The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-04-08
GheQtttatIilg ii
THE sPlTTOoN.
EO.n Na7tr's Basar.

some Of our older COuntrymGn and coun'
trywomen, II their memories have not
been happily spared what was by no
means specially worthy Of record, that In
times past succession Of English travel.
ers visited and summurily denounced our
country. These werc the HamLltons.
Halls, TrollOpes, and Fidlcrs-nameS all
Of which might have been totally forgot.
ten had not some Of them been rescued
from immediate oblivion by the more hon
orablc literary ambition Of their descend.
ants. These travellers came and saw,
what oil now acknowledge to be, ragreat
country" and we even then believed to
be manifesting in It's daily life, If some
what rude, the sure development Of a high
civilization. With the telling tacts Of hu.
man vigor, cooperating with natural fer.
tility and a nation Of willing labOrers, fast
spreading over and CultivQttng a broad
dominion, Hall, Trollope, and Fldlcr had
little else apparently to report on their 70.
turn 10 ENGLAND than that the whole Of
America was but one great "spitto0n,"
and all tho Americans q people who were
chiefly occupied In splitting into 1t.
We were in our comparative weakness
an irritable race IN those days, and natu-
rally showed indignation where contempt
would have been more proper: WeGot
angry with, while we shOiid have de.
spised on their own account, set Of wri'
tcrs whose eyes were ever open TO our
faults and shut TO our virtues, ind for our
own sake accepted the correction, how
ever ungraciously administered. With
increased strength we have less irrttabili'
ty, and Can now, with manly fOrtitude,
listen 70 the proof and bear the chastlse-
ment of our national vices, N
We venture accordingly to invoke from
theslades Of oblivion tho Halls, Hamil'
tons, Trollopes, and Fidlers to resume
their appropriate and cOngcntal work Of
abusing the American spitters, and to
wipe up, IT they can, their foul driveltng.
With all our genuine progress in refine
mcnt, the disgusting habit Of "cxpectora.
ton" still clings to so many OF our people
as 10 be almost national. universally
Of smoking may have diduscd the prac'
tice more generally, and made Europeans
less innocent Of charge which they for
merly exclusively laid against US; but be
this as It may, wc are still, par excellence,
the splitting nation.
We In this country seem so cnslGved TO
the habit that, thong I'll conscious offs vile
ness, we have vigorously striVen to exalt
II by a magnil0quent word, and made
special and ostentaciolls provision for Its
public exercise, rather than yield II up to
The disgust IL merits. EspectOrate, with
all It's Latin sOnorousncss, las been cX-
prcssly borrowed from the learned largon
Of the doctors, and tic apittOotI polished,
silvcred, and deliberately painted with
flowers and butterflies, set upin drawing
rooms, legislative halls, libraries, and mu.
scunls Of art and science, for the bClIOof Of
American spittcrs and their abctLOrs. No
one can approach u riClly.robcd dame Or
n marble statue, or step on carpet or a
tcsselated pavement, without being re-
minded by special provision for Its excr-
else, or, in the absence Ofsuch, disgusting
" made conscious Of the prevailing Ame1-
can propensity. .E VII VII
Tic use Of tobacco is not alone 'respon.
sible for the disgusting habit Of splitting.
This Is acquired BY people who were Iev'
or guilty Of rolling u cUd or pulling q Ci.
gar, in carly youth, from carelcssnGSs oil
education, and pcrsevcrcd In through life.
The act is not seldom preceded by Il sonO-
rous preliminary known to American dc
ton rs halckiHg-a disgllstiul practice SO
common In the country tlat our people
have been supposed TO be universally al.
(ectel with congontial bronchitis, or IN
affection Of tic throat from birth. Our
public assemblies, theatres, and even
churches, so rc.cchO with this national
habit Of llcmming, coughing and splitting,
that each place, ut times, would seem to
he from the sound hut q hospital for the
incurAblcs Of consumption. FIItfi
Tho saliva has its part, and an import
ant one, in the economy Of life. 1t Is q
fluid essential not only by lis moisture
mechanically to dissolve and facilitate the
swallowing of food, butt possesses cerhlin
chemical constituents necessary for Its US.
similatiOn. No animal body can be well
nourished without a due supply OF IL
properly constituted saliva. This, there
fore, should be no more thrown awaythNn
any other useful element of our compltca'
ted life and structure. Tho habit Of often
and Copiolsly Cjecttng It isnot only direct:
" injurious By wasting material wanted
for the uses Of digestion, but indirectly
harmful by stimulating the action Of the
organs which have tic property of secret
ing II, and consequently tho fluid is greatly
increased in quantity and deterinrPtcd in
quality. An unnatural DRAFT Is thus made
upon the system to supply the surplus re;
Qliircd, u the manifest loss Of general
vigor. Tie material, moreover, being Of
inferior kind, Is incapable Of properly full
filling It's destined purpose. Thus we
doubt not that excessive splitting, which
Is the source of disgust to all, II cause oI
the disease Of many. There may be more
affinity than most suspect between the
eounlIyprCvAlCnt salvation and dyspepsia
The habit Is To DO cured, like all Of It's
kind, by awakening the disgust Of people
to its grossncss, and their consciousness to
the iact Of its risks 10 health. Smokers
II there must be smokers, sll0ildIl learn
as most decent ones now do, To puff their
cigars with dry mouths. ChcwCrs should
abandon their cuds; for We can conceive
Of no means by which they can adapt their
habit TO tho deCcnCies Of life. And wise
housekeepers should not recognize tho nc
ceSSity Of an unnecessary practice by i'd
hitting to their households, however pol
ished or adorned, the inevitable disgust
Ing Spitoon. .-