OCR Text |
Show Sad stories come from Europe about the deteriorating effect of tobacco upon manners. France, once the country from which all other lands imported their gentility patterns, is said now to contain thousands of well dressed men who smoke bad cigars everywhere, except in drawing rooms, in the presence of ladies, while in Germany, where men of the higher classes are supposed to reverence and worship women, noblemen are said to kindle fires of tobacco in huge pipes, even in railway carriages where there are ladies, and to be brutally rude and ornery when remonstrated with. From all this it is argued that the effect of tobacco upon romance must be very deleterious. It is hoped that no such farfetched notion will prevail in America, for certainly the manners of smokers here are all that can be desired. A gentleman here is never known to smoke in the presence of ladies of his acquaintance without first asking whether smoking is offensive. The reply is always, "Not in the least," except when someone more amiable or sarcastic - than the others, says, "On the contrary, we like it." After this the ladies present may be annoyed, nauseated or sickened by the fumes of the burning weed, but the gentleman's manners remain intact, he on smoking by permission. To be sure there are some indeed with whom some gentlemen are unacquainted, if these chance to be present, even the gentlemen attendants, at Central Park, on music days, at an archery match, or on the piazza, or in front of the music stand at one of the great seaside hotels, a gentleman's manners are still supposed to be safe after he has lit his cigar. Of whom was he to ask permission if he knew none of the party? Why, only of himself of course, so he puffs away, and if the taste of the cigar is not bad, and the demand upon his powers of suction is not severe, nine times in ten he knows little and cares less whether the burning roll is wholly or partially filled with tow, brown paper, turnip tops, dock leaves, or corn husks. Every puff of smoke from a poor cigar, such as most men smoke, is sickening to all men, women and children that it reaches - a Japanese parasol will not change its current, a fan will not blow it away, nor will a newspaper or hand held on the windward side of the nose be sufficient protection against it.- Phrenologist Journal. |