Page:Don Coronado through Kansas.djvu/189

178 THE DAMNABL,E CiGAIlBTTB. you not seen some ninny of a youth smoMng the dam- nable, death-dealing, foul-kiUing cigarette? Have you observed the awful color of his face, the gone-look in his eyes? Ah, boy, boy, for God's sake, cease this awful thing. And Mr. Man, the youth is somewhat excusable since he follows in your footsteps; but what about those cigars you are pufSng at like a loco- motive, ruining your mind and body? And often worse than that— for do not men spend on themselves for tobacco and other stuff funds which they as men ought to use in the upbuilding of their families? Also, how long will the custom prevail by which a man or woman must be forced to take second hand the vile tobacco smoke after going through the mouth and teeth and nose of another! The vile stuff! Did you ever read Bob Ingersoll's lecture on the "Stiil"? He uses language behond what is possible to imitate here. But the drink habit of the world is appalling. It is safe to assert that out of every hun- dred persons who are addicted to the stuff only five per cent are women. It unfits men for the battle of life, and still more vital, it is a hereditary evil, for it brings human beings into the world upon whom the sins of their fathers wOl be perhaps stamped, transmitting an appetite for that stuff which is the curse of the world, and over which they have no control. The man or woman who iS unable to govern their unfortunate longing for spirits (de^^l spirits) ought to be taken care of by the government and cured if possible, and if they continue to persist in wrecking their lives should then be shut up and kept as an example to deter others from doing likewise. Let