The Literary echo, and Pawcatuck advertiser. [volume] (Westerly, R.I.) 1851-1854, 1851-10-09

Wells, New York. Horace Is no more a
friend of the noxious weed than ourselves.
But hear what he says:
Gentlemen-You ask me for a statement
of what | know and think respecting to-
bacco. l have had a good deal Of expe-
ricnce on this subject; in fact, | once
smoked nearly an inch of cigar myself. 1t
served me right, and have never since
had any inclination to outrage human
nature and insult decency in any such
way. / was then six years old, and nat
urally aspiring to the accomplishments Of
manhood and gentility; but the lesson l
then received will suffice f)r my whole life
though it should be spun out to the length
of Methusela's | have since endured
my share of the fumigations and kindred
denominations Of tobacco, but have infict-
ed none.
l wish some budding Ella, not a slave
to narcotic sensualism, would favor us with
an essay on "The Natural Affinities of
Tobacco with blackguardism." The mate
rials for it are abundant, and you have but
to open your eyes (or nostrils) in any city
promenade GLORIOUS Boston cxcepted), in
any village bar-room, to find yourself
effronted by them. Is Broadway sunny
yet airy, with the atmosphere genial and
inviting, so that fair maidens (and exc
observing bachelors) throng the two shil-
ling side walk, glad to enjoy and not un-
willing to be admired' Hither (as Satan
into P aradise, but not half so geutlemanly)
HES the host Of tobacco-smoking loafers,
to puff their detested fumes into the faces
and eyes of abhoning purity and loveliness
to spatter the walk, and often soil the
costly and delicate dresses of the prone
naders with their vile expectorations And
even should the smokers forbcar to pollute
the outraged but patiently enduring flag
stones with their foul saliva, the chewers
will not be far behind as the Revelator
saw "death on the pale horse, and hell
following after"), industriously poluting
the fair face of earth, as their precursors
have poisoned the sweet breath of heaven
How long, oh. how long, must this be
suffered
have irtimated that the tobacco con-
.umer is-n9i indeed necessarily and in
evitably, but naturally and usually-a
blackguard thai chewing or smoking
obviously tends 70 bL4ckguardism. Can
any man doubt it Let him ride with
uncorrupted senses in tn. stage or omni-
bus, which the chewer insists on defling
with the liquid product of his incessant
labors, seeming unconscious of it's utter
ofensiveness and which even the smo-
ker, especially if partly or wholly drunk,
will also insist on Transforming into a
miniature Tophet by his exhalations, de-
flying alike the express rule of the coach
and the suffers urgent remonstrance, if he
can only say, "Why, there's no lady here"
[ No ladies is his expression, but the plea
is excreable enough, though expressed
grammatically.] Go into a public gath
ering, where speaker of delicate lungs,
and an invincible repulsion to tobacco, is
trying to discuss some important topic so
that thousand men can hear and under
stand him, yet whereinto twenty or thirty
smokers have introduced themselves,
long nine projecting horizontally from
beneath the nose of each, fire at one end
and a fool at the other, and mark how the
puff, putting gradually transforms the
atmosphere (none too pure at best) into
that Of some foul and pestilential cavern,
choking the utterance of the speaker, and
distracting (by annoyance) the attention
of the hearers, until the argument is ar
rested or its effect utterly destroyed. If
he who will selishly, recklessly, impudent-
ly, infict so much discomfort and annoy
ance on many, in order that he may enjoy
in particular place an indulgence which
could as well be enjoyed where no one
else would be affected by it, be not a
blackguard, who can be? What could
indicate bad breeding and bad heart, if
such conduct does not 7 Brethren -
said Parson Strong, of Hartford, preaching
a Connecticut election sermon, in high
party times, some fifty years ago, lit has
been charged that have said every demo-
crat is horse-thief; 1 never did. What
! d'd say was only that every horse-thief
is democrat, and that 1 can prove. So
L do not say that every smoker or chewer
ic pocos cariIv n b1o ool-o.,...l l. -.