SOCIAL AND ESTHETIC VIEW. 131 



lady could walk with safety or comfort from her 

 seat to the door." 



"A proper description of the habit of chewing 

 tobacco," says one, " would exhaust the filthy ad- 

 jectives of the language, and spoil the adjectives 

 themselves for further use." 



The old-time English and French gentleman 

 carried around with him his own private spittoon, 

 silver or otherwise, thus gallantly securing a 

 monopoly of that which many a modern gentleman 

 dispenses freely to all. 



In our legislative halls, the ancient snuff-boxes 

 have been largely displaced by the modern spit- 

 boxes, although these are far from sufficient to 

 protect Congressional floors and furniture. This 

 civilized custom of the nineteenth century prevails 

 par excellence in our national capital, making it, 

 according to Dickens, "the headquarters of to- 

 bacco-tinctured saliva." 



Doctor Stanton writes in the Independent : 

 "Enter the chamber of the House, the first thing 

 that greets you is the smoking f nuisance.' See 



the member of Congress from , a clergyman, 



and the son of a clergyman, sitting at his desk, 

 or walking the aisle, smoking and puffing. And 

 why should not he, a young member, smoke, when 

 older members, and scores of them, indulge the 

 habit while engaged in the business of the House ?" 



And the smoke poison borne upward into the 

 faces of the assembled ladies in the galleries ! Can 

 anyone deny that this is barbarism ? 



