Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-11-08

hardt and Rosa Bonheur.
Was it not Thackeray who said that a
woman hated cigar because she recon-
nized in it her chiefest rival, IT is mere
jealousy, that is all. She docs not hate II
in and for itself Convert the rival into an
| ally and she will learn to love and bless il
In the better regulated households where
men are allowed to smoke in the presence
Of their wives and sisters and sweethearts
this conversion Of an enemy into a friend
has already been effected. II hath even
happened to some favored ones among rs
to have our cigars lighted for us by fair
one imbibing the first puff and leaving
kiss behind
And this opens out a,wider query When
the rival has become an ally shall we allow
It to become something nearer and deare;
Still-shall we sit clamly by and watch il
urn gradually into a cOmpau on: Ino,ber
words, shall we suffer women to snloka,
Most men would answer unhesitatingly
no. Most women would echo the no. In
deed it is because men are so certain of the
echo that they are so bold and positive in
their negative.
" men we say most women. we mean OF
course most women in this country. But
in the continent which contains this conn.
try-in North America-there is another
large country, Mexico TO wit where the
fairest and stateliest danes and damse|s
10 not hesitate to puff the dainty cigarette
in the presence and with the full consent
Of their husbands. fathers and brothers
Still farther south there is a continent as
large as this, and in all the 3untries W hjcb
diversity the surface Of that continent the
Spanish blood asserts itself in a similar
manner, for in Spain ladies' have smoked
since tobacco was first known 10 man. In
Italy also, in Turkey, in Russia. in the
east, women of all classes smoke as a mat
ter of course.
female traveller in Italy tells Of taking
Venetian gondola at twilight and skiro-
ming under the walls overhunc with
sweet smelling vines where the expresses
rise black and straight above the white
arches OF the water gates. Marx" she
cries enthusiastically. how the tinv red
lights glow among the silent leaves, NOV
ing quickly hither and thither, while white
draperies shine through the dusk and the
murmur of voices mingles with the swasb
OF the water against the wall below
And what are these tiny red lights Fire
flies, glowwOrns' Neither 1t is only
the proud ladies Of Venice, the descendants
Of doges ana merchant princes-thev who
dwell IN the hanging gardens above tn,
canals, who are smoking their evening
cigarettes or cigars, while the "Angelus"
rings over the city and the air crows
heavy with the night sweetness Of fovers.
In the album of the Marchesa BricnoIe
at Genoa, there is written this sentiment.
The smoke of fame is not worth the
smoke OF pipe" and the signature to the
sentiment is George Sand" The mean
ne Is trifc ambiguous Does George
sand mean to say that fame is evancscent
as smoke, worthless as some might deem
the smoke Of pipe to be worthless Or
does she mean that, sweet as fame NAV be.
there is a still more grateful sweetness
lingering in the fumes that hover about
the meerschaum and the 0rierwoode
Probably the latter, for George Sand was
a valiant smoker. In her hot youth, wien
she wished 20 emphasize her hatred of con
ventonal restraints she had smoked pipes
and cigars In her mellow maturity. when
she smoked for pleasure and not for glory,
she confined herself entirely to cigarettes,
Mrs. Orr in her Life Of Robert Rropr,
ing tells how the roet, with that other
poet his wife, called upon George Sand in
Paris and found her smoking a cigarette
Mrs. Browning vas charmed with the
grace and delicacy exhibited by this vota-
ress OF the weed in the pursuit of her fa
vorite amusement. She enthusiastically
declared that in the hands of a true devo-
tee OF the better sex cigarette might he
made AS potent an instrument of coouetrv
and fascination as the fan is in the hands
Of japanese beauty.
AT present i'll the more or less bohemian
circles of artists, writers and actors. smok-
ing is very widely tolerated among Partisan
women Marie Bashkirtseff smoked, it
will be remembered, and she was more of
Partisan than a Russian Even the staid
and highly respectable Rosa Bonheur
knows what it is to enjoy quiet Whit
from Turkish or Spanish cigarette. As
to Sarah Bernhardt-of course she smokes.
II is her delight to dress herself nm in
mems clothes when at work in her studio.
and to assume all other masculine habits
with her pantaloons. IN the days of the
empire smoking was even more prevalent
than now. Did not the empress herself-a
Spaniard to the core-set the fashion,
Is then the supposed indelicacv of femi-
nine smoking matter of latitude and
iongtudce by no means. 1t is matter
OF epochs. Time was when no one held
the habit to be nnfeminine Two centuries
ago no geographical divisions marked
where the lady must cease to smoke or
cease to De lady. Then the most highly
born, the most gifted, the most charming
ladies Of England smoked openly. Later,
with .hc same opeuncss. they nsed tobacco
in other forms
Master Prynne, the well meaning puri-
tar'a iInbecile, who in 1893 wrote an attack
upon the stage called "Histriornastrix."
informs us that in his day ladies at the
theater were offered the tobacco pipe in
lieu OF apples, which appear to have been
the staple between the acts refreshments,
and French traveller, one NJ. Toreyin Ge
Rochefort, who published his journal in
1917, informs us that he found smoking
was general custom in England as well
among women as among men, both sexes
holding that life would be intolerable
without tobacco. "becaUse they say it dis
s'p1tes the evil humors of the brain"
After the ladies' stopped smoking they
took to snuff. Women of quality, cen
fury or less ago, could not stir without
their suuffboxes--s splendid little ieweleA.
enarneied receptacles of an eighth Of an