SOCIAL AND ESTHETIC VIEW. 141 



times during the last fifteen years ; I have chosen 

 my passage on the vessels of nearly every line 

 which plies between Xew York and Liverpool, and 

 on a number of vessels of some of them ; and I 

 distinctly aver that the smoking-rooms are the 

 centre of demoralization and offensiveness, and this 

 is on the increase, summer after summer, as the 

 travel increases." 



The very literature of the day is tinged and 

 flavored, and sometimes saturated, with tobacco. 

 Many a hero in our most popular novels is made 

 to luxuriate in the elegant accomplishment of 

 smoking. "He gracefully knocks the ashes from 

 his cigar." " With gentlemanly ease he enjoys at 

 once his smoking and her conversation." 



In a serial by a favorite, and, in the main, high- 

 toned, young novelist, issued in one of our first- 

 class magazines, we find the following: "The 

 discussions, it was observed, were always more en- 

 joyable when the Professor, having his easy-chair 

 placed in exactly the right position with regard to 

 light and fire, found himself with his cigar in hand 

 carefully smoking it and making the most of its 

 aroma. His tranquil enjoyment of and respect for 

 the rite were agreeable things to see. f It soothes 

 me,' he would say. f It even inspires and ele- 

 vates me. I feel as if I had discovered a new 

 sense. I am really quite grateful." 1 



Another of our charming writers, in connection 

 with one of his characters, speaks of the " fra- 

 grance of admirable cigars, that active and passive 



