54 ^ LECTURE ON TOBACCO. 



every man to do as he likes is not freedom, — nor anything 

 else, for it is an impossibility.* Lawlessness and anarchy 

 are not freedom ; and for the strong to oppress the weak 

 is tyranny. Freedom co-exists with the observance of 

 laws, written or unwritten, which do WTong to none, and 

 which promote " the greatest good of the greatest num- 

 ber." If any one compels another to do that which he is 

 not lawfully bound to do, he so far robs him of his free- 

 dom. When, in the old drinking days, a host would lock 

 the door, and tell his guests that no one should leave the 

 room till all his wine was drunk, that was a tyrannical as 

 well as a disgusting usage. When bullying workmen have 

 forced their comrades to drink, that was tyrannical. Is it 

 a less tyranny when we are compelled to smoke ? The 

 Temperance movement has secured liberty for those who 

 have moral courage to assert it, when they do not choose 

 to drink intoxicants. If an abstainer is in a room with 

 drinkers, he may disapprove of what they are doing, and 

 if they drink to excess, he may be in danger from them ; 

 but what is in their cups does not go down his throat. If 

 he is in the company of tobacco-chewers, their spitting 

 habits may disgust him, and perhaps imperil his clothes ; 

 but he is not forced to chew. But if he is among smok- 

 ers, he is compelled to be smoked, if not to smoke ; and 

 even when pipes and cigars have gone out of sight, they 

 may not be out of smell. The nuisance which smokers 

 cause does not pass away with them. Railway carriages, 

 in which they had no right, retain the stale smell which 

 they have left. If an ill-mannered passenger puts his 

 dirty feet on a cushion, the dirt may rub off when it is dry ; 

 but who can brush out the ill odor of tobacco? It clings 

 to cloth, as those know who employ a smoking tailor, or 

 whose clothes are narcotized by smoking companions. 



