I followed the right road, and stopped for two days;

then a shameful stumble overtook me, and I went back to smoking half a dozen a day, for five days; then I stopped — and for the last time! Those first days in which I had tried giving up smoking were my best helper, for they gave me the first push and taught me that I was capable of independence from that dry, lifeless stuff!

Some think that giving up smoking is hard labor; yet there are those who accomplish it in a single day. Mention should be made of certain things that help the abstainer until he grows used to the new state: some use sweets, or chew gum; others take up means of diversion, such as games that occupy the hands; and some — I am one of them — repeat this phrase: "I loathe smoking, that foul-smelling thing." Food is a help through and through in this situation. There remains the persuading of oneself, so as to master the temptation; for the grip of this habit stands between you and the enjoyment of many of life's pleasures. And no doubt every human being longs to be delivered from slavery; so let him stop, without deceiving himself; and once he is free of it, he feels a precious reward for his struggle, and rises in his own esteem as never before.

I did not become a new person in my nature, but the ugly cough vanished, and in its place came an energy I had never felt before. I went back to climbing the hill without stopping halfway for want of breath! I felt the full savor of food and drink. It was like lifting a pair of dark spectacles from my eyes so that I saw the light; renewal ran through my nerves, making me feel youth stirring again in a body that had nearly broken down before its time; even the sense of smell came back from behind the

curtain of smoke, and I could smell once more the scent of earth and flowers, and of nature!

The greatest test passed by the one who gives up smoking is the knowing of himself; for dependence upon the cigarette degrades the powers of the mind and demolishes them. Is it not a thing for shame, that the addict should go out into the storm to buy a pack of tobacco? Does his

face not redden when he begs a cigarette from a stranger, as I once did and as many still do?

It is fear and cowardice, and they must be got rid of; and then there is a delightful feeling a person has when he knows that he — and not those fingers stuffed with dry paper — is master of himself!

CAMAY

Camay

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Use it today

that your beauty may grow

CAMAY — THE SOAP OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN