The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-03-13
ENGLISH WOMEN
 GREAT SMOKERS Habit is Spreading Rapidly Among All Classes clGARE TIES MOST POPULAR Pipes Are Smoked Also, Although My Lady Has Not Yet Attempted
 Cigars-Women Smoke
 In Public Places.
clGARE TIES MOST POPULAR
P. c. in the London Chronicle.

l 1 A few years ago if an Englishwoman
 wanted to smoke she did 1t secretly, and
 scented her boudoir. Or if she were bold
 enough to whiff cigarette in public she
 knew she was defylng one of the strong
 est prejudices of social life. and must
 rank as a Bohemian among all women
 who worshlpped Mother Grundy.
 But now, so quickly do social fashions
 change, there is no black mark against
 the woman who likes her little whiff
 No longer need she retire to her private
 room, and stfe the smoke by heavy per-
 fumes. On the contrary, one cannot dine now at any West End restaurant with
 out seeing at the little tables women who smoke with their coffee without any self consciousness or air of effrontery. l Indeed so we'll have they learned the
 art of smoking that they have many lit-
 tie tricks and gestures which show they are more than novices.
 Whether or not the male mind may agree with this liberty of womanhood, | there is something very pleasurable in watching a fair smoker. She handles the | cigarette so dantily that 1t is invested d | man Is at the other end of 1t. She toys
 W ith 1t, holds 1t loosely in her fingers, puts it lightly to her lips with a pretty l caressing touch; the lighted end Is | jewel that sparkles brightly against the | skin of her bare arm as her elbow rests for sss moment upon the dinner table, and | as she@}eans over to her companion and featherfyv cloudlet filters from her lips | the man must be cross grained indeed if ha 4ts,r afait | in the picture, whatever be his thoughts as to the evil effects of such habit
 Habit With Women. l Undoubtedly 1t is a habit now with | large numbers of women. It is not a mere passing fancy to whiff a cigarette now and again when they are in the com pany of men.
 Inquiries among the tobacconists of the | West End reveal the fact that they num- | Der many women as regular customers | The proprietor, for instance. of quite a | small shop at the far end of Oxford street | states that he has over 100 women on his list, who send him frequent orders. Even
 when they go into the country he Is in- structed to forward boxes of their favor | te brands.
 Another tobacconist who has an even larger connection among women says one | of his customers Is a wel-known society | leader, who smokes on an average of | twenty-five cigarettes day of the Mes | tor'' brand-full- sized and full-flavored
 Egyptians.
 | This man tells an amusing tale of | lady who came into his shop few days | ago and said that she wanted to try some | of his best kinds of cigarettes. He sub mitted five different brands. and she sat down there and then and spent quarter | of an hour samplng their qualities, final | ly giving a substantial order for those | she liked best.
 | Another proof of the prevalence of this | habit among women is that there is hard | ly a womans club in London which does | not have it's smoking room. The Empress | club in Dover street has several smoking | rooms, and 1t Is a sight to watch thirty or forty of the smartest women in Lon don enveloped in quite haze of tobacco | smoke, as they recline in various atti- | tudes of ease upon the luxurious lounges
 with which their den is provided Even the Sesame club, the home of high ideals of womanly duty, does not deny to it's members the privilege of tobacco, and 1t has two well-appointed smoking rooms, | one for both men and women, the other | exclusively for the better sex.
 Even Pipe Is Popular. | Even the pipe is now becoming popular among habitual women smokers, all | though cigars have not yet been admitted
 to the list of women's properties This | new phase has been recognized by re- | cent club for women, whose regulations include the following clause: Ladies are | requested not to smoke pipes in the pres | ence of gentlemen, but only in the private | smoking room.
 The tobacco license now possessed by women is introducing a change fn.the so- | sal etiquette of the dinner table. It IS | becoming quite usual for ladies to remain for coffee and cigarettes with the gentle men. instead of retiring immediately af- | ter dessert.
 It Is mistake to imagine, however, that cigarette smoking is only prevalent among women of smart society. As one large tobacconist remarked yes terday, "In all grades from the highest to the lowest from the society queen to the flower girl, tobacco is not the least or items In the weeks expenditure Among the servant girl class ths habit is now very common. Like mistress like maid" and while Lady Constance is whff- ing a dainty Egyptian with the Hon lack. Betty, the housemaid, Is enjoying a packet of three penny Virginia with Thomas, the footman, in the kitchen. Factory girls also have taken largely to smoking and at the luncheon hour in the East End II IS quite uSudi lhihs to see them gathered in little groups at the street corners handing round cigarettes with an air of "camaraderie. roguishly puffing smoke into each others faces and clamoring for the pictures in the little packets.
 If is not usual we understand. for wo- men to smoke cigarettes specially pre- pared for their own use There are, It is true. two or three kinds, long, and thin, and elegant sold by West End tobacco nists but, as a rule. the ordinary brands smoked by men are equally favored by the women.
 In view of the undoubted prevalence of women smokers it would be interesting to know whether the habit Is likely 10 have any injurious effect upon their con stitution. and also whether the prejudice against women who smoke, previously possessed by the majority of men, is dis appearing In the face of this change in. womans social code.