The Port Gibson reveille., 1916-06-08

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>, But the Puritan colonists in New
England were more strict The IA
nous Connecticut "Blue Laws for
bade anyone under the age of twenty
one to smoke, and no one of any age
could smoke without a license from
the court and physicians certificate
that tobacco would be useful for him.
Under the restoration smoking be-
came questionable, the pipe being
ousted from the stylish world by the
snuff box, although it still continued
universally popular among humber
folk. Smoking was regarded as '1ow'
or provincial until well into the reign
| Of Queen Victoria. When the prince
regent died in 1890, he left not eel
lar Of wine but a cellar of snuff, !"
which was sold to a tobacconist for
$4,000. Lord Petersham, famous
among dandies, made wonderful col
lection of snuffs and snuff boxes, and
was fastidious in his choice of box
to carry. Once when a light Sevres
snuff box which Lord Petersham was
using, was admired, the noble owner
replied, with gentle lisp: Eyes, it
is nice summer box-but would GER
tainly be inappropriate for winter
wear"
The revival of smoking in the fash
ionable world, where tobacco had so
long been in bad oGor except in the
form of snuff, was due tc the intro
duction Of the cigar, imported into
England from Spain and the Spanish
colonies. British officers possibly
brought the cigar back with them from
the peninsular wars. Only a few of
the daring persons Ventured to adopt
the cigar at first, and between 1924
and 1880 there was only wretched
smoking room at the Athenaeum club
in London, Doctor Hawtree, on behalf
Of the house committee, announcing
that mo gentleman smokes" To add
further odious touch to his hideous
dwarf, Quilip, Dickens made him
cigar smoker; Lord Rawdon. in "Yal-
ity Fair" was significantly smoker
of cigars.
However, in the bohemian set, in
Guiding authors and poets, smoking
was common. Carlyle was a great
smoker, and the story is familiar that
one evening he and Tennyson sat for
hours in solemn silence smoking their
pipes, one on each side of the fire.
place; and that, as the visitor arose
to go, Carlyle, biddibg him goodnight,
said: Man, Alfred, we hae had a
graund NIGHT; come again SOON" In
the course Of a trip to Italy with
friends, Tennyson found he could not |
obtain his favorite brand of tobacco, |
packed up his portmanteau and re-
turned home, breaking up the party. |
Charles Lamb remarked that he hoped |
his last breath would be inhaled |
through pipe and exhaled in a pun.
The cigar was aided in reviving the |
habit by the introduction of the first
wooden pipes in England in 1859, and
the first cigarettes in about 1850.
These seem astonishingly recent
dates, but the author vouches for both.
The word "briar" has no connection
with the prickly thorny briar Of Eng
land, but is derived from the French
term, "bruyere," meaning the white
heath plant from the roots of which
the pipes are made.
Laurence Oliphant, man both Of
letters and fashion, is generally cred
tied with having first introduced Gig
arettes into English society. They
became fashionable in about 1870, and
had a revolutionary effect on smoking
among women. Those of the lower
classes had frequently been pipe
smokers, but in society the ladies,
perhaps for physical reasons, never
.ook up either pipe or cigar to any ex-
ent. The cigarettes offered them
nilder and more delicate means of
sharing mans delight in the weed
"In the twentieth century" the
luthor says, tobacco is once more tri-
lmphant. The cycle of 300 years is
complete. Since the early decades Of
he seventeenth century, smoking has
lever been so smiled upon by fashion
IS it is at the present time"
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