Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1894-11-03
ABoUF smOKING AND SMOKERS.
The Use OF the Weed q Question OF
Moderation.

L "a ttut0fe oAits
The Mormons have recently con-
demned their head patriarch for using
tobacco, the long-standing question or
| the wisdom or unWisdom, the helpful
ness or hurtiulnesS, the goodness or
| badness Of smoking are again on their
/ travels as topics Of general discussion.
/ We DO not propose TO try and settle
/ them, because, after all, it is very much
a matter Of individual taste, temper
ament and opiniOn-Or conscience, II
/ YOU prefer that word-but merely to
contribute a few interesting historical
/ data the debate.
Sir Isaac Newton was IN the habit OF
/ taking nothing but stale bread AMI
/ drinking nothing but water while at
/ work upon his great scientific expert
ments. 80 that be might keep mis- mind
! clear, but be always supplemented this
I meager diet with a pipe Of tobacco. We
\ know this from the testimony OF the
/ lady who thought he was about to pro-
/ pose TO her one day when he took her
/ hand ia his, whereas be simply proceed
l ed 10 sheer absent mindedRess 10 use her
\ fOrefnger as stopper 70 press down
| the tobacco 10 bis pipe. Lord Braugham,
I the refOrmer OF England's savage old
| penal code, the founder Of the Lyceum,
/ and friend OF all the humanities, loved
q common clay pipe, and smoked It
\ regularly until be was past ninety
/ years Of age. Sir Walter Scott not only
\ smoked himself, but advised his son,
who was an officer in the army, as to
\ the kind Of pipe be would tind most en-
/ iOyable. George Makepeace Thackeray,
/ Alfred Tennyson, Charles Dickens,
Thomas Carlyle, Charles d Darwin and
/ Wilkie Collins were all lovers OF the
/ weed.
England's greatest preacher, the late
/ Charles Haddon SpurgeoR, declared from
his pulpit that he enjoyed good cigars
aud smoked them so the glory Of God. .
| Ore Of cur greatest preachers, the late
\ Bishop Brooks, OF Massachusetts, also
/ found comfort in q fragrant Havana.
/ Addison aud Steele found great comfort
\ iu their pipes. Ben Johnson loved his
I long clay, COMMONLY called the church
warden. Beaumont and Fletcher were
partners 10 smoke as we'll as 10 author
ship. The famous DR.. Isaac Barrow
called his Iipe his pAnpharmacon cure
I for everything. The celebrated Mr.
| Congrsve found great solaCe 10 tobacco.
Wilkis Collins has left Us his testimony
/ that tobacco was the best friend bis ir-
/ rltable nerves ever had, and that when
ever be read learned attacks upOR 10 be
turned 70 his next cigar with q new
relish" NJ. Tslne, the witty French
man, declared that be found q cigar
useful between two ideas-when be
I had the first, and had not arrived at the
second"
Let Us be fair, however. Eminent
I authorities have claimed that tobacco
smoking is provocative Of bronchitis and
| catarrh, and Is deadly poison 10 the
very young; that IL tends TO stupafy the
/ brain and weaken the nerves, and is an
enemy % concentration Of thought upon
work In hand The poets Of Shelley,
Moore and our own Poe were all anti
smokers. Not 50 Byron, however, who
writes.
Sublime tobacco Which from East to
West,
/ Cheers the tar's labor or the Turkman's
/ rest.
| Allibone, the famous compiler, in
/ dorSes tobacco as an after-diRner aid to
I digestion. Robert Buchanan prOnounces
| IL 20 DO an invaluable comfort Our
| owu Mark Twain is on record to the eff
I feet that be writes with much greater
ease with the aid OF about 500 cigars
month. With few eminent exceptions,
| among W HON Mr.. Gladstone, Lord Sal
| isbury and the late Lord Bsaconsfeld,
I England's three latest Prime Ministers,
are all TO DO counted, hard patchwork
ers have quite generally used tobacco.
II musl be assumed that they have
/ found some seed In IL, or they would
not do so. BulWer, the celeorat-
ed author, declares that "a man
| who smokes thinks like sage and acts
/ like Samaritan" That cannot be
maintained, though, without Qualifca-
I tiOO. There are smokers and other
smokers, almost as many brands as
/ there are of tobacco.
/ As test OF character tobacco Is USE
/ full. A man may be known by the
/ cigars be keeps. as we'll as by the way
be smokes them. No man Of refined
\ taste will smoke 3 bad cigar. The
| phIlosOphic smoker takes mis- comfort in
l a leisurely way amid proper surround
/ logs, aud is able 10 shut himself out
/ from the world and all its petty annoy
snces as he follows the curling
! wreath into the dreamland OF
/ reverie. The man who allows his
/ cigar 10 go out great many times,
and relights In successive spaSms OF
I fdgetineSs, may usually be set down as
/ an incoherent character, quite prone to
/ get of bis trolley, so TO speak, and GER
/ taiCly lacking in tenacity OF purpose.
| The man who fumbles his cigar q good
/ deal aud manages to get the wrapper
! unrayeled aud the fire all on one side
/ may be dismissed as nervous person,
7 with a prOclivity for uncomfortable
/ ness. Men who chew their cigars,
/ leaving their teeth prints on them, aud
/ do this for q long time before lighting
them, are quite likely to be stern, de-
/ termined men, full Of grit and resolu-
ton. Genera Grant used to handle a
cigar IN that way, and Bismarck is said
TO do likewise.
AS sn index Of the generosity or
meaDness of soul the cigar is quite
/ Trustworthy. The generous ms0, if he
| smokes az all, is sure 20 indulge him
self and mis- friends, when they call on
| him, with q good cigar. The man who,
with abundant means TO smoke the
best, deliberately buys the worst cigars
and pretends TO enjoy them, is capable
OF almost any conceivable meanness.
] Per contra, the man who can find solace
aud FefreShment from a cigar OF good
| quality or pipe filed with choice to-
baccO, aud who is always ready 10 open
his heart wide aud let his tongue wag
the most msrrily when be takes his
friend into the hosPitslities of a smoke
talk, is pretty sure 10 be one whose
instincts and impulses are in the main