The Ordway new era., 1920-06-04

>n fascination of sufficient
mystery to induce considerable specula-
tfOn.
My Lady Nicotine's Influence is not
always soothing. Like all great per-
sonages she has made enemies. Men
begun to fight owe. her a long. long
while ago. and only the other day the
newspapers told of the first of pos
sible recurrence of the night raiders
Outrages In Kentucky. Urban VIII and
Innocent NJ Illuminated against her.
Sultan Amuret ~ decreed death by tor
ture to her devotees. James l of Eng
land Issued his "Counterblaste to To-
baccO," In which he denounced her as
n creature of the pit that is bottom
less" Lucy Page CASTOR of Anti-Ciga-
rette League of America fame is sus-
pected of desire to shy her bonnet
into the presidential ring. Low on the
horizon. no bigger than woman's
hand, Is cloud which rumbles ito
bncco next"
Possibly some of My Lady Nicotine's
famous devotees have loved her for
the enemies she has made. Anyway.
Spenser wrote of her as divine" BY
ron said sublime" Lamb declared his
affection thus:
For thy sake. tobacco.
Would do anything but die.
Buiwer-Lytton wrote this: 1.-THE man
who smokes thinks like sage and acts
like Samaritan" Kipling profoundly
reflects that 81 woman is only a WON
an, but a good cigar is smoke"
Mark Twain suspects that the man who
doesn't smoke loses IAN appalling az
greeate Of happiness"
This sort of worshiper clings to the
heresy that this is 4 pretty good old
world after nll. He isn't worrying
about spirit manifestations and Is not
concerned over the doctrine of the sub
liminal soul. He suspects Lucy Page
CASTOR of being spiritual descendant
of the Puritans who condemned bear
batting not so much because 1t gave
pain to the benr as because 1t gave
pleasure to the spectators.
'When doctors disagree who shall
decideT The doctors nre us divided
in their opinion of My Lady Nicotine
as are the literary lights. Some see
in her a veritable plague to humanity.
Others maintain that she Is rather n
benefactor. OF course most physicians
hold TINT smoking is bad for young
and growing specimens of the human
species. And probably most of them
are not prepared to advise that women
should smoke. And there are certainly
some men who cannot smoke without
I'll effects-just MS there are men who
-, IT. ,yrI,,l
without harm. A cold hath In the
morning Is meat md drink to some
men; It would put others under the
sod In short order. Probably the mn
iority of up-to-dnte medical men are
of the opinion that II has yet to he
proved that smoking In moderation
hurts any normal man.
At one extreme of human judgment
is that Of the man who wrote that n
nation which smokes tobacco perishes,
At the other Ia that of the man who
predicted In 1918 that America would
win the war because 1t was the heav-
lest smoker Of all the nations.
My Lady Nicotine needs no press
agent and has no trouble about break
ing into print. Some enthusiastic col
lectors Of "Nicotania" have whole
libraries about her. There is one
George Arents. Jr., Of New York
who Is the proud possessor of more
than $500 hooks. booklets and pam
phiets devoted wholly or In part to
her. These libraries tell pretty much
everything nbout the lady.
No European ever heard Of tobacco
until the first week of November. 1902.
The commonly accepted version of the
story is that two sailors sent by Co
lumbus to explore the island which he
named San Salvador returned with n
tale Of natives who carried firebrands