07.02.03. Breaking The Rules

3. BREAKING THE RULES

Todd was only fourteen years of age and the three young men with whom he associated most were nearly twenty. When he was seen with these boys, he was not warned but classified. Allwent well for a time, but one afternoon as they strolled down the railroad right-of-way which ran through the little town, one of the young men started to smoke. Todd was astonished and spoke to him about it, whereupon he said, "Oh, that’s nothing, lots of them do it; you can get by. They will never catch you; take one." All these days he had been fighting the desire for a cigarette and now being assured that there was no danger he yielded and took his first step toward breaking the rules of the school and the promise he had made to his mother. It is never hard to take the second step and from that afternoon he became a rebel to the school government.

Bad habits can be acquired anywhere. No place in this world is immune from the devil’s crowd. Sometimes parents send their children to Christian schools with the hope of reforming them. Often this happens, but how many times instead of being reformed the boys and girls are associated with other young people who teach them vices that drag them down. When Todd entered that school he had never sworn an oath in his life, but while there he learned to scorch his lips with vile and awful oaths. Before leaving his home he had never seen a playing card, but one day stepping into the room of one of his friends he found them playing poker and making a place for him, they taught him the game. He had never been to a picture show, or a pool hall but they taught him to slip out nights and go to both. Getting a taste, he became bolder in transgressing the rules until finally after several reprimands by the faculty his three companions were expelled from school and he was given a large number of demerits, the faculty being lenient with him because of his age.