218 TOBACCO. 



the susrsrestion is ventured that the omission of 

 the clause w to strive earnestly " would render the 

 report more terse and effective. We must re- 

 member, however, that the various Presbyterian 

 bodies are more conservative than some other de- 

 nominations, — a fact borne out in the Cumberland 

 General Assembly at Austin, Texas, where a 

 resolution condemning all ministerial use of tobacco 

 was fully discussed, but unfortunately was finally 

 laid on the table. 



At a Baptist General Convention, in a Western 

 city, the subject of tobacco was ably presented, 

 and a resolution passed deprecating its use. 



Professor Hovey, of the Xewton Theological 

 Seminary, writes: "For many years past there 

 have been very few of our students who have used 

 tobacco. The Northern Baptist Educational Soci- 

 ety has adopted a rule which prevents it from fur- 

 nishing pecuniary assistance to any student who 

 uses the weed ; and, so far as I am informed, 

 there is no fault found with the Society for taking 

 this stand." 



Great reason as we have for deploring the gen- 

 eral low public sentiment on this subject, we 

 would not ignore the fact that, in certain respects, 

 there is a manifest improvement. A well-known 

 gentleman, son of one of our excellent Xew Eng- 

 land pastors, writes of the custom that prevailed 

 in his boyhood : " When the Berkshire Association 

 of thirty ministers was to meet at my father's, I 

 was sent to the store for two quarts of Jamaica, 



