The worst of it all was that, though it made me a trifle dizzy, it did not turn me pale nor nauseate me as it should have done, and cure me of the habit. On the contrary my success made me the more conceited and tended to confirm me in the opinion that I was very rapidly taking on manly characteristics, as I suppose such experiences affect other boys of the age I was at that time.
I do not wish to be thought to condone the habit of smoking by this explanation of the cause which leads to it, for few people have been in better position to see how frequently it injures a boy's nervous system and reduces his efficiency than I have been, and fewer people, perhaps, have been so willing as I to relinquish the habit when they recognized just how detrimental it was in its effects.
The habit of swearing comes in the same class. I trust that none of my readers are addicted to profanity nor ever have been, but if it happens that any one has used or does use an occasional profane word somewhat stronger it may be than "darn" or "gosh" or "golly," if he will recall for me when he first succumbed to the temptation, I am sure it was in an attempt to simulate courage, or strong manly emotion of some sort. It shows experience with the world and contact with bold men, the boy thinks, to be able to rip out a few careless oaths or other strong words. The habit is a low, vulgar, irreverent one, it is true, which to sensible thinking people can give only the impression of crudity and careless rearing, and bad taste, even if it goes no further than that and does not suggest actually bad
