Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1898-08-21
NO PRINCE NICOTINE.
DANES OF RUSSIAN COURT BEG TO
RETAIN CIGARETTE SMOKING.
PETITION TO The TSLRITSA.
A Remarkable Document That In In
tended to Convince Her Majesty
That Womanliness and Tobacco Go
Admirably Together.
Correspondence Of the pispatch.)

Correspondence of the Dispatch)
ST. PETERSBURG. August 5.-As un'
expectedly as a bolt from the blue"
came the sad tidings. promulgated a Few
days ago In Court circles at st. Peters
burg. that the gentle and gracious Tsarit
sa would be greatly obliged to the ladies
Of her household if, for the future, they
In her presence. This unlooked-for init
nation, reaching the Russian danes et
demoiselles d'honneur" from so exalted
a quarte,, was unavoidably accepted by
them as a command, and they have sum
moned up courage to address a humble
petition 10 her Majesty, entreating hei
to revoke a request that is practically
a decree. In this prayertul documen
they nave ventured to remind Alexander
Feodorovna that ladies are permitted TO
smoke cigarettes at all the Continenta.
Courts; that among the august 1emal'
yotaries Of the narcotic herb, born IL
the purple, are the Dowager Tsaritsa
and her sister, the Princess Thyra
Duchess of Cumberland, as well as tn
Princess Henry, of Prussia, born Princess
Irene Of Hesse and the Rhine, own sister
to the r~eigning Empress of all the Rus
sias. The petition also deferentially
points out that the Austrian KaiseriL
and Queen of Hungary, Maria Christina
Queen-Regent Of Spain; Carmen Sylvia,
queen of Roumania, and the Queen OF
Portugal, as well as many grand Ouch
esses, archduchesses, and princesses OF
she b1ooA ~ inuafarafa GnOkarS
To this category, moreover. belonged
though the Russian Court ladies may not
be aware Of the fact-the lovely and in
trepid ex-Queen Of Naples, Maries Won
Wittelsbach, VINO took an active part IL
the defence of Gaeta, wearing the un-
dress uniform Of one of her husband
crack infantry regiments. and-especialls
when under fire-was rarely seen without
a lighted cigar between her lips. Hell
younger sister, the Countess OF TRAM,
was a no less habitual cigar-smoker than
she. and so was the Countess of GIrdenti,
by birth an Infanta Of Spain.
AS for 'he society leaders, and
"grandes DANES de par la monde In
Russia, Germany. Austria, Hungary,
Italy. Spain, and even in the realm OF
Britannia Grundy, their name is legion.
In the Turkish harem smoking is even
more de rigueur" than in the Selamlik,
for the wives and daughters Of the we'll
TODD faithful have few reereations be-
sides inhaling the fumes Of yellow
"Jenidje," or "Kiritschillar," and nib
bling what. in the States, is termed
candy
As far as Christendom is concerned,
the ladies OF Russia are themselves
mainly responsible for the popularity
which cigarette-smoking has lately OBJ
tanned among English and German women
Of the upper middle class. The cigarette
was first introduced into Britain at the
close of the Crimean war by British
officers, who had found themselves under
%compulslon to adopt Turkish fashions OF
consuming tobacco, seeing that there
was not a decent cigar TO be obtained for
love or money throughout the length and
breadth of the Ottoman empire. Pipe
smoking was strongly discouraged at reg
mental messes forty-odd years ago; in
deed, 1t is scarcely tolerated at the
present day in some Of the "tone-giv~
ing military and noble" clubs in Ger
many. Moreover, chibouks and narghil-
lehs were not altogether adapted to
camp life and trench work. being cum
bersome in themselves and requiring more
skilful and intelligent preparation than
they could possibly undergo at the hands
VI lut dNCId6t bOiuiti = II |
So the Crimean troops, having speedily
discovered that Turkish tobacco was ex-
cellent in quality and moderate in price
II has lost the latter attraction. unfor-
tunately, of late y~ears-tOok 10 the ciga-
rette with characteristic steadfastness.
and took ii back with them TO their
native land when the fighting was over
and 1.-The hurly-burly done" 1t soon
caught on in mess-rooms and club "taba-
- -. 81 -- ar.
secure Judgment in such strongholds or
the fair as conservatories and boudoirs.
Forty years ago few English ladies', I'M
less for the time being under the thral-
dom Of Dan Cupid. could be induced to
tolerate tobacco smoke in any apartment
upon which they were accustomed 10
shed the light Of their presence. 1t was
their pleasure TO taboo the cigarette, no
less vigorously than the cigar and pipe.
dining-room and d-rawing-room
alike. In Russia. OF the other hand. it
was even the custom. sanctioned and en-
couraged by the great Boyarins, "qui
la pluie Ell lie beau temps" in
fashionable society, that the
golden flaments of Levantine tobacco,
heaped up I'm costly Tuba bowls, or deli
cately encased in slender paper tubes,
the then unriyalled brand of
'Laferme," SHOULD be served with the
after-dinner coffee. Often the hostess,
siring TO confer special distinction upon
some favored guest, would roll a ciga-
-ette for him with her own deft fingers.
md even light it before handing 1t to him.
1t seems a little hard. in the year or
grace, 1885, that the use Of this harmless
or stimulant-for tobacco is
with the duplex faculty Of sooth-
ing and exciting-should be prescribed TO
the ladies of the Tsaritsa's household,
who represent the fine fuer' of Rus
sian female society.