The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-03

ebsolutely,the habit had possession of him.
He reached for a cigar, but did not light it.
He said to himself that he had either 10
master the habit then, or succumb to it and
let 1t have its fatal force with him. He
threw his cigar aside. and he suffered for
three or four weeks. as he afterward told
me, the agonies of disease in his efforts to
overcome the habit; but he never put
cigar into his mouth again.
His quarter of century Of activity as
attorney general Of New Jersey, his appre-
Citations of the delights of life, his social
charms, his perfect health now satisfy him
that the sacrifice was worth the effort which
he made. But he thinks that bad he con-
tinued much longer he might have reached
the point where he cared not what the
effects of the nicotine were.
THE EXPERIENCE OF JOHN S. BEACH.
The ablest lawyer that Connecticut has
produced since the days Of Roger Sherman
was undoubtedly John 8. Beach. He was a
singularly reserved, quiet and unassuming
man, and his only delight was IN the prac-
tice OF his profession. where he achieved a
splendid repute, and in his domestic life.
Had he chosen TO give any heed to politics
he might have had any honor which it was
in the power of his party in Connecticut to
bestow.
Mr.. Beach was passionately fond of
good, strong. cigar. He did not smoke so
constantly as Booth has, but he smoked
great deal. After he was 65 years of age
his physicians warned him that his habit
would, unless given up, shorten his days,
and Mr.. Beach replied in effect that
matter of three or four years would make
but little difference to a man almost 20
years of age, and that he could not
give up a habit in which he had found
such consolation. He continued his
cigars and he died, not exactly from
the effect Of them, but from dis
ease whose fatality was fastened by rea-
son OF the nicotlzing Of his system. Yet he
died perfectly contented to 20 and satisfied
that he had enjoyed life, met his RESPONSE
billties, achieved an honorable name among
those who knew him, and left in the judicial
decisions OF Connecticut the impress of his
professional career.
CHAUNCEY NJ. DEPEw's EXPERIENCE.
Chauncey M. Depew learned to smoke
while he was student in Yale College, and
after ward, when he was beginning his career
IN New ork, he smoked excessively. Like
MIR. Booth, he wasIsatstied only with tie
BLACKLIST and strongest of cigars. He did
not realize how absolutely the habit had
mastered him until he had been its victim
for more than twenty years
One day while walking the streets of AL
bany, some fifteen years ago, he took a
cigar from his pocket to light it with the
butt of one he had just consumed. 1t &C.
CURED to him on the instant that he was a
slave Of the habit. and before lighting his
cigar he walked several blocks that he might
think over his experience and it then oc-
Cured to him that he was getting heavy
minded, dull intellectually, and that he
coveted the effect of the nicotine more than
BIS even coveted political or professional
honors. He then said to himself that it had
gone far enough, and he threw his cigar
into the street, and from that day to this
has not lighted one, although occasionally
at a public dinner he holds an unlighted one
between his lips for the sake of comrade-
ship.
Mr.. Depew thinks that if he had not
stopped when he did the habit would have
absolutely mastered him, so that he would
have been in the same condition in which
Mr. Booth now is.
EX-MAYoR GRACE's CAREER AS A SMOKER.
Ex-Mayor William R. Grace used to be
a prodigious smoker, although the state
ment will surprise his many friends in this
city. When he was living in Peru he
smoked frequently as many as twenty-five
and thirty cigars day, and they were big,
black, strong Reinas. He realized that it
was only question of time when his will
power would be overcome by the habit,
and when he would simply live that he
might daily put himself into the lethargic
| condition which follows excessive use of
nicotine
Mr. Grace made an estimate of what his
| cigars cost him-something like $500 or 5000
| a year-aud he said to himself that he
would give up the habit, and that he would
bestow in charity the money which he had
| been formerly accustomed to spend for his
cigars. For more than twenty five years
that has been his yearly habit He has
given to the poor what he would have spent
in smoke had he not given up the habit.
He says that but for this change of habit of
his be would have become simply beirg
who lived that he might enjoy this narcotic
| influence.
OF course there are very many smokers
| in New York who take reasonable delight
In the habit, aud upon whom it has no
| baleful influence. The great majority of
| those who use tobacco here use it reason
ably. There are very few men who be-
come victims of the nicotine disease, as Mr.
Booths friends assert he has. But these
| illustrations indicate how completely the
mastery of nicotization is when the use of it
is excessive, and suggest that after all there
| is but little difference between it and other
narcotizing habits which prevail.
Mr.. Booth has passed the time of life
when 1t is easy for men to give up long
| acquired habits, and his experience with
his friends at Buzzard's Bay for the last few
weeks suggest that he is likely to continue
the habit until the end CO mes.