Correspondents and Critics. 267 



hood to commence the use of tobacco, and 

 would banish cigarettes from the world, per- 

 haps fanaticism on my part, but it is simply 

 silly for well-intentioned fanatics to ask grown 

 men to cease to do that which does them no 

 harm because youth may follow in their foot- 

 steps on reaching years of discretion. I feel 

 that I am venturing a little too far, am treading 

 on treacherous ground and calling down ven- 

 geance on my head when I suggest that a little 

 too much stress is put upon this matter of ex- 

 posure to temptation. Any youth of any intel- 

 lect worthy the name knows that he is playing 

 with fire when he reaches the age at which the 

 so-called temptations become such to him, and 

 downfall means full often merely a weak intel- 

 lect, for however " brainy" a man may be, he 

 is intellectually weak if he cannot draw the line 

 between use and abuse. My feeling is, that 

 while it may be very noble to be self-sacrificing, 

 the fact has not been established that the world 

 has evolved in this direction. It may turn to 

 such a channel, but before it does I must con- 

 tinue to offend some queer correspondents by 

 indulging in an occasional good cigar. 



