SOCIAL AND ^ESTHETIC VIEW. 129 



from the minister's sanctum you are forced to beat 

 a hasty retreat. 



You seek refuge in the church. It has got there 

 before you ; indeed, it may have seized the pulpit 

 itself. Think of the incongruities to which this 

 has led ! For instance, a clergyman, giving out a 

 portion of the Psalms, took occasion, while his 

 hearers were opening their Bibles, to steal a hasty 

 pinch of snuff, and then read, "My soul cleaveth 

 unto the dust." 



Hospitably inclined, you open your pew-door to 

 a stranger. He no sooner enters than you repent 

 of your good deed ; for with him enters such an 

 offensive odor that all your comfort in the service 

 vanishes. 



You come out of a concert or lecture-hall, and 

 in the passage-ways are well-nigh choked with 

 tobacco fumes ; but you are wedged in among the 

 crowd and must abide your time. 



You visit your honored Alma Mater. After the 

 grand Commencement dinner, and sometimes even 

 before it is through, you find yourself enveloped 

 in clouds of smoke, which enwreathe alike the 

 youngest graduates, the oldest alumni, and the 

 most respected professors. 



Stopping transiently at some boarding-house, 

 you go to your room, and have occasion to open a 

 drawer. There rushes forth an offensive stench 

 that almost knocks you down. It is as if the 

 long-imprisoned ghosts of a thousand cigars were 

 struggling to escape. 



