7.  Adulterated Foods.—­Many of our foods are sometimes spoiled or injured by persons who put into them cheap substances which are harmful to health.  They do this so as to make more money in selling them.  This is called adulteration.  The foods which are most likely to be injured by adulteration are milk, sugar, and butter.

8. Milk is most often adulterated by adding water, though sometimes other things are added.  Sometimes the water is not pure, and people are made sick and die.  The adulteration of milk or any other food is a very wicked practice.

9. Butter is sometimes made almost wholly from lard or tallow.  This is called oleomargarine or butterine.  If the lard or tallow is from diseased animals, the false butter made from it may cause disease.

10. A great deal of the sugar and syrups which we buy is made from corn by a curious process, which changes the starch of the corn into sugar.  Sugar which has been made in this way is not so sweet as cane sugar, and is not healthful.

11.  Condiments or Seasonings.—­These are substances which are added to our food for the purpose of giving to it special flavors.  Condiments are not foods, because they do not nourish the body in any way, and are not necessary to preserve it in health.

12. The most common condiments are, mustard, pepper, pepper-sauce, ginger, cayenne-pepper, and spices.  All these substances are irritating.  If we put mustard upon the skin, it will make the skin red, and in a little time will raise a blister.  If we happen to get a little pepper in the eye, it makes it smart and become very red and inflamed.  When we take these things into the stomach, they cause the stomach to smart, and its lining membrane becomes red just as the skin or the eye does.

13. Nature has put into our foods very nice flavors to make us enjoy eating them.  Condiments are likely to do us great harm, and hence it is far better not to use them.

14.  Tobacco.—­Most of you know that tobacco is obtained from a plant which has long, broad leaves.  These leaves are dried and then rolled up into cigars, ground into snuff, or prepared for chewing.

[Illustration:  Tobacco-Plant.]

15. Tobacco has a smarting, sickening taste.  Do you think it would be good to eat?  Why not?

16. You know that tobacco makes people sick when they first begin to use it.  This is because it contains a very deadly poison, called nicotine.

17. If you give tobacco to a cat or a dog, it will become very sick.  A boy once gave a piece of tobacco to a monkey, which swallowed it not knowing what a bad thing it was.  The monkey soon became sick and died.

18. Many learned doctors have noticed the effects which come from using tobacco, and they all say it does great harm to boys, that it makes them puny and weak, and prevents their growing up into strong and useful men.  If tobacco is not good for boys, do you think it can be good for men?  Certainly you will say, No.