Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-08-14
EASY ENOUGH.
How Smiites stopped Chewing 80.
DACCO,

baccO.
Smikes made up his mind to stop
chewing tobacco. He never was much
of a chewer, anyhow, he said. He
hadn't used tobacco but a few years,
and rarely consumed more than an
ounce paper in a day. But he feared
that the habit might get hold of him
and become fixed, and if there was
anything he abhorred it was to see Il
man become a slave to a bad habit.
He had used the weed some, to be
sure, but there had never been time
during the last ten years when he
could not stop at any moment. But
so long as he did not become habit
uated to it, he did not care to stop.
He could break off at any minute,
and it was a great satisfaction to feel
so. Thompson, he thought, was an
abject slave to his pipe. He pitied
Thompson, for he had seen Thompson
try to stop smoking several times, and
fail ANONYMOUSLY every time he I'M
dcrtook it. But Smikes wanted to
show his wife how easily he could
quit.
SO Monday morning he remarked
carelessly to Samantha that he guess
ed he would stop using tobacco.
Samantha said she was glad of it, and
added, impe'uously, what she had
never said before, that it was vile
habit. Smikes appeared little ner-
vous and confused when Samantha
said this, and mumbled out something
about being glad he had never got
into it himself In his agitation he
pulled out his tobacco box and was
about to take a chew, when he recol-
lected himself and plunged out Of the
front door, forgetting his umbrella.
About halfway to the Office he met
Jones, with whom he was having
some business transactions. While
they were talking the thing over Smi-
kes got little enthusiastic, and he
had almost reached the office before
he noticed that he was rolling an un-
commonly plump quld around his
mouth like sweet morsel. How it
GOT there Smikes did not know. He
puzzled over that little thing all the
rest of the forenoon, and at last he
took it out of his mouth and threw it
away, satisfied that he must have tax
en- it while talking with Jones. Twice
that afternoon Smikes took his tobacco
box out ard looked at it. Once he
took off the cover and smelled of the
tobacco. 1t smelt so good that Smi-
kes felt impelled to remark that it was
the easiest thing in the world to stop
chewing. He congratulated himself
again and again that day that he had
not become entangled in the meshes
of the filthy vice, and he alluded to
the matter three or four times that
evening at the tea table, till Samantha
mavelled greatly at the trmness of
Smikes. She had often heard, she
said, that it was a hard thing to leave
off. But Smikes had told her and
kept telling her that it was lust as
easy" and her reverence for the virile
strength and independence of char
acter of Smikes grew like a gourd
That night Smikes had the nightmare
He thought that legion of fiends had
got him up in a corner of the back
yard, and had rolled upon him mon
strous quid of ''fne cut as large
around as a cart-wheel, and that they
were trying to force it into his mouth.
Smikes struggled vigorously, and
when Samantha shook him and asked
him what was the matter, his only re-
ply was that "anybody could stop
chewing if they only made up their
mind to do it."
The next day Smikes was little
nervous. He told everybody who
came in what simple thing it was to
stop chewing. The third day he harp
ed about it all day long. He told one
man about it three different times, and
when that much informed individual
ventured the opinion tnat he would