176 TOBACCO. 



or annoyance on many, in order that he may 

 enjoy in a particular place an indulgence which 

 could as well be enjoyed where no one else would 

 be affected by it, be not a blackguard, who can be? 

 What conduct would indicate bad breeding and a 

 bad heart, if such conduct does not?" 



Something, however, should be said in behalf of 

 the smoker. In the universal practice of what is 

 the joy of his heart, and in the ready tolerance, if 

 not actual encouragement, of some of our own sex, 

 it is not altogether strange that he becomes incred- 

 ulous as to the ofTensiveness of his deed. More 

 than this, it is one of the tendencies of tobacco to 

 blunt the sensibilities. In a recent lecture on this 

 narcotic, R. L. Carpenter, of England, dwells em- 

 phatically on its peculiar influence in rendering its 

 devotees indifferent to the discomfort of others. 

 fr The high-bred nobleman who is the slave of to- 

 bacco is, in that respect," he says, "not above the 

 smoker who blacks his boots." 



From an article in the London Times, in Sep- 

 tember, 1879, the following pertinent remarks are 

 taken : v There is a reason against public smoking, 

 — perhaps, in effect, against all smoking. — which 

 has scarcely received sufficient recognition. It is 

 the absolute indifference to the comfort and con- 

 venience of societv at lar^e that it is certain to 

 produce. The smoker does not care whether you 

 are happy or miserable. . . . Smokers monopolize 

 for more than their share of our railway accommo- 

 dation. Their exigency knows no limits. A 



