St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1882-10-06
The Tobacco Nuisance.

We have suffered from it ourselves
and seen others suffer ladies and
gentlemen and people who had reached
that honOrcd age when their comfort
and convenience should be IA restraint
on the company they are in. We have
suffered enough to bc indignant, though
we mast confess, in strict Self-eXami-
nation, that what prompts us to pro-
test is no high ethical zeal, like that
which fired the bosom of Mr.. Trask
and his disciples. Disgust and indig
nation, and sense of having had in
dignities practiced upon us by the vo-
taries of the weed is the highest moral
range we rise to on this present occa-
sion.
We do not undertake any preach
mcnt on the morality, nor on the hy
gicnic aspect of the matter. What we
say is, that any man who uses tobacco
is bound to take his pleasure in way
which does not annoy his neighbOr,
The best that he can say for his prac
tee is, that he enjoys it. There is no
food in it and it is not taken for medi-
cine. Possibly, it rests him, or quietS
his nerves, or puts him in good humor,
L llt sum bl IL II. lldi ne tlllON = IL It's IL
personal luxury.
But he has no right to take his com
fort out of other people, and the
trouble with toha ,cO see ms to bc that
it makes people blind to the annoyance
they give others in using it. Your
genuine smoker comes to feel that he
has IL right to all the air, in doors and
out of doors, and feels himself abused
and wrongrd when man or woman puts
in claim to breathe it witt ont the
tobacco admiXturc. L?dics abroad tell
us that it is no gentleman who would
smoke in their presence without asking
permission but, on the other hand,
both ladies and gentlemen agree that
no lady should venture to refuse per
IIisSion, when asked.
On both sides of the water we are
rapidly coming to Il point lower than
this, where no permission is asked of
man or woman. Your smoky friend
plants himself to the windward on all
occasions, and blows the dead smoke
he is done with in your eyes. 1t is
hard to find Il retreat. On the Balti-
more and Ohio Railway we have known
ladies to he smoked out of their costly
seats i'll the dldwing-rOOm cas-. This
catastrophe is not impossible on other
lines. The smoking saloon vents it.
self into the drawing groom. On steam
er decks and hotel piazzas there is no
escape, and too often one retreats to
his chamber in the hotel to find, Ike
the Light Brigade, at Balaklava, Can
non to right of them, cannon to left of
them"
Now. we do not know why our com
fort is not as much of an object as any
ones. People who do not smoke have
rights, and rights which claim priority
and are not to be trespassed on i'll this
way.
If people will smoke, let them re
member how great nuisance they
may easily make themselves, unless
they take pains to avoid it. Society
has right to require them to be clean
ly in their habit. An umcleanly smOk
er. who does not take great pains with
his person, soon becomes intolerable in
society, more offensive than il smoky
chimney. Refined ladies shudder at the
approach of his redOlent personality.
Dead smoke in the cu 'tains and walls
is too much for fresh air, rose-buds,
and good housekeeping combined.
Beau Br1 nmell broke off an engage
ment because the lady used cabbage.
Yet, such are the caprices of society
that, had tobacco been in vogue then
us it is now. he might have claimed his
right to puff in the lady'S face or to
have loaded her tapestries with his
OdOrs. He might even have offered
her the choice of bis "Opera Putts,
and wished to see the light curls rising
from her fairy lips.
Izaak Walton wondered that a horse,
'"the honcstest beast alive, should have
such strange power to make men
dishonest" Tobacco lovers might, with
more reason, wonder why manners go
down on the approach of their favorite
weed. The fact is not To be denied.
Tobacco is no school of manners.
About all that can he required of the
habitual smoker is, that he shall not be
nuisance. This we insist OH In
IpnapIant