Bad Habits.
Back to Advice to Young Men on Their
Under this head we wish to say a word or two on smoking, drinking, and swearing — three very bad habits.
In regard to the first — that is, SMOKING, we would earnestly recommend every young man not already addicted to it, to avoid contracting a habit that must injure the health, and which is exceedingly disagreeable to almost everyone. Tobacco is a vile and offensive weed, and the extensive use of it that now prevails, is one of the most singular circumstances, connected with the history of the past and present centuries, that has occurred. We see men of intelligence and refinement snuffing it up their noses, chewing it, and smoking it, with an earnestness that would be really amusing, were it not that a feeling of disgust quiets the mind down into sobriety. What the use of it is, no one can tell, while nearly all agree that it seriously injures the health.
Smoking, or the use of tobacco in any form, is not a gentlemanly practice, for the simple reason that it is a selfish habit, which is always disagreeable to others, while true gentility is a deference to the comfort, convenience, and frequently to the prejudices, of others. To have the room in which you are sitting filled with the fumes of tobacco, or to have the smoke of a cigar puffed in your face, is certainly very disagreeable; but it does not stop there: your clothes are filled with the vile odor, your handkerchief is rendered offensive and useless, and your lips are covered with a bitter and irritating deposit.
The offence committed by the smoker is not limited to these disagreeables. When he talks to you, his breath nauseates you, and his clothes fling around you a strong but stale odor of tobacco. If you visit him at his room, the atmosphere is rank and oppressive. If you lend him a book, when you get it back you are almost tempted to throw it into the fire, instead of returning it to its place on the shelf.
How a young man can go into the company of ladies after smoking, is more than we can comprehend. We hardly think he would if he knew how offensive an odor he carried with him, and how disagreeable to the nostrils of his fair friends is his breath constantly blown into their faces. We have heard bitter complaints from ladies in regard to this thing.
Smoking is vulgar enough, but smoking in the street is rarely practiced, except by people of base habits.
As to the habit of DRINKING, little more is necessary than to condemn it as a very bad habit. There has been so much said and written on the subject within the last few years, that everyone must understand its evils by this time. The fact that it is very unhealthy, and is an exceedingly dangerous habit, would be sufficient in themselves to condemn it, were not the sad evidences of its direful consequences scattered so thickly around us.
The practice of SWEARING is another habit among young men, and certainly a very weak and foolish one, to say nothing of its profanity. The worst part of it is the frequent taking of the Lord's name in vain, which is expressly forbidden by God himself. Does it not seem strange that a man should speak lightly, irreverently, and often blasphemously of the Being who created him, and who sustains him every moment of his life, from whom he has every blessing he enjoys, and who is ever seeking his good? Such a one will speak indignantly of the ingratitude of another — but what ingratitude is greater than his! A young man who has a proper respect for himself, will never swear. The habit is so entirely useless, and the language so offensive to religion, morality, and good taste, that he will avoid it naturally. Whenever a young man is heard to use these vulgar and profane expletives, it is a sure sign that he has been keeping base company; for in none other do they commonly prevail.
Besides the three bad habits named, some young men fall into the practice of using the slang or vulgar phrases common to the lowest classes of society. For this there is no excuse in the world. The practice might be gravely argued against, and its evil shown; but that would be treating it with too much seriousness. The best corrective of it is a simple declaration of the fact, that the habit is exceedingly offensive to good taste, and that a young man, who is so silly as to make use of "slang" in good society, is at once set down as base-minded and vulgar.
Back to [[Advice to Young Men on Their]