Bisbee daily review., 1907-07-21
NoBLEssE oRLIGE.

NOBLESSE OBliGE.
 Here we are at it again, hammer and tongs, as the dog star draws near CT and the newspapers begin printing their hot weather warnings. No gentleman" writes one of the fierce controversialists, will smoke in the same seat with a lady" Never mind the syntax or the unconscious impli- cation that some ladies smoke. It is the eternal truth of the assertion which impresses us most. No matter how far away we still may be from any general acceptance of a standard of what constitutes a gentleman, we may. if we can meet on common ground anywhere, unite in saying that man who will continue smoking while sharing a street car seat with woman he can see to be a lady, is not a gentleman, declares the Globe Democrat No matter if there be empty seats further front. Ladies are net presumed to be sophisticated. Fur thermore, it is the mark of the lady not to want to crowd herself to the front She will not fall into one of the Iengthwise mourners' benches in the Tar rear of the coach, in which smoking sinners do penance for their sins, but she may easily, in her guile essness, in her modesty, in her de- s're to be near the exit when her stopping place is reached, or for any other reason equally good, seat her sc.f in one of the four cross seats ded- ,cated to the worship of My Lady Me otine
 Now, My Lady Nicotine is a lady oassing fair, to all who love her, says
 his journal further. But if the smoke 2E cur incense at her a1tars be offen- sive to other ladies, let us forbear. aIy Lady Nicotine will not write to the newspapers about it. The other one may. We do not agree with those who say that a real lady may net write to the press and tell her griev- lnce, For what other protest can a real lady make? She cannot, like the unreal lady, glare fiercely at the vo- -ary whose incense is burning before Lady Nicotine's altars, sniff, cough, gurgIe, wheeze or make other distress ing and vulgar noises in which a real lady could never, under any suppos- able circumstances, indulge herself And where is the man who, seeing such silent and dignifed suffering at his hands, of one incapable of mak- .ng vigorous protest against him, and too polite to assert herself in ways to make him uncomfortable, can con tinue to afflict her? If such there be, go mark him well, etc It is putting it mildly to say that he is not gen. tleman, in a land and time in which people differ so widely as to what a gentleman is or ought to be. Let his name be anathema, and his shadow grow less in the land, for that he can smoke in the same seat with a lady,"
 1T you are a man to whom all wo- men look alike as to their quality, give the woman the benefit of any doubt. The most of the clamor comes neither from the top nor the bottom, but from those who claim for them selves all that is due the children of light. Let the men capable of dis crimination discriminate. It is the death of good cigar to let its fires go out Thereafter is is only a hiss ing and an abomination a total loss. Such sacrifice is the respect we pay to ladies. And the problem presses. Every open season finds its return. Shall we yield? Why Not? We who are capable of standing out on rear platforms to smoke when the mercury is below the freezing polEt, can we not do it in the good old summer time We don't have to. They can't make us But noblesse oblige.
 If Roosevelt should visit Missouri 5ot1htIecc # xv,,,fd ha with fba fdaa of