A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco: and the Necessity of Immediate and Entire ReformationFowler, Orin
Science
A Disquisition on the Evils of Using Tobacco: and the Necessity of Immediate and Entire Reformation
Fowler, Orin
Tobacco use
To the ladies, it would hardly seem necessary to say a word, in order to
secure their aid in a reform that so intimately concerns themselves. In
this matter, as in the vice of intemperance, woman, though comparatively
innocent, is by far the greatest sufferer. With what a melancholy
prospect does a young lady marry a man who uses the filthy plant in any
form. He may _at first_ do it in a neat, or even a genteel manner, and
neutralize the sickening odor by the most grateful perfumes; but this
trouble will soon be dispensed with, and in all probability he will, at
no distant day, become a sloven, with his garments saturated with smoke,
and himself steeped in tobacco juice. Alas, to think of being annoyed a
life-time by the nauseous odor of the vile tobacco worm, and of wasting
patience and strength in vain endeavors to preserve neatness in his
slimy trail! Little can be accomplished in this, or any other reform,
without the aid of females. Let them take hold of the subject, and exert
their legimate influence, and public opinion will soon be corrected;
young men and old too, will soon learn that by no rule in the code of
politeness and good breeding, can the use of tobacco be tolerated.
A word to dealers. How can a man who regards the morals, the happiness
and the prosperity of his neighborhood and his country, deal out so
useless, so filthy, and so injurious an article as tobacco? Many will of
course, excuse themselves by saying as the rum-sellers once did, "If I
don't sell it, others will," This plea did not justify the rum-seller,
neither will it, the dealer in tobacco. Others will say, "I _must_ sell
it, or I shall offend my patrons and lose their custom." But this is not
valid even as a selfish argument. A large and increasing portion of the
community would be glad to patronize traders who sell only the useful
and necessary articles of life. Let respectable traders cease to sell
the article, and respectable customers would soon cease to buy it.
The abominable filthiness of the practice of using tobacco, is a
sufficient argument to induce all decent people to wage war against it.
Stage coaches, rail cars, steamboats, public houses, courts of justice,
halls of legislation, and the temples of God, are all defiled by the
loathsome consumers of this dirty, Indian herb. For the sake of decency,
for the honor of humanity, let the land be purified from this worse than
beastly pollution!
Let none be discouraged from engaging in this reform, because it relates
to a wide-spread and fashionable vice. With a moderate degree of effort
in each town and village, hundreds of thousands might in one year's
time, be induced to pledge themselves against all use of tobacco.
During the last winter I drew up the following pledge, and obtained many
signatures here and in other parts of the state.
ANTI-TOBACCO PLEDGE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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