Show wf AKE IT by frank it FROM DAD cheley ay owl cigarette smoking bob crime came down to breakfast late and obviously a bit out of sorts mother looked at dad and dad looked at mother as much as to say W it a afa Vs wrong now bob your clothes smell mighty smokey this morning said mother good natured ly thought you went to a party not to a smoker last night all one and the same thing now mother suld said bob and take it from me its heck beck to be bettee the only different guy at the show im keeping my promise to you but say do you really think it ans fair to exact that promise from me just because I 1 ve always made good on agreements with you honestly id rather stay home than be the only dude preset present every time who has promised ills his mamma there was just a bit of sarcasm in the boys tone in spite of himself father scowled noticeably my boy im sure mother will release you from that promise n now 1 ow such promises are necessary and desirable with children who cannot think or reason tor for themselves they are not dot desirable for young men of your age I 1 know exactly what the social pressure Is ive been through it myself my boy and after I 1 faced it squarely and tho thought ight the thing through for myself I 1 stuck by my promise only from then on it was to myself now I 1 thoroughly enjoy being different why join the herd why if id let my conduct be determined by what doing be ashamed to own me as dad oh I 1 know dad but youre a puritan you would like to be different just as you always enjoy being the minority but its so deucedly uncomfortable and makes you so conspicuous even the girls make fun of me im no angel child and I 1 hate to p pose 0 be a as one I 1 cant tor for the life of me be see why it Is all right for men to smoke cigarettes but that it Is terribly bad for or boys bob said dad with a good na aured smile the most difficult aspect of the whole question of conduct Is this matter of conformity lite life seems organized to reduce itself to the commonplace mon place the cigarette has become social custom men of prominence on every hand and women too as 88 you well know have accepted the edict just the same as they do fash fashions lons 1 in I clothes and fashions in speech and fashIO fashions DS in reading and one of the alie great questions of the day really Is Is it right for adults who are truly interested in youth to do anything that youth may not copy for we know that a large part of a boys essential education comes from imitating now son because I 1 fully realized that we must sometime face this question again and because I 1 knew of your great admiration for the coaching ability and reputation of gilmore doble dobie who tor for eleven years ne never nemir mir lost a game I 1 clipped this from a paper sometime ago and slipped it into my card case probably gilmore doble knows a good deal about what snakes makes a boy strong and alert and what causes him to be a failure this Is the special message he sends to you it has been my experience that the use of tobacco more particularly cigarettes by boys under tha th age of twenty one la Is especially detrimental I 1 think there are two special reasons why hy tobacco should not be used by growing g doys boys first tobacco Is much more detrimental to the youth than the adult it has a greater influence over the physical ical and ali mental activities of the boy at the time in life when the resources of the mental and physical powers are taxed by the growth and general expansion and cannot so well withstand the additional impediment of taking cure care of poisons and the derangement ran gement of the nervous system resulting from the smoking habit invariably this Is evidenced by lack of youthful bloom mental alertness and physical elli efficiency clency second I 1 find it almost invariably the rule that the smoking habit when formed in early youth takes a much more powerful hold bold on its victim and gradually increases its influence until finally it has created an inveterate smoker every boy who Is ambitious to reach anil and retain the highest degree of physical and mental manhood can to a great extent insure himself by abstaining from the use of tobacco in his early life now so much tor for that my second reason Is even more fundamental my greatest objection to the cigarette Is that it Is typical of a bhole range of personal indulgences what were we saying the other day about citizenship and loyalties the greatest loyalty toy in ili the llie world Is loyalty to the host in n you cigarettes Is B 4 compromise with yourself on what you know to Is nt dot the best in you and it la is the entering wedge of personal indulgence from this morning on bell you anre r e free no promise binds you you are a big intelligent boy if you can cant r think and reason now you never will and no now its harder than ever said cob bob with a gulp but ill think it through mother you burn up the hatch that are in my overcoat pocket will you ift fc 1335 western newspaper Nw lT 11 |