How John Became a Man | Page 5

Will's influence over John was not good;
but just what advice to give, he hardly knew. Once he thought that he
could smell tobacco smoke on his boy's clothing so calling John to his
side, he said:
"John, I feel that I must tell you something more about certain bad
habits that so many boys form while they are young. You remember I
told you that smoking and chewing tobacco ruin many a life. Now, I
am not going to say that you cannot use tobacco; but I wish that for my
sake, as well as for your own, you would let it alone, for it is indeed a
very bad habit."
To this advice John made no reply; for an appetite was being formed,
and in his heart he decided to keep right on. It would have been better
could his father have remembered the temptations of his own boyhood
days. He might then have more fully realized how next to impossible it
is for a parent to availingly teach his child to do something without first
setting before the child an example that is worthy of imitation. Could
he have helped his little son to understand the true meaning of
manhood and the necessity of building up within himself in youth a

noble, honest, and always-to-be-depended-upon character, as well as
the need of developing a strong body, he might have laid a foundation
upon which John could have later safely builded.
John dearly loved his father and wanted to please him. And to his mind
he could best please his father by as quickly as possible becoming a
man. So, with the thought of early manhood ever before him, he felt
that, in using tobacco, he was doing right. And then, too, Charley had
learned to smoke and chew, and it would be very hard indeed to be near
the boys and not to join in with them.
By the time that John had passed his seventh birthday, the small
amount of tobacco that was kept in the cellar was not sufficient to fill
the demand of the three boys without too rapidly diminishing the
uncle's supply, and the boys decided to look elsewhere.
Now, John's aunt had at one time explained to the boys that lying and
stealing are wrong; but she had not made it clear that deceiving is lying
and that taking little things that did not belong to them, even though
they took the things from some member of the family, is stealing, and
that just such thefts lead to the greater crimes that send men and
women to prison. Instead, she gave the advice in such a way that,
though they were impressed with a horror of stealing, the boys could
only in part comprehend her meaning. But because she had warned
them, she felt that she had done her duty and that they ought to know
right from wrong in regard to that matter without further explanation.
She did not realize that it was her duty to watch, encourage, and advise,
and also to find out when mischief was being planned. In fact, this aunt
and mother, busy with her own cares, knew nothing of the possibilities
for a child whose confidence and love had been won, and who, through
loving counsel, had gained a knowledge of evils and their effects before
he had formed ruinous habits or his mind had been polluted with false
ideas. Being thus left to themselves to discern as best they could the
difference between right and wrong, the boys nearly always chose the
wrong; and as a result, constantly went deeper and deeper into sinful
things.

CHAPTER III
What the Big Chest Contained
Great sins always have a beginning; the first attempts to do evil are not
hard to check if taken in time, but if allowed to be carried out, it is
impossible to tell what the results may be. How sad it was that John
and his cousins did not have someone to check them!
The boys now decided to keep close watch, and to avail themselves of
every opportunity to procure tobacco, even if they were forced to steal
it. The word "steal" had, of course, a certain horror to John because of
the picture his aunt had described of a prison and a thief; but he soothed
his conscience by saying, "There isn't anything else in the world except
tobacco that I would think of stealing." But the stealing habit, like the
tobacco habit, continues to grow stronger, unless it is in some way
broken. As tobacco contains a poison that affects the physical being, so
in a similar manner lying and stealing have a ruinous effect upon the
moral nature. The three--lying, stealing, and tobacco using--too often
go hand in hand.
The first