The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-08-18


 von Wittelsbach, who took an active part in the defence of Gaeta, wearing the undress uniform of one of her hus- bands crack infantry regiments. and especially when under fire-was rarely seen without lighted cigar between her lips. Her younger sister, the Coun- tess Of Trani, was a no less habitual ci- gar smoker than she, and so was the Countess of Girgenti, by birth an In- tanta of Spain, As for the society leaders" and "grandes danes de par le monde" In Russia, Germany, Austria Hungary, Italy, Spain, and even in the realm of Britannia Grundy, their name Is legion In the Turkish harem smok- ing is even more de rigeur" than in the Selamlik, for the wives and daugh- ters of the well-to-do Faithful have few recreations besides inhaling the fumes of yellow "Jenidjie," or "Kirit- schillar," and nibbling what, in the States, is generically termed sweet truck" a designation impartially ap- piled to candy" 'pralines," "fondus" and ''rahat lakoum."
 As far as Chrlstendom is concerned, the ladies of Russia are themselves mainly responsible for the popularity which cigarette-smoking has lately ob- tained among English and German wo- men of the upper middle class. The ci- garette was first introduced into this country at the close of the Crimean war by British officers, who had found themselves under compulsion 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 regimental messes forty odd years ago; indeed, it is scarcely tolerated at the present day in some of the tone-giving" military and noble clubs in ermany.
 Moreover, chibouks and nargiles were not altogether adapted to camp life and trench work, being cumber- some in themselves and requiring more slilful and intelligent preparation than they could possibly undergo at the hands of the average soldier So our gallant Crimean heroes, having speedily discovered that Turkish to- bacco was excellent in quality and
 
 attraction, unfortunately, of late years took to the cigarette with character istic steadfastness, and brought it back win hem o heir native land when the fighting was over and 'the hurly-bur- ly done" It soon caught on in mess rooms and club "tabagies," but took a long time to effect a secure Judgment in such strongholds of the fair as conser- i vatories and boudoirs.
 Forty years ago few English ladies, unless for the tme being under the thraldom of Dan Cupid could be in- duced to tolerate tobacco smoke in any | apartment upon which they were ac- customed to shed the light of their | presence. It was their pleasure to ta- boo the cigarette, no less vigorously than the cigar and pipe, from dining room and drawing-room alike. In Rus sia, on the other hand, 1t was even the custom, sanctioned and encouraged by the great Boyarins, 'qui faisaient la pluie ct le beau temps,' in Muscovite fashionable society, that the golden fil- aments of Levantine tobacco, heaped up in costly Tula bowls, or delicately encased in slender paper tubes bear ing the then unrivalled brand of La ferme." should be served with the af- l ter-dinner coffee. Often the hostess, desiring to confer special distinction upon some favored guest would roll a l cigarette for him with her own delft fin- gers and even light it before handing it l to him.
 | The closer intercourse between the l aristocracies of Russia and central Flu rope, brought about during the last three decades by the stupendous devel- l opments of international communica- tions, has undoubtedly in great meas ure furthered the acceptance of the ci- garette as a social institution by Eng l lishwomen "of the first flight" It seems little hard, in the year of grace | 1898, that the use of this harmless seda- l tive or stimulant-for tobacco is gifted | with the duplex faculty of soothing and
 exciting should be prescribed to the
 ladies of the Czarina's household, who represent the fine f1eur" of Russian fe-
 male society.-London Telegraph.