An Example
Johnny lived many years ago with his family on a farm. He had a good friend who lived on the neighbouring farm. Johnny was the minister’s boy who was raised by very faithful and sincere parents. The neighbour’s boy, Albert, was not a Christian and often Johnny had a difficult time being faithful when he was with Albert because he so much wanted Albert to remain his friend and not tease him about being a Christian.
Slowly, Albert’s influence was affecting Johnny without him realizing it, until one day he decided to slip away from home ” a home where honour, purity, cleanliness and goodness ruled, to go with Albert to smoke their first cigarettes. They walked across the back pasture and were nearing the stone wall that separated Mr. Meadow’s cornfield from the road: and here, screened by the wall on one side and by corn on the other, they intended to roll the little cigarettes and smoke them unseen.
Johnny, an innocent, unsuspicious child, agreed that it would be a fine, manly thing to smoke. So the boys waited and planned, and now their opportunity had come. Albert had seen an old man drop the cigarettes by mistake when he was walking down the street and had quietly picked them up and hid them away.
At last their plan seemed about to be carried out. Albert’s mother was nursing a sick friend and Johnny’s father was busy preparing a sermon. Johnny’s mother was dead. His aunt Priscilla was his father’s housekeeper, and she was usually so busy that she had little time for small boys. Today, as she began her sewing, Johnny slipped quietly from the house and joined his friend.
The boys reached the stone wall and sat down with the tobacco between them to enjoy what they considered a manly deed. As they were just about to pass the cigarettes into their lips a strange voice, almost directly above their heads, said, pleasantly, ” Trying to kill yourselves, boys?”
With a guilty start, Johnny and Albert turned instantly, and beheld the strangest person they had ever seen. An unmistakable tramp, with a pale, sickly face, covered partly with grime and partly with a stubby black beard, stood leaning with his arms on top of the wall, looking down at them. Although it was summer, he wore a greasy winter hat, and his coat, too, was dirty and torn. His lips resembled a smile; but as he spoke, his haunted, sunken eyes roved restlessly from one upturned face to the other.
As the only answer the boys gave him was an astonished, frightened stare, the man continued: ” I would not do it, boys. It is an awful thing ” awful! I was trying to get a little sleep over here,” he continued, ” when I heard your voices, and thought I would see what was going on. Did not any one ever tell you about cigarettes? Why, each one contains enough poison to kill a cat; if it was fixed right, I mean.” He passed a thin, shaking hand over his face, and went on: ” Do you want to fool with such things? ” Not if you are wise. You see, the cigarette habit will kill you sometime, by inches, if not right away, or else drive you crazy; and no sane person wants to kill himself or spoil his health. That is what I am doing, though,” he admitted, with a bitter smile and a sad shake of his head. ” But I cannot stop it now. I have gone too far, and I cannot help myself. I am a wreck, a blot on the face of the earth.”
Both boys had thrown down their cigarettes to the ground, and scrambled to their feet. Johnny, sober-faced and round-eyed was gazing intently up at the man; but Albert, feigning indifference, stood digging his toe into the earth. He was listening, however.
” It is this way with me,” the stranger went on, seeing he had an audience: ” I have gone from bad to worse until I cannot stop, no matter how hard I try. Why, I was once a clean little chap like you, but I got to reading trash, and then I began to smoke, and pretty soon I had drifted so far into evil ways that I had no control over myself.”
Here Johnny and Albert exchanged a painful glance.
” The worst thing about cigarettes,” the man continued, ” Is that they usually lead to something worse. I am a drunkard and a thief, because of evil associations. Tramps never have any money; so when I have cigarettes, which is all the time, I either steal them or steal the money to buy them with. Besides,” with another shake of his head, ” I am what is known as a drug addict and yes, I am everything bad. If your folks knew who was talking to you, their blood would run cold.
” And it is all principally due to the cigarettes!” He broke forth, savagely, emphasizing his words with his fist and speaking more excitedly. ” Just look at me and behold a splendid example of the cigarette curse! Why, I was naturally bright; I might have been a man of honour. But a bad habit, uncontrolled, soon ruins one. My nerves are gone. I am only a fit companion for jailbirds and criminals. I cannot even look an honest man in the face, yet I am not naturally bad at heart. The best way is never to begin; then you will never have to suffer. Cigarettes will surely hurt you some day, though you may not be able to see the effects at first.”
The man had changed greatly during the past few moments. At first he had spoken calmly but he was now more agitated. His eyes rolled and flashed in their dark caverns, and he spoke vehemently, with excited gestures. Johnny and Albert stood close together, regarding him with frightened eyes,
” I wish I could change,” he exclaimed, ” But I cannot! The poison is in my veins. A thousand devils seem dragging me down. I wish I could make every boy stop smoking those things. I wish I could warn them of the horrible end.”
With a sudden shriek, the man threw up his hands, fell backwards and disappeared. After a second’s hesitation, both boys ran to the wall, climbed up, and looked over. In an unmistakeable fit, the man was writhing on the ground. Johnny and Albert ran quickly across to Johnny’s father’s study. After learning that the boys had found a man in a fit, Johnny’s father called two passing neighbours, and the little group of rescuers followed the boys to the scene of the strange experience.
It was a sorry sight that greeted them. The poor man lay still and lifeless, covered with dust and grime. The minister bent over him, and realizing that he was still alive, lifted him up; then, with the help of the other two men, took the outcast back home.
That evening, before the minister had asked his boy three questions Johnny broke into tears, and confessed to his father what had happened that day. Blaming himself for being too busy with his work and not having won his son’s heart to the Lord before this time, the minister did not censure his son very severely. He knew that after such an example as this, the sensitive lad would never go wrong as far as cigarettes are concerned.
Aunt Priscilla took her nephew in her arms, and, kissing him, said, ” If I have neglected you, Johnny, I am sorry and after this I am going to spend much more time with you.”
Johnny slipped an arm around Aunt Priscilla’s neck ” ” That is just what I want,” he said, happily.
” I hope this will teach you a lesson also,” Albert’s mother said to him. ” After such an example, I hope you will decide to be a Christian also like Johnny. Cigarettes certainly did not make a man out of that fellow. They unmade him.”
For several days, during which the minister thought of what could be done for the man, he continued to stay with them. He was invited to study the Bible. ” If you will put yourself unreservedly in the hand of God, and remain steadfast,” said Johnny’s father; ” there is hope for you. Besides I know of some medical missionaries who can help doctor the poison out of your system, if you will let them.”
At last the poor man yielded. And after a hard bitter struggle, during which a higher power helped him, he won the victory. He joined the church and was baptised. He, then went about doing missionary work to help rebuild wrecked lives; and although weak at first and never robust, he was still able to point the right way to many an erring mortal. He did much good; and Johnny and Albert, at least, never forgot the practical example he gave them of what the cigarette can accomplish for its slaves.
Although we may not smoke cigarettes, Satan has many temptations that he uses to turn our minds away from Jesus. Things we may think are not of a major importance. It can be listening to bad music, reading evil books, or watching inappropriate television shows. It also could be love of dress, eating harmful foods, or not keeping the Sabbath as well as we should. We may disobey our parents, have secret sins or tell ” white” lies. They may seem small to us, but if we give in on just one little point, then we have given ourselves over to Satan and he will take more and more of us. Only with the help of Jesus can we overcome sin and be faithful. He will always help us to resist Satan when we ask Him. He is much stronger than Satan, so you have to decide who you will follow, Jesus or Satan. Joshua said, ” as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15