Evening journal., 1910-08-08
CIGARETTES
AT DINNER
Women in Washington Smoke
Without Causing Much
Comment
FOREIGNERS SET The
EXAMPLE AT CAPITAL

BY United Press Leased Special Wire.
WASHINGTON, Aug. SIN this city.
where society is tinged with the for
eign habits of the diplomatic set, and
whore cigarette smoking is SO COM
mon among society women that it Is
no longer a matter Of much comment,
there is a strong feeling that the anti
cigarette crusaders have been unfair
in directing their criticism at one or
two individual women smokers. Among
the clergy Eone could be found to-day
to defend or condone the practice. but
there was general opinion that re-
cent criticism has been unjust in a
personal way.
The practice, il was pointed out. was
not confined TO any especial few, but
was quite general among fashionable
women. AS a regular feature of prac-
tically every ultra-fashionable dinner
party here, cigarettes are usually pro-
vided for the women. The old-fash-
ioned idea OF the women leaving the
men at the table TO smoke their cigars
has almost entirely disappeared. as
now the men have their cigarettes and
liquor In one room aud the women
have theirs in another. When the
occasion is informal and the company
is intimate IL is not extraordinary for
the women 10 smoke at the table with
| the men.
Women Have Cigarette Cases.
A cigarette case as a feature of the
fashionable woman's chatelaif,e is not
a sufficient rarity here ~ attract atten-
tion. AT a recent aniateur theatrical
performance a purse was stolen from
a prominent feminine member of tho
younger set" The loss was adver-
tised in the papers. and among the
contents of the purse was mentioned
a ieweled cigarette case. The nam'
! of the owner was given without an
apparent thought of embarrassing
All the fashionable,ie Jewellers here c1l
d. a large stock of wSmens ciT
"a cases. AS presents fronismcn III
~ quite common - III
~ - Foreign Women smoke. -.
u Il IS not a rare sight 10 see II
wife Of foreign diplomat sm0kir
complacently as she sits on the Law
4 of her home on q pleasant evenin
~ Some foreign women, prominent her
=,
~ Though these facts put the Washint
ton situation in light differ...t froi
that I'm other American cities, tn
local clergy fail TO find any defens
for the habit
I'm the habit of cigarette smoking
Z among women is to my mind a thor
4 oughly pernici0us one from any stand
point" said Canon Austin, OF st
Thomas Episcopal Church to-day
"As 10 cigarettes, / personal dislike
them and when a man does smoke.
should prefer his using the hOmely
pipe. In women the habit of cigarette
smoking is to be more strongly con-
demned than in men because of their
higher standing In the social scale"
Habit Obnoxious Says Priest.
Father Eugene Harmon. of the
Church of The Immaculate Concep-
tion was equally severe i'm his crit
icism of the cigarette habit among
women. He said
| 'The habit is obnorious all around.
and In women, despite the fact that
the law, from a gospel standpoint is
the same for both sexes. Cigarette
smoking is worse than with men be-
cause of the example they set So
ciety demands a different ethical code
for women, for It's own protection. II
is worse for a woman TO smoke in
public than i'm her boudoir. BY this
= do not mean that il is not a thor
! oughly bad habit for them to practice
even in private. but / simply wish tc
show that It is the bad example OF
. a woman smoking that makes the
. habit worse with them.