The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1868-02-13
From the Atlantic Monthly.
DOesit Pay TO Smoke:
BY AN OLD SMOKER.

III CIutu, In6 SOluler lS the laSJ mar
in the world who should smoke; fol
the simple reason that while be, more
than any other man, has need of all his
strength, smoking rObs him of part Of
it. 1t is not science alone which estab-
fishes this truth. The winning boat oI
Harvard University, and the losing
boat of Yale, were notrowed by smok-
ers. One of the first things demanded
of young man who is going into train
ing for a bOat-race is, Stop smoking!
And he himself, leng before his body
has reached its highest point of purity
and development, will become conscious
ofthe lowering and disturbing effect of
smoking one inch of a mild cigar. No
smoker who has ever trained severely
for race, or game, Or a fight needs
be told that smoking reduces the tone
of the system and diminishes all the
forces of the body He kaOws it. He
has been as conscious of it as a boy is
Conscious of the effects Of his first cigar
Let the Harvard crew smoke during
the last two months of their training,
and let the Yale men abstain, and there
is one individual prepared to risk small
sum on Yale's winning back her laurels.
A soldier should be in training al
ways. Compelled to spend nine tenths
of his time in laboriously doing moth
ing, he is called upon, occasionally, for
a few hours or days or weeks to put
forth exertions which task human en-
durance to the uttermost. The soldier,
too, ofall men, should have quiet nerves.
for the phantoms Of war scare more
men than its real dangers, and mems
bodies can shake when their souls are
firm. That two and two make four is
not truth more unquestionably GER
tain than that smoking does diminish a
soldiers power of endurance, and does
make him more susceptible to imagin-
ary dangers. If a regiment were to be
raised for the hardest service of which
men can ever be capable, and that SER
vice were to be performed for series
of campaigns, it Would be necessary to
exclude from the commissariat, not to-
bacco only, but coffee and tea. Each
man, in short, would have to be kept
in what prize-6ghters call condition.
by which term they simply mean the
natural state of the body, uncontamina-
ted by poison, and unimpaired by indo-
lence or excess. Every man is in duty
bound to be sin condition at all times;
but the soldier,-it is part Of his pro-
fession to be "in condition" When
remote posterity comes to read of IT,
millions and millions of dollars expend-
cd during the late war in curing SOL
diers untouched by bayonet Or bullet,
the enthusiasm OF readers will not be
excited by the generosity displayed IN
bestOwing those millions People will
lay down the book and exclaim: GLOW
Ignorant were our poor ancestors of the
laws of life! A soldier in hospital with
out a wound! How extremely absurd"
To this weighty and decisive objec-
tion minor ones may be added. The
bother and vexation arising from the
pipe were very great during the cam
paigns of the late war. Half the time
the smokers, being deprived of their
accustomed stimulant, were in that state
of uneasy longing which smokers and
other stimulators know. Men were
shot during the war merely because
they Uould strike a light and smoke
The desire sometimes overcame all
considerations ofprudence and soldierly
duty. A man out on picket, ofa chilly
night, knowing perfectly well that light
ing his pipe would have the twofold eff
feet ofrevealing his presence and in
viting bullet, was often unable to re-
sist the temptation. Many men, too,
risked capture in seeking what smokers
call "a little fire." A fine, stalwart Of
ficer Of a Minnesota regiment, whose
natural forces, if he had given nature a
fair chance, would have beeu abundant
ly sufficient for him without the aid of
any stimulant, has told me there were
nights when he would have gladly Civ
en- months pay for light. Readers
probably remember theincident related
in the newspapers Of one Of our smoking
generals, who, after being defeated by
the enemy, heard of the arrival of gun
boats which assured his safety, and
promised to restore his fortunes. The
first thing he did was to send an aid on
board a gunboat to ask if they had any
cigars. He was right in so doing. 1t
was piece of strategy necessitated by
the circumstances. Let any man who
has been in the habit ofsmoking ten to
twenty cigars day be suddenly de-
prived of them at time when there is
a great strain upon body and mind, and
he will find himself reduced to a state
bordering on imbecility. Knowing
what I know of the smoking habits Of
some officers of high rank, / should
tremble for the success of any difficult
operation, to be conducted by them in
presence of an enemy, if their cigars
had given out the evening before; nor
could spy do his employers a better
service than to creep into the tents Of
some generals the night before an en-
gagement, and throw all their cigars
and tobacco into pail of water
OF all men, therefore, the soldier is
the very last man who could find his ac-
count in a practice which lowers the
tone ofhis health, reduces his power of
| nndnranna. littera his knansank. masters