The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1908-02-05
SOCIETY LADIES Who smoke

SAN FRANCISCO, January 2O.-The
cigarette problem gripped society and
woman clubdom on both sides of the
bay yesterday ana made it blush and
gasp and finally smilingly inquire:
Well whose business is it, anyway?
Puff, puff, and likewise pouf. says
a section of Society.
Shocking, degrading and not to be
tolerated, say the clubwomen who take
life seriously.
But every one admits it is a great
thing for San francisco. 1t shows
that this city can keep pace with Lon
don and New York without much ex-
ertionl The woman cigarette smoker
of society really originated in London,
and she got the tip from the boule-
wards of Paris, with hints from Nice
and Cairo, where the cigarette comes
from. New York took it up with a
bang And then the habit came here.
1t was in such hurry to get to this
edge of the continent that it forgot
Chicago was on the map.
And now the nabit is here to stay.
That little incident at Tait's Thursday
night which started all the clamor,
really wasn't an isolated case 1t was
mere chance that it was Mrs Teresa
Fair Oelrichs and Mrs Richard Nc
Creepy who were detected in the act
of balancing the little paper pipes in
the neighbOrhOod of their lips. That
they burned them in the open under
the soft lights in Tait's merely showed
to the initiated in the ways of So
ciety that they had mastered the art
1t is not a simple thing for a woman
to smoke a cigarette gracefully and
until the San Francisco woman can do
a thing as well as it can be done, she
does not display in public. But a few
weeks more of bOudoir practice and
Mrs. Oelrichs and Mrs. McCreery will
have lots of company in the gentle
art of adding to the volume of after
dinner smoke in the cafes.
And even if women do smoke
cigarettes, what of it? Why, it's moth
ing-nothing at all. That is the view
of Mrs Peter Martin, daughter-in-law
of Mrs. Eleanor Martin, who is as
great a social arbiter in Newport and
New York as she is in San Francisco.
Mrs Martin sat at the same table with
Mrs. Oelrichs and Mrs McCreery and
didn't even notice that they were
smoking
Asked yesterday for an expression OF
her views concerning the public mid
winter debut Of the cigarette at Tait's,
she said:
Did Mrs .Oelrichs smOke-or Mrs.
McCreery? Really, | don't remember
| hadn't noticed it. If they did do so,
it wouldn have attracted my atten-
ton, being so very ordinary a matter.
Why discuss it at all? 1t is of no
importance.
Il would prefer not to be quoted on
the subject of cigarette smoking.
have never given it any thought and
have no opinion, therefore, to express.
You ask if | have acquired the habit
of smoking. NO, have not. l do not
smoke because | do not care about It,
If l wanted to so so, / certainly should.
But whether | smoke or don't smoke
l have no right to interfere with others
who enjoy the practice nor should l
presume ~ criticise them.
IF the custom is not prevalent in
San Francisco as it is in Europe and
in many society circles in the East, 1
should certainly not smoke in public
here, even though ! were an habitual
smoker, because l would not wish to
do anything to shock the pTejudices
or sensibilities of the people here But
! am somewhat surprised that cigar
cite smoking should occasion remark
in San Francisco, because this was once
a Spanish settlement in a State Of
Spanish speaking people and nearly all
Spanish women smoke, AS to the in
creasing prevalence Of smoking among
society women in the East, / can say