DANDY: A TEMPERANCE PONY

ONE sunshiny day, everything was excitement in our southern California town. There was to be a big parade in the evening. If you were going to see a parade, you would be clapping your hands with delight. To be sure, you would be excited too.

Perhaps you think I am going to tell you about an animal parade, for you know I love animals, and like to talk about them. There were animals in the parade, but not wild animals - just horses, and one shaggy little Shetland pony. It is this little pony I want to tell you about especially, for I know you would have been watching for him if you had seen the parade.

But I have not told you yet what the parade was all about, and I feel sure you could never guess. It was a temperance parade. There were horses and wagons, and a band playing very grandly, men and women, and ever so many boys and girls - even very little ones marching.

All afternoon, the boys and the girls had been very busy helping the big folks get the wagons ready. The wagons were decorated with flags, and pepper boughs, and flowers, and big signs that read, "California Dry."

I wonder if you understand what it means for a state to go dry. I tell you.

When a state goes dry, there is no more whisky or wine or beer sold in that state, and that means there are not so many hungry little children, and poor, sad mothers. For whisky makes men very wicked, and they do not care even for their own children, but will sell the furniture in their homes to get money to buy strong drink. I am sure you would rather live in a dry state than in one that is not dry.

Let us suppose we are watching the parade go by. It is such a long one! So many people in this little town believe in. temperance! Here comes Dandy, his shaggy head bobbing up and down, and his little hoofs pattering on the paved street. He is pulling a wagon, covered on the sides with large pictures of happy little children who have good temperance fathers. At the back is the picture of a poor little girl who is crying because her father is a drunkard. We all wish we could do something for her.

On the seat, holding the lines is a little boy, and beside him sits a little girl. They are calling out, "Dry! Dry!" as loudly as they can; and we too smile, and call out, "Dry! Dry!" That is one way very little boys and girls can help the cause of temperance.

We all need to speak up for Temperance and Healthful Living. Of course, boys and girls must be careful what they eat and drink, or it will not matter very much what they say.

Now that is just the sort, of little temperance pony Dandy is. He is very fond of apples. He likes them just as well as you like candy, or ice cream, or something else that tastes very good.

One day, a man who thought Dandy was a very dear little pony, was standing beside him, eating an apple. Dandy asked, in his polite, pony way, for a bite. The man thought he would be kind, so offered Dandy the rest of the apple, which was only a bite for a pony. Dandy smelled it, and shook his frowsy head. No, he would not take the apple, because the man was a tobacco user. (Dandy could smell the tobacco smell on the apple.)

If a temperance pony was so particular, how should boys and girls act who are to be little lights in this world? Let us be very sure we are temperate ourselves, and then perhaps we can help some one else.

If Not, What Folly?

MUST a boy be damaged in order to be happy? Must an apple be speckled to be palatable? Can a dog run better on three legs than on four? Is it better to be sick than well? Is black smoke better than pure air? If not, what folly for a boy to smoke cigarettes! Rev. F. Flint, in a school address to boys.

What Thomas A. Edison Said:

Cigarette smoking keeps boys from growing, it eats away their brains, it leaves yellow trade­marks on their fingers, and it steals the ruddiness from their cheeks, and the brightness from their eyes. It hurts their hearing, and makes them color-blind. It dulls all their finer natures, and takes away their purity, their kindness, their love.

0 boys, let it alone, and help every other boy to let it alone, too. And, girls, there are some girls who think it is smart to smoke cigarettes. You would not think of going to a bottle labelled "Poison!" and drinking what it contained. But when you smoke cigarettes, you are just as surely, though more slowly, taking poison into your bodies. Let all poison alone if you really want to live.

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