convince us that as teachers it will be our duty to warn the children under our care of the dangers about them; to educate their judgment as to the injurious effect tobacco in any form has upon the growth of the body and the mind; and to instil that love of freedom of the will that will cause it to reject with scorn all such temptations to become slaves to anything so useless and degrading as the 113e of tobacco. M. McD. LITERARY. JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER, DIED SEPTEMBER 7, 1892. It is scarcely two weeks since papers and periodicals throughout the land published the obituary notice of our dearly loved poet, John Greenleaf Whittier, although in his eighty-fifth year, and for some time past failing in health the news came as a sudden shock to all his countrymen. Sincere sorrow filled the hearts of many who, while traveling with him. over the grounds and through the scenes of their forefathers' lives and experiences, have learned to love him. Perhaps he is survived by a few who commenced life about the same time, and who, wandering side by side with him during our eventful last three-quarters of a century, have been encouraged by his sympathy and inspired by his patriotism. Why do we love and honor him so sincerely? Some one has said, "Because he was a true American." This is saying much when so often the accusation is made that Americans are too apt to sit with folded hands, priding themselves upon their ancestry, while our country needs the active service in word and deed of all of her true sons to avert impending catastrophes. Whittier's homely life on the farm following the usual occupation of a farmer's boy,--even shoemaking not being being beneath his notice; the impressions made upon his sympathetic, sensitive mind by the narration at his fireside of early trials and hardships; his persevering efforts to obtain the best education possible to a boy of his means,--all tended toward bringing him into closer relations with the poor and striving of all classes. If we review the history of our country about the time of his birth, in 1807, we are reminded of the condition of the Union at that period;--its troubles with "The old Lady that lived over the sea," who was not yet ready to acknowledge that her wayward and rebellious son had succeeded in establishing a "Sho of his own," and was still vainly hop ing for the opportunity to "Give him some broth without any bread," etc. etc. Happily, there was growing up, about that time, a generation of sturdy, selfreliant grand children, trained to endurance by the rigid climate and the privation of poverty. After facing toil and danger for nearly two hundred years, and moreover after breathing the air of liberty for a quarter of a century and with a glorious prospect of success before them, were they to give up their hardearned freedom, and submit to be again trampled in the dust? Our later history answers the questions. Who, of all those patriots were stouter of heart and stronger of principle than the quaker stock from which our poet sprung? His ancestors, originally from. the mother-country, were converted to Quakerism during the persecution of that sect in the Bay State; and Whittier's biographers have truly said that he inherited their stern adherence to principle in the face of great danger and unpopularity. One cannot fail to see this in the attitude he maintained in all causes of right and justice. His early advantages were few, only steady, unfaltering perseverance assisting him to the little he obtained. As was the custom among hard working New England people, he went to school about three months in the year, when farm-work was not required of him, and finished his education with two terms at the Haverhill Academy. His taste for writing poetry, he has said, was acquired from reading Burns' works, when about fourteen years of age. Anecdotes are related of his timidity and shyness, and his surprise when he first saw some of his lines in print in the "Free Press" to which paper they had been sent by his sister unknown to him; and of the encouragement given him by the editor, Mr. Lloyd Garrison, by his praise and solicitation for more. This was the beginning of a great ending. That mental store-house filled to overflowing with the good gathered from all phases of life, has been drawn upon for enlightenment, encouragement, inspiration to right doing, the crying out against tyranny, despotism and injustice of all kinds, and even for charity for the faults of those great men who for a time were blinded to the welfare of their fellow-men (See "Ichabod" written on the occasion of Webster's attitude on the slavery question.) And still, like the miracle of old, there was always more remaining. From the beginning of the slavery question, at the time when it was extremely dangerous to express aloud one's opinion, he advocated unceasingly and clamorously, the abolition of that curse. So loud were his demonstrations that he was mobbed and his office burned. Notwithstanding the gloomy outlook, his clear vision saw the workings of an allwise Providence, and his predictions of 1862 (see poems of that year) during the darkest hours of our Civil War happily came to pass while he was here to rejoice in the fulfillment. Never was our patriot's pen idle during the most dangerous epochs of his history's country. His soul-stirring poems, his ready sympathy in a good cause, his encouragement to the laboring. community, -all are well-known facts; and yet he is described as shy, sensitive and modest. Hear what he says ot himself; "Perhaps I have written much; I sometimes think I have, but everybody has been so kind. I shall repay their kindness by not overburdening them further." too Have you read Whittier? Of course you will answer, "Yes!" Read again and read between the lines. Scarcely a phase of domestic, patriotic, legendary or political life has escaped his pen; and the interest of his readers is aroused and sustained by elevated thought and sentiment and his instinctive discovery of good in all nature and humanity. Are you a student of the early settlement of your country? His Indian life and tradition as pictured in Mary Garvin, Mogg Megone, Song of the Indian Women, and similar poems, and the legendary accounts of his own neighborhood during the terrible period of "Witch-craft," will awaken new interest. He will cause you to live in the times when this free country hung to lampposts women who dared grow old, toothless, friendless and homeless, and give vent to their spite upon their younger, more beautiful sisters in "bewitching" them by a pinch or sly look. Perhaps you are sometimes perplexed by the many annoyances and sufferings. to which flesh is heir, and begin to doubt the use of living and distrust the outcome of it all. No sincerer teacher can you find than his beautiful poems, "My Soul and I,” and "My Psalm." Following is an extract from the latter: "All as God wills, who wisely heeds Enough that blessings underserved Wherein no blinded child can stray Beyond the Father's sight." He has entered that covered way. No longer does his heart cry to that beloved sister: "But still I wait with ear and eye For something gone which should be nigh, A loss in all familiar things, In flower that blooms and bird that sings." Has he not earned that wish of his yearning heart, "And when the sunset gates unbar, Shall I not see thee waiting stand, The welcome of that beckoning hand?" THE EARLIER AND LATER WORKS OF HOLMES. ROSA S. ISMERT. When we write about an author's works, the usual way to begin is by giving a brief sketch of his life. I think it is not necessary in this case, as we are all well enough acquainted with the life of Holmes to know that he is one of our ablest writers, and the oldest living, being over eighty-three years of age. Are you acquainted with any one over eighty years old? If so, can you imagine his writing a book? I am afraid, should the two whom I know attempt such a thing, we should be obliged to read the same thoughts in every chapter. But it is not so with Holmes, although he wrote "Over the Teacups" when he was eighty-one. One would suppose that a person of his years would show some of the infirmities of age, yet, as far as I can judge, there are none manifested in this charming book. He always has something bright and fresh to tell us. "Over the Teacups" when compared with "The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," seems to have the same brightness, clearness of thought, and interest, notwithstanding the fact that the one was written when the author was eightyone years old, and the other when he was but forty-seven. It is said that in the former "he combined the wisdom of the ancients with the sparkle of youth." When he wrote it he may not have had so much strength and vigor; in fact, we know that he did not, from his own words, I enjoy the writing, but perhaps I have not the enthusiasm which I had in writing the Autocrat." If we may judge from the tone of the work, he sent it out with many misgivings, fearing that it would fall below the rank of his previous efforts. He need not have had any doubts as to its success, for it received a hearty welcome from all who had become acquainted with him through his "Breakfast Table Series." The plans of the two books, "Over the Teacups" and the "Autocrat," are very much the same, one giving the discussions at the morning meal, and the other those held at the tea-table. Throughout both books may be found. beautiful thoughts, interspersed with bright and humorous remarks. If I should give a number of quotations, and you had not read either of the s, I think it would be no easy mat ter for you to tell which were written in the prime of life, and which in old age. "If you wish to keep as well as possible, the less you think about your health the better." "There are some people that never see anything, if it is as plain as a hole in a grindstone, until it is pointed out to them; and some can't see it then, and won't believe there is any hole till they've poked their finger through it." "What a child is by nature is not determined by himself but by his parent. age." These are taken from "Over the Teacups," and show the force of his philosophy, still existing, and as forcibly expressed as when he wrote the following: "The rapidity with which ideas grow old in our memories is in direct ratio to the squares of their importance." "Men, like peaches and pears, grow sweet a little while before they begin to decay." "Sin has many tools, but a lie is the handle which fits them all." Holmes still retains his love for the purely humorous, many examples of which may be found throughout his later writings. "Think of an angel with the influenza, and nothing but a cloud for a handkerchief." "A fellow writes in verse when he has nothing to say, and feels too dull or silly to say it in prose." "A tree is an underground creature with its tail in the air. There are as many kinds of tree-tails as there are tails of dogs and other quadrupeds." Let us turn to his poems. They are all simply delightful, abounding in grace and elegance. We are all familiar with the beautiful poem "The Chambered Nautilus," said to be the author's favorite. What could be more inspiring than the last stanza! |