The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-28
4 IDEAS for JMomem
SHOULD women smoke2

in large letters, stared me in the lace
the other day, as from the top of an
omnibus l surveyed the heardings on
ether side. says Silas X. Harking in the
Newark Evening News" should wom-
en- smoker" Why not" said a young
man at my side, who was pulling away
at a large cigar. Aye, why not? Well,
for myself, | cannot help saying most
emphatically that l sincerely hope they
will not. One has a natural repugnance
to seeing women aping the men. and
aping them in those things which are
least to be commended. OF course, if
women make up their minds to smoke,
they will, and there's an end ont"
but at present feeling goes against 1t.
1t is generally admitted that it is not
altogether good form. and while it is not
good form they wiz desist; but if any of
the leaders of fashion should take promi-
nently to the cigarette. then there can be
little doubt. l fear. that smoking will
become general among women.
Per Sc, there is no more reason why
women should not smoke than men. If
tobacco is a narcotic, if it soothes the
nerves and GAINS the anxious brain, then
there is no more reason why women
should not nave such solace thar men;
indeed, there is perhaps more reason, for
their worries are more irritating even
than those tina beset men. Their work
may not be so hard. it is true, and yet
l expect few men would exchange their
city labor for the worries of domestic
life. Hence, looking at the matter from
a merely logical point of view, there is
quite as much reason why women should
indulge in the weed as men. Yet all
the same. 1 sincerely hope that they will
not SO indulge.
The objection, then, to women smoking
may be regarded as purely sentimental;
but the objection is none the less worthy
of consideration on that account. Senti-
ment plays a very important part in our
life. and if we were to eliminate every
fling that belongs exclusively to the
realm of sentiment we should cut off
from our life a great deal that is very
beautiful and very pleasant. Robertson.
of Brighton, says:-sSentimentalism is
that state in which a man speaks deep
and true, not because he feels things
strongly, but because he perceives that
they are beautiful. and that it is touch
ing and fine to say them-things that he
fam would feel, and fancies that he does
feel, We cannot very well argue on
mere matters of sentiment, for it does not
belong to the region of logic, it belongs
rather to the region of feeling and emo
tion; and for that reason, because we
feel SO strongly that it is not pleasant
fer women to smoke, we hope they will
refrain from the habit.
I remember in my childhood days see
ing an old, gypsy woman sitting outside
her rent in front of the camp fire, pull
ing away at a long clay pipe, and cer-
tainly the pipe did not look at all neon
grucus. Years after l remember in the
west of ireland seeing several old women
indu.ging in the same fashion. The first
time. Moreover, l ever saw a young and
handsome woman smoke was in Italy. l
was having lunch at a restaurant outside
the city of Pompeii, and directly after
mary of the gentlemen pulled out their
cigars and began TO smoke The young
lady in question pulled out a silver cigar
e.te case. and. perching herself on a
high chair in a most perky fashion, be-
gan TO blow rings before all the gem
tien1en. I confess it gave me quite a
shock. It seemed altogether out of place,
nor was I in any degree Modified when /
heard that the young lady was not an
italian, but an American. Since then
have seen young and cultivated ladies
abroad. and at social gatherings in Eng
II smoke again and gain, and though
the first shock has worn off to some ex-
tent. and ones early objections may have
been somewhat modified, nevertheless at
heart I believe almost all men feel the
same. A woman's charms are not height
ened. but distinctly diminished when she
figures in public with a cigarette in her
mout,s.
Sir Walter Besant writes in London
-"Queen,:-It is reported that a woman
lecturer in New York has been advancing
a new doctrine-a Doctrine Of Rebellion.
She claims. among the Sacred Rights of
Women, nothing less than the Right
with a capital RIO be Ugly-with a
capital Tiff they please. We old-fash-
Toned folk. who find nothing so delight
full in the world as the woman who is
not Ugly, the woman who pleases and
attracts by her loneliness of face and
form. or by the graciousness of her man
lSTS, or Dy the ready sympathy OIL her
mind; or by the grace with which she
presents herself, so to speak, in a careful
setting of dress. need not be moved in
the least by this new doctrine. The
lady lecturer cannot, try as hard and as
long as she pleases, put off her wos1an-
hood and become a thing neuter. Now,
the course of the world has firmly es-
tablished two strong points in the human
mind, eve the most savage. First, that
the man must always have in him some
thing of the warrior. He must be quick
to fight, strong to defend, inventive and
constructive; a hunter after food and a
cuftivator of the soil. It is, if he pleases,
his Right-always with a capitalize be
a cur and a coward; but there never has
been a man who openly, deliberately and
without shame has taken up that role.
1t is, on the other hand, understood to be
the special duty of the woman to look
after the home; to make that home
pleasing to the man and to the children.
And since this is and always will be the
chief duty and the life work Of the
woman, a whole group of virtues has
grown up for her exclusive use; among
them the most conspicuous is the virtue
of attractiveness. ..Whatr' cries the
Advanced One, deck myself out in fine
clothes to please Mere Man?" Never!'
Madam, you are doubtless within your