MY LADY OF THE NICOTINE.

Daily Chronicle, September 30, 1903
 

¹ [Smoking is on the increase among women.]

In days not long departed,
 In very recent years,
Crusades the ladies started
 Against the weed that cheers.
And men would in the blues be,
 When, like some tragic “star,”
She ordered them “to choose be-
 tween me and your cigar.”

But now, the matter gaily
 They’re treating as a joke;
My wife, for instance, daily
 Enjoys a thoughtful smoke.
The process isn’t graceful;
 Beauty it tends to mar:
But still she keeps her case full.
 She likes a sound cigar.

And on my natal morn I
 Approve these curious deeds;
No longer with forlorn eye
 I scan her birthday weeds;
Nor need I now destroy them:
 We’ve “changé tout cela.”
I find I can enjoy them:
 She buys a good cigar.

And so contented, happy,
 Through life we jog along;
We’re never cross and snappy,
 Things don’t keep going wrong.
Our life is one of pleasure,
 Quite free from tiff and jar.
That wife’s indeed a treasure
 Who knows a good cigar.

P. G. W. 

“Women Smokers Increased Alarmingly. A Suggested Crusade. Despite all the serious things that have been written and said by medical authorities and sociologists about the rapidly-spreading evil of cigarettes smoking among women there is every sign that woman is becoming more and more addicted to the vice. The writer has made exhaustive inquiries into the extent to which women smoke in different classes of society and has discovered that the evil exists among shop girls, domestic servants and factory girls. When one considers that this class forms perhaps the most numerous portion of the female population, it is a matter for grave thought how this insidious habit is to be checked. Surely woman cannot become an inveterate smoker and retain her delicacy.” (Evening Telegraph, September 24, 1903)

—John Dawson