In due time the show company returned.  They gladly accepted John’s proposal to join them; and so John, with his few earthly possessions, to the surprise of all who knew him, disappeared from his home locality.  But John seemed doomed to disappointment; the showman’s life was not at all as he had pictured it.  Instead of becoming fabulously rich in a fairy-like way, he was taken very ill and had soon lost all the money he did have.  As soon, therefore, as he was able, he returned to his friends at home, thoroughly disgusted with his undertakings; he was a wiser lad than he was when he went away.

But, although John was disgusted, he was not disheartened.  When he was laughed at by his friends, he bravely bore their ridicule, and endeavored to look on the bright side of things.  Also, he explained to them that show life, on the outside and to the sightseer, was not at all what it was among the members of the company; but that behind the curtains oaths were uttered, and abuse and nearly every kind of evils could be witnessed.

When he was back once more among his old associates, he endeavored to pass away the time in as pleasant a way as possible.  Card playing, gambling, and dancing were his amusements, but tobacco and whiskey were his enjoyments; and as before, he was considered among his friends as a jolly good fellow.  But John was not truly happy; beneath his superficial joyousness was a longing for something that he was unable to name or describe.

Let us stop a moment and look at John.  A glance tells us that a great change has taken place.  The ruddy complexion and childish features were replaced by a sallow hue upon the sunken cheek; and the roguish expression of the large brown eyes was lost in the haggard look that well accorded with the telltale cough and the stooping shoulders.  The poisons of the tobacco and whiskey were doing their fatal work.  His entire system was heavily charged with nicotine and alcohol; and the effect of these poisons constantly operating upon his nervous system and digestive organs had made him but a wreck of his former self.  It is true that in stature he was as large as the man his father had desired him to be; but he was far from being of the strong manly type that that parent would have had him to become.  Instead, he was weakly; and his body was never free from pain and suffering.

The old adage that ignorance is bliss can never be aptly applied to nicotine and alcohol.  For only those who let them both entirely alone can be truly happy or safe.  When we examine what doctors have written about the use of these poisons, we find that alcohol as well as nicotine is a stimulant and a narcotic.  As a stimulant, it excites the brain and nerves, quickens the circulation of the blood, and intoxicates (makes drunk); while as a narcotic it blunts the powers of the brain and nerves and produces stupor and death.

Tests in the army, navy, and arctic explorations have definitely proved that alcohol is not a food.