266 Clear Skies and Cloudy. 



do the Friends find fault with me, which is most 

 strange of all. I would an honest jury could try 

 the case, for I think I am more a Foxite than 

 foxy. It is humiliating to think that, having lived 

 for more than half a century in a Quaker atmos- 

 phere, I am still a stranger in a strange land. 



Next is a little packet of five letters, all of 

 which are devoted to the subject of tobacco. 

 Do I use it in any form ? One woman antici- 

 pates my reply by hoping I will not indulge in 

 platitudes on use and abuse of the vile weed, 

 saying, " no one can use it without its abusing 

 the user." It is idle to combat fanaticism. It is 

 best defeated by allowing it to work out its own 

 destruction. "Thee admits being a smoker, so 

 I cannot purchase another of thy books." This 

 seems incredible, but it is true ; and I wonder 

 how many readers would be lost by a tirade 

 against tobacco. Seriously, does the smoke 

 from my cigar travel indefinitely far and offend 

 the nostrils of an unknown correspondent? 

 Why should my example for evil be more 

 potent than that of the individual who finds, or 

 fails to find, his livelihood in other lines of ac- 

 tivity? I have never advised budding man- 



