SOCIAL AND ^ESTHETIC VIEW. 179 



Bulwer writes : " Woman in this scale, the weed 

 in that. Jupiter, hang out thy balance and weigh 

 them both ; and if thou give the preference to 

 woman, all I can say is, the next time Juno ruffles 

 thee, O Jupiter, try the weed." 



"The fact is," says Thackeray, "the cigar is a 

 rival to the ladies, and their conqueror, too." 



" What is the real attraction of these gorgeous 

 establishments?" inquired some one of a gentle- 

 man, entering a new club-house on Fifth Avenue, 

 New York. And what was the graceful and gal- 

 lant reply? "No woman can enter them. Once 

 within these sacred walls, we are safe from every- 

 thing that wears a petticoat." "Are we getting to 

 be Turks?" the narrator adds. "The Turks shut 

 women in, Ave shut them out." No wonder that 

 Parton writes, " There is something in the practice 

 of smoking that allies a man with barbarians, and 

 constantly tends to make him think and talk like 

 a barbarian." 



Is such a disintegration and degradation of soci- 

 ety in this nineteenth century of the world a thing 

 to glory in ? 



Sure I am that, were the tobacco-problem fully 

 comprehended, every true woman would cease to 

 condone so grave an offence, — an offence which 

 puts in jeopardy the health, not only of the wrong- 

 doer, but, in a greater or less degree, that of his 

 whole family ; which tends to lower its aesthetic 

 and social tone, and involves a lengthening train 

 of discomforts and miseries. 



