My Reasons Why I am a Cadet

by Thomas Idris Jones (Merthyr Tydfil)
I - Because my father is a Son of Temperance, and I am going to be one myself.
II - Because neither my body nor my mind require intoxicating drink.
III - Because drink is bad. It does a lot of harm to people and kills them.
IV - Because being a Cadet means being a total abstainer.
V - Because great men say that abstinence is best if you intend to be something. Dr W G Grace says if you wish to excel as a cricketer, abstain; as a walker, Weston says abstain; as a swimmer, Captain Webb says abstain; as an orator, John Bright says abstain; as a missionary, Dr Livingstone says abstain; as a preacher, Canon Farrar says abstain. Asylums, prisons, and workhouses, repeat the cry, abstain.
VI - Because I like to be with the other boys, and we have so much fun and pleasure in the Section, and we manage it ourselves.
VII - Because the Cadets is the best, safest, and cheapest Benefit Society in the Country.
VIII - Because I want to make other boys, who have not got sober fathers, to become sober and good boys, and when they get older, to be sober men.
IX - Because abstinence fortifies us against many errors, ills, and dangers.
X - Because spending money in drink is mischievious extravagance and waste. A pennyworth of brown bread contains more nutritious matter than a gallon of strong beer, or a bottle of port wine.
XI - Because our country needs every effort to deliver it from the curse of Drink, which is the “curse of curses.”
XII - Because “wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging, and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.”

(The Son of Temperance, March 1900)