THREE travelers, one of whom is an American, were in Abyssinia recently. One afternoon, after their midday coffee, they lit cigars. Hardly had they done so when an official, who was passing, informed them through an interpreter that smoking was prohibited in that country, and that it would be well for them not to indulge in the practise in public. The travelers took the hint. The use of tobacco, they learned afterward, had been prohibited in Abyssinia since the year 1642. At that time priests were in the habit of smoking in churches, and the main object of the law then passed was to stop this practise. After a few years, however, the law was made applicable to all classes of the people, and to-day strangers in Abyssinia are politely informed that if they want to smoke they must go where none of the natives can see them or smell the seductive weed.—San Francisco Chronicle.