Tobacco and Ill-Nature
By S. S. Times
Of all the poor excuses for using tobacco, the most shameless is that of the man who says that he left it off once or twice, but his wife urged him to take it up again, because it made him "so nervous" to be without it; and the wife's added comment is that her husband was "really so ill-natured without his tobacco that there was no living in the house with him." It is bad enough for a poor working woman to be compelled to give "soothing syrup" to her crying baby, so that she can have a quiet time at her washing or sewing; but when a husband is beyond all hope of decency unless his ill-nature is kept within bounds by his being half stupified by the fumes of tobacco, why—well, that tobacco fills its place a great deal better than that husband does his.—S. S. Times.