Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1877-02-28
Our Bad Habit.

While it is well to consider our national
taste in matters of dress, how much more
important it is that our attention should
occasionally be called to our national bad
Notwithstanding. 1t is q national
habit inasmuch as two-third5 of our coun-
try men are slaves to this vile custom, and
it is peculiar to our people. Abroad chew
ing is only practiced in seaport towns by
sailors. That the habit is all but universal
here, was shown by the statistics of 1850
published tweny-siX years ago, and that
tho habit, like all bad customs, has materi.
ally Increased, cannot be doubted One
hundred and fifty million pounds Of tobaG.
co were in that year cut up or pressed in
to cakes for chewing purposes. About
five pounds for every man, woman and
child in the country ut that time. We are
informed tn It the custom is no longer con
fined to the stcrner sex, but that women
now use the weed This may be true in
regard to the female portion Of the pool
white trash in the Southern States; but We
have yet to see, and hope never to be sc
unfortunate us to be behold the woman
given to tobacCo-chewing. Woman is the
medium through which This bad habit mly
be somewhat abatcd, and we look to hcl
TO discounlenance it.
Do men not realize that chewing is of
fensive to ladies? That it detracts from
refinement and renders the cultured mar
unattractive? Does the nov &C tlatter him
self that the qud lies unnoticed in his
cheek? That he "uses " tobacco so that
it is undesirable. Only little few
times day. Did not the old stager com
mence in this way? Just little, an,
that little rs sickening to him as he is to
his friends now As says an old anti-tobac
co ballad, published 10y Il New EnglanC
temperance society in 1920,
they think they chew So folks can't tell il:
They cannot chew y we cant smell it,"
After prolonged practice, the quantity
chewer can consume is enormous. DR.
Arnott mentions " the case of II harbor su
perintcndcnt, formerly II sailor, aged six
ty. -four, who h I'd chowed tobacco upwarl
of fifty years, and now also eats it, swal
lowing every particle Of leaf and Juice
For many years he has been in the habi
of eatinga quarter of n pound of negro
head crerg fce days." The Lancet 1917
vol. l., p. 440.
Let us turn in Websters dictionary t,
the definition of the word "cbow," y" t,
bite and grind with the teeth, to masti
cate" Tabncco-chewing then is constan
grinding with the teeth What? quid
What is quid? "A portion suitrbie t.
be chowed, cud." The definition o
" cad is "a portion of food brought u
into the mouth by ruminating animals.
And man is II ruminating or chewing ami
NAL. Like the cattle of the field he chew!
the cud, but what II different cul, an enc
tic even offensive to the brute.
Chewing is universal among the lowe
classes of our people, but it is not contine,
to them. This is evident t. any one win,
treads the sidewalks of our most fashions
BILE thoroughfaros and notices their cond
tion. In many of our incest homes thu
vessel know us II "spiltoonn occupies ,
conspicuous place Very often one sees il
on Il hearthstone, and should then fee
thankful that it is n modern invention, foI
certainly its existence in former time,
would have destroyed all the romance as
sociated with the old black log and blaz
ing pine knots around which our ancestors
delighted to gather. Who wonld tax,
pleasure in recalling these traditions if W,
pictured our ancestors gathered arounI th,
spittoonP Spittoons arc sometimes fJun
in the American drawing room; yes, nm,
sometimes even under onu's nose in tn,
dining-room, where, though perhaps
thought useful and pretty by some mem
ber OF the family, are positively disgustn!
and anything but appetizing to others. Ii
certain so called fashionable churches
spittoons are sometimes placed within tn
pews, and are y poor substitute for Tn
kneelng bench of old,
of late spittoonS have bgc1m1 " cuspa
dores, and n prominent furniture deale
informed mo they were frequently ordcru
of elaborate design to match sets of furni
ture. Sometimes to be carved artistically