238 TOBACCO. 



sacrifice, but out of it, and in spite of it, if it ascends 

 at all. Age should purge away the grossness of 

 the flesh, should stand on tiptoe in the physical 

 world, and, like a bursting chrysalis, hold the 

 wings of faith astir. The best that can be said 

 for tobacco under such conditions is, that it is the 

 expiring appetite of an expiring body ; one not 

 held in subjection by the spirit, but one that has 

 subjected the spirit to itself. The only fortune 

 that remains to such a one is the fortune of escap- 

 ing from himself. We can conceive of no refining 

 process, that fits one as pure gold for a New 

 Jerusalem, that would not quickly, at the very 

 outset, refine away this habit. The Kiver of Life 

 does not flow through a tobacco field." 



