p. 738 | Health and Temperance by Cadmet

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Dec 1, 1887

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 13, No. 46.

Health and Temperance.

By Cadmet

OUGHT NOT WOMEN TO SMOKE?

Tobacco smoking is on the increase in the United States. Look, for instance, at Puritan Boston, where half a century ago smoking in the streets was a breach of the law, but where, at the present time, to see men with cigars in their mouths is a matter of course. A quarter of a century ago, a smoking minister of the gospel would have outraged the sentiments of Boston church-goers; now a tolerable number of the ministry are taking to the habit; two of the most prominent of the Boston clergymen are hardly less noted for their smoking than for their sermons; still another Boston preacher is so wedded to the habit that his medical adviser, it is said, thinks his life might be endangered were he to attempt to give it up. There must be, it should seem, some good reason for this great change in sentiment and practice. There ought to be a presumption in favor of a habit practiced by so many men, and gaining ground among those who are supposed to mould public sentiment and conduct in the right direction. Smoking is either an advantage or a disadvantage, a good or an evil, reasonable or unreasonable. If, now, men do not smoke without adequate reason, ought not women also to bear their part in this progressive movement?

In order to be able to answer this question correctly, the chief reasons given for men's smoking should be thoughtfully considered: 1. It is said that smoking is soothing to the nerves. It is thought that tobacco quiets the system when it has been overtaxed physically or mentally. The excitements of modern life make some such sedative influence especially helpful. But the tax of modern life upon the nerves of women is even greater than upon those of men. And the nervous system of women is more highly and delicately strung than that of men. Whose nerves are overtaxed more than those of the mother of a family? Who requires the sedative, soothing effect of a good cigar more than she? Our women are every year in increasing numbers succumbing to nervous disorders; ought they not without delay to seek relief from the calming, renovating virtues of tobacco?

2. Again, it is said, on the other hand, that smoking stimulates the nerves; that it acts as a tonic, and is especially fitted to quicken the system when exhausted by protracted mental effort. If this is true of men, it is equally true of women, especially of highly educated women. Fear is nowadays sometimes entertained that the increased demands made upon the mental activity of our modern girls may impair their constitutions. Would they not find in smoking that which should counteract this danger? Might it not be well to introduce the use of cigars into our colleges for girls, as, it is reported, has already, to a limited extent, been done by some of the students of one of these colleges?

3. It is alleged that smoking preserves the teeth. But women, too, have teeth.

4. It is maintained that smoking is agreeable. Probably more men smoke because they like to smoke than for all the other reasons taken together. But women no less than men like to do what they like to do. It may possibly be objected that women do not like to smoke. Well, admit that American women do not yet, as a rule, like to smoke, still this is not true of all women; many Russian and Italian women, for example, enjoy smoking intensely. The question is, Could not and should not American women learn to like smoking? Is there any less reason why they, than why men, should learn to like it? For men have to learn to like it, and many men always dislike it. Most men dislike it at first, as anyone may infer from the aspect of a youth smoking his virgin cigar. Observe the expression on his pallid face as he staggers to bed after his first attempt to practice this manly habit, and any impartial person will say that he does not look as if he liked it. We all ought to learn to like many things which at first, and in themselves, are disagreeable. The question is simply this: Is the loathing of tobacco the healthy aversion of every pure, unperverted human being—an instinct which is not overcome without incurring physical and moral damage—or is it a mere silly prejudice which men and women alike should train themselves to conquer?

Besides these reasons, which are the chief ones usually adduced for men's smoking, there are some reasons why the habit is even more fitting for women than for men: 1. Smoking requires but little physical strength. It can be prosecuted assiduously without violent exertion. It is thus peculiarly suited to the weaker sex. The feeblest girl can lie on a lounge or in a hammock and puff cigars. No over-anxious mother nor medical fanatic need have the slightest dread that she will thereby either overstrain her muscles or overtax her brain; she incurs no danger of becoming by this means either a drudge or a blue-stocking. Having once learned the art, she can smoke as easily as she can breathe. 2. Smoking is a private enjoyment, and is thus peculiarly adapted to the private and domestic life led by the great majority of women. In social and business circles the pleasure may be often interrupted; it can never be so thoroughly and keenly and continuously enjoyed as in solitude, or in a small circle of congenial participants. And in this respect the ordinary life of women affords great facilities for successfully cultivating the habit of smoking. When the husband has gone to his business and the children are at school, what opportunities a woman has for the enjoyment of cigars, as she sits quietly alone at home, busy with her needle, or nursing the baby! Consider, too, that, by reason of this comparative privacy, women are not so liable as men to be puffing tobacco smoke into the nose and mouth of those unfortunate wights who will not, or even cannot, learn to like to breathe and swallow it.

Another very strong argument for the wives of smokers to conform to this habit is found in the consideration that they would thus promote family unity. This argument is so wide-reaching that it is impossible in limited space to do full justice to it. But one or two hints may be given. As already implied, both men and women who have never learned to smoke are often afflicted with a great dislike to the smell of tobacco. Many suffer severely from headache or from nausea if they are even for a short time subjected to the powerful odor. But those who once learn to smoke, and are thoroughly inoculated with the weed, generally cease to experience these discomforts. Now many wives find themselves seriously discommoded by the smoking of their husbands; but all these much-enduring wives might, by merely cultivating the habit of smoking, transform their trial into a delight. And how much the enjoyment of an affectionate husband would be enhanced if his wife could only lay aside her prejudices and dislikes and participate in his pleasure! And would not his temptation to resort for recreation to the club-room or the saloon be greatly lessened by this means? Might it not add a fresh charm to the atmosphere of a sweet, pure home, if, on his return to it at evening, his wife could come to greet him having her

garments filled with the fragrance of his favorite cigar; if she could reciprocate his tobacco-scented kiss; and if she could sit by his side and seek in harmony with him to smother in smoke the cares of a weary day?

Again, the prejudice against tobacco on the part of many women is in reference to the training of the sons, often a fruitful source of family disquietude. The mother thinks smoking a disagreeable, wasteful, injurious practice, and would like to have her boys abstain from it; but 'Papa smokes' is the irrefutable answer to any suggestion she may venture to make that it would be well for them to avoid the practice. If mamma smoked also, that house would not be divided against itself, but would stand firm for tobacco. It is not necessary to multiply such illustrations, for it is well known that many heads of families, in other respects united, are diametrically opposed on the tobacco question, and the disturbances of family harmony and happiness which spring directly and indirectly from this single source are innumerable. The remedy seems to be as easy as the fact is frequent: Let all wives of smokers become smokers themselves. If the husband has chosen the course which is pleasantest, wisest, and best, do not wisdom and duty alike dictate that the wife should pursue it also?

From what has been said it appears to be plain that if smoking is a real good, the reasons for it are even stronger for women than for men—unless, indeed, an exception is granted in the case of clergymen. The ministry, as those who should be leaders in every good work and exemplars of all noble and worthy habits, are, it may indeed be admitted, under especial and peculiar obligation to maintain a right theory and practice with reference to the tobacco question. But second only to that of the ministry should seem to be the obligation of women to smoke, provided that it be once assumed that smoking is the reasonable, becoming, and excellent habit which its frequency and increase among men who profess to have an educated conscience might seem to imply.—Cadmet, in Congregationalist.