Literary Men And The Pipe

The following from Edmuud Yates "Recollections" appeared in a Londoi periodif-al : "Mr. Gladstone 'detests' to bao: Mr. Matthew Aruold 'abuses it; Mr. Ruskin hates the man whc 'pollutes the pure air of the mornmjj with cigar smoke. ' But are we not con soled for the abstiiience of these greal men by the devotion of others of erninence? Thackeray once declared that h dirt aot desp lir to see a 'bishop lolling ont "f the Atheneum ■with a cheroot ir I uth, or, at any rate, a pipe stucï in li ■ liovel hat. ' But if we have not 3 ug bishop, we have a smoking poel laure.ue (alluding to the late Lord Ten nysou), familiar with tobáceos, Latakia Connecticut leaf, Perique, Lone Jack Michigan, Killicinick, Highlander 'o any of the English brands. ' "How did he take the gentle weed At his f eet was a box of white clay pipes. Filling 0,11e of these, he snickcd until il was enipty, brokö it in twain and throM the fragmonts into a box prepared foi tlieir reception. Then he tor k. uiothei pipe from its straw or wooúeñ inclo6m-e, fllled it and destroyed it, as bef ore. For years Professor Huxley, like Charles Lanib, toiled af ter tobáceo 'as some mei) after virtue. ' At a certain debate on smoking he told the story of his early strnggles in a way which utterly put the antitobacconists to confusión. " 'For 40 years of my life, ' he said, 'tobáceo had been a deadly poison te me. [Loud cheers from the antitobacconists. J In my youth, as a medical student, I trieíl to p.moke. In vain ! At eveiy fresh attfr.:pt my insidious foe strptfhed me proutrate onthefloor. [Repeated clieers. ] I enteved the na. Again 1 tried to smoko and again met Withdefeat. I h..rod tobáceo. Ioouldalmost have ! üt ;: .y support tó any institntiou that liad C r tts Kjc ■, i1 e putting of tol. erstodeath. [Vociferoua öheering ! " 'A few years ago I v;r.s m Bri with soir.e fríen ':. V,'" om 1 Theybegan to si happy, and out! c?.e ;t. vrn vcïy vi dismal. I try a [Murmurs. ] Ji'.rlsn. [Great espectiv tioas. I smokcrl thñ,t c,'gí r - ' licions. fQ-roays. ] From that raoment 1 was a chauged oan, and I now foei tliaf Smoking in mo icration ir, a comfQrtabl6 and laudable practico r.rl is productive of goíid. [Dismay and confusión of the autitubucoonists. Roars of laughter from the smokers. ] " 'There is no more harm in a pipe than there is in a cup of tea. You may poison yoursolf by drinking too much green tea or kill yourself by eating too mair? beefsteaks. For my own part, I considei that tobáceo in moderation is a sweetenei aad equalizer of the temper.' [Total rout of the antitobacconists and com plete triumph of the smokers. ]"