“Here we go!  Whenever you see one of your boy friends with a cigarette in his mouth, ask him if he ever saw the picture of the ’Cigarette Face.’  Of course, he will say, ‘No.’  Then you will ask him to spell ‘cigarettes’ for you, very slowly, and as he pronounces the letters, you put them down, just like I shall do.  Now, watch: 

[Illustration:  Fig. 49]

“‘C’ [Step 1, Fig. 49].

“‘I’ [Step 2].

“‘G’ [Step 3].

“‘A-R-E-T-T-E-S’ [Step 4].

“And now, we will draw the cigarette itself [Step 5].

“And finish the picture by drawing the encircling smoke. [Step 6, completing the final scene].

“Is it a true portrait?  Go and ask any physician.  Go and ask the warden of any insane asylum.  Go and ask many a heartbroken mother.

“Does cigarette smoking make criminals out of boys?  Magistrate LeRoy B. Crane, of New York City, says that three hundred boys were brought before him, charged with crimes.  All but five of them were cigarette smokers, and that report ought to cure forever every boy in this town of the expensive curse.

“Does cigarette smoking make failures out of boys?  Once, when he was asked about it, the late E.H.  Harriman, one of the greatest railroad managers in the history of America, said that railroads might as well go to lunatic asylums for their employes as to hire cigarette smokers.  Yet some boys I know haven’t a bit more sense than to smoke them.  Girls, isn’t it a pity?

“Let us remember that habit is the very foundation of our lives.  Everything that we do repeatedly becomes easier for us to do each succeeding day.  This would be a most discouraging condition if it applied only to bad habits.  But, thanks be to God, the rule applies equally well to good habits.  Diligence, economy, perseverance, gentleness, pure thoughts—­may all become the governing habits of our lives if we will but center our attention upon them repeatedly and crowd out the evil tendencies.  We are so constituted that we must form habits.  We cannot think or say or feel anything without leaving an effect which will influence every succeeding thought or action or feeling.  Let us, therefore, look carefully to the forming of our own habits and to helping others form theirs.”

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS
    —­Prayer
    —­Faith

Although He Died Believing His Mission Had Failed, His Prayer Was
More Than Answered.

THE LESSON—­That “the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.”

The life of Christopher Columbus contains much to inspire the present-day youth.  In studying it, however, one should always take into account the prevailing superstitions, darkened by the bigotry of the times.  But above and beyond all this shone the steadfast belief of Columbus that his every act was directed by God.  The talk is suited to all ages, for the mere mention of the name of Columbus will excite the interest of young and old.