death the first time; and oh, how terrible it was! And how alone she felt as she knelt there, sobbing softly! She did not see Mrs. Ashton making mysterious signs to some of the other servants who stole in; she did not even hear the whispered consultations about "closing his eyes and finding some coins to weight that went on, till the housekeeper touched her on the shoulder. "Miss Grace, hadn't you better get to bed? You must go from here-indeed you must, miss.” Grace allowed herself to be helped from her knees, and then she said, quietly: "Thank you; you can leave me now. will go to my sister." I Quite alone the young girl walked down the long, dark passage, then up to her own room, without one idea of fear. All such feelings had disappeared, swallowed up in the great shock and the great sorrow she had just gone through. Instead of turning into her own little chamber, she entered Sibyl's room. There was a light still burning there, for the girl had been afraid of being left alone in the dark; but she had not been able to keep awake, and now slept peacefully in her small white bed. How pretty she looked in her sleep! The soft, round, oval cheek rested on one outstretched arm, whilst over the other was flung her mass of golden hair. "Why should I wake her?" thought Grace, seeing her sister sleeping so quietly. "She is happy now; and when she wakes -oh, if only Nan had been here, she would have told me what to do!" But Nan was not here; there was no one but the servants and the silent form of the dead master. Once more Grace knelt down, only this time it was by Sibyl's bed; and she thought and thought of all her life—that life that was so much bound up with her father's. Apart from him, she could not imagine what her existence could be. Not that this father had ever been very much of a companion to his daughters; but still he had always arranged everything for them. His will had been their law. Beyond him, and outside him, Grace felt that she was ignorant of life, of the world, of everything. The wind beat less fiercely now against the house; there was a lull in the fury of the storm. This, perhaps, helped to quiet the poor, tired child; and without knowing how it came to pass, she suddenly fell asleep in her kneeling position. When she woke the candle had gone out, and it was very cold; but as she started up and went to the window, hardly knowing what she was doing, she saw that a faint light was visible. It must be morning! How stiff and weary she was! Why was she here? Then all at once she remembered everything, and, with a smothered sob, she hastily left Sibyl's room, and entering her own, lit a candle, determined to go back to her father's side. The house was quite quiet now; no opening or shutting of doors, no stealthy steps in the passage. When she reached the door, her hand shook; she hardly dared turn the handle; but she found that the chamber had been locked. With trembling fingers she unlocked it and entered. The place was empty of human beings save for the corpse that lay on the bed, stiff and straight, under a linen sheet. "They left him alone," thought Grace, reproachfully. "No one cared to stay here. They should have told me." She placed the candle on the table, turned back the sheet, and gazed at the features of her father. They were so calm, so quiet and peaceful, so unlike what he had been in life, that she almost started. He "He looks so gentle," she thought"not impatient or angry with us. must be happy now-dear, dear father! If only I could have understood what he wanted to tell me! But it does not matter now; he knows I would have done all I could for him-yes, everything." Then Grace took a chair, and sat down quietly with her hands folded, patiently waiting for the day. This morning, however, the servants were taking a holiday after the unusual events of the night. There was no one to order them about, no one to see after the household, so the household took French leave and saw after itself. Even Sibyl did not wake till quite late, so that it was a long, long time before Mrs. Ashton, opening the door of the dead master's room, saw his daughter sitting by him, pale as death herself, but watching patiently, with her hands clasped and her eyes red with crying. Lor, Miss Grace, what a turn you gave me! You should not be here-indeed you shouldn't!" "I did not like father to be left alone,” said Grace, simply, at which words Mrs. Ashton made a little exclamation of disapproval. Now he was dead, the master was of very little consequence; and though his people did not actually dislike him, not one could feel any real regret that he was gone." "There's Miss Sibyl's rung for her hot water as if nothing had happened, Miss Grace. Hadn't you better tell her ?" "Yes, yes, I must tell her; no one else must," said Grace, looking frightened. The living wanted her, and for that reason alone she must forsake her post. As she walked out into the passage, she noticed that it was a fine, calm, frosty morning. The storm had come and gone, and sunshine was going to take its place. But to Grace it mattered very little what the weather was, now that her father was dead. "Dead" she repeated. “What can death mean? Where is he?" THE "DIVINE WEED." IN TWO PARTS. PART II. BEFORE proceeding further, it might be convenient to refer shortly to the question 'Ought women to smoke?" Personally I am inclined to say, "Let women please themselves." Really it is only a matter of sentiment after all. We know that many an old dame, whose gums are destitute of teeth, takes great delight in smoking a churchwarden-curiously enough these old ladies do not fancy wood or meerschaum pipes, nor do I remember ever observing one luxuriating on an occasional cigar. In the secure seclusion of their boudoir we do know that young and beautiful ladies are addicted to puffing their cigarettes, and idly watching the fragrant smoke ascend. At least so it is said; I have never peeped behind the scenes, and do not know that I have any ambition in that direction. But seeing that "Woman, lovely woman," is doing her best to become a worker, and to oust men from the professions, why, if she wishes, should she not put on continuations and become more manly still by declaring herself to be a cigarette smoker? One thing is certain she is never likely to smoke a dirty black dudheen. A visitor to Cape Verde Islands states that on one occasion his hostess was smoking a cigarette, when suddenly she drew it from her lips and offered it to him. Though somewhat startled, he accepted it with the best grace that he could command, and upon subsequent inquiries found that it was considered among the islanders one of the greatest compliments a lady could pay to a gentleman, To an old lady who was addicted to the use of tobacco, Tom Brown wrote: "MADAM, Though the ill-natured world censures you for smoking, yet I would advise you, madam, not to part with so innocent a diversion. In the first place, it is healthful, and, as Galen rightly observes, is a sovereign remedy for the toothache, the constant persecutor of old ladies; secondly, tobacco, though it be a heathenish weed, is a great help to Christian meditations, which is the reason, I suppose, that recommends it to your parsons, the generality of whom can no more write a sermon without a pipe in their mouths than a Concordance in their hands. Besides, every pipe you break may serve to put you in mind of mortality, and show you upon what slender accidents man's life depends. I knew a dissenting minister who, on fast days, used to mortify upon a rump of beef, because it put him, as he said, in mind that all flesh was grass; but I am sure much more is to be learnt from tobacco. It may instruct you that riches, beauty, and all the glories of the world vanish like a vapour; thirdly, it is a pretty plaything; fourthly, and lastly, it is fashionable-at least, 'tis in a fair way of becoming so. Cold tea, you know, has been a long while in reputation at Court, and the gill as naturally ushers in the pipe as the sword-bearer walks before the Lord Mayor." The Rev. J. Townsend, M. A., in a "Journey through Spain in the years 1786 and 1787," says: "A tradesman of the place (Luanjo) had cut his little portion of tobacco, and rolled it up carefully in a strip of paper, making a cigar about the size of a goose-quill; he had doubled back, and carefully pinched the ends; then, with mature deliberation, taking up his steel and his little bit of 'amadou ('boletus igniarius') he struck a light, kindled his cigar, began to smoke, and, finding it work well, he presented it to the Countess (Penalba). She bowed, and took it, smoked it half out, and returned it to him again. After she had done with it, and joined in the conversation, in a few minutes she opened her mouth, and sent out a cloud of smoke. She saw my surprise, and asked the cause of it. I told her; and immediately the person who was smoking drew in some hearty whiffs, then opened his mouth, to convince me that nothing continued there, and after many minutes, breathed out volumes of smoke. This is their common mode of smoking; and, without making it pass through their lungs, they think it useless." Leaving the ladies, it will be convenient at this stage to see how smokers have been treated in other countries in the past. In Russia, according to Dean Stanley, it was long a departure from every sound principle of Church and State to smoke tobacco. The Czars ordered that every one caught smoking should lose his nose; and if the offence were frequently repeated, his head a drastic enough remedy in all conscience. Peter the Great, however, held different views, and he resolved, for commercial reasons, to force tobacco on the Russians, and asked whether the smoking of tobacco was more heinous than the drinking of brandy. The reply he received was "Yes, for it is said that not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth-this defileth a man." The apt quotation made no difference; the Russians had to smoke all the same. chewing of tobacco were punishable with death; and even in Massachusetts there used to be very stringent laws against tobacco. Indeed, both there and in Illinois, it is to-day illegal to sell or give tobacco to minors under sixteen years of age. It is not long since that a new law was passed at Sacramento, California, which renders it unlawful for any person under seventeen years of age to smoke cigarettes within the city limits. For the first offence there is a fine, for the second a term of imprisonment. And now a few words about pipes, in which, for gorgeousness, the Indians far excel us. The Hydab, and neighbouring tribes of the British Columbian coast, have for centuries carved fantastic pipes out of a soft black slate. The Assiniboine Indians used, as they do now, fine marble, too hard to admit of carving, but susceptible of so high a polish that, when lighted, the glowing tobacco shines through the bowl, and presents a singular appearance at night Amongst a set of Russian club rules, in a dark lodge. A coarse species of which applied to a soirée dansante, there is jasper is in use in other tribes; while the this curious regulation: "The man who Chippeways, at the head of Lake Superior, smokes in the portion of the club set aside still carve their pipes out of a dark, closefor ladies, shall be at once fined twenty-grained stone procured from Lake Huron. five kopecks, to go towards the purchase of powder and eau-de-cologne for the ladies." The pious old souls who inhabited the canton of Berne, at one time appear to have been infected with the general de testation of tobacco and smoking. The prohibition of it there was actually put among the Ten Commandments-"Thou shalt not smoke"-by the side of the altar. The Sultan of Turkey-a country where now smoking is almost necessary to existence-once warned his subjects against the habit; and the punishment he ordered to be inflicted on offenders was mild compared with that in favour in Russia. The offending smoker was paraded through the streets, seated backward on an ass, with a tobacco-pipe thrust through the cartilage of his nose. The Persian monarch was more vigorous, ordering that the noses of offenders should be cut off. To-day, in Persia, dinner is always preceded by the pipe-hubblebubble-and a man is treated in respect of smoking according to his rank. In Morocco, persons disobeying the Sultan's decree of prohibition of smoking, were imprisoned and flogged through the streets. In Abyssinia, the smoking and In England, the first pipes used appear to have been made of clay, with narrow bowls and contracted mouths. Then, as the habit grew stronger, and tobacco became cheaper, something more capacious would be required. These are the pipes which, under the name of "fairy pipes," are sometimes dug up and preserved as interesting relics of the past. Aubrey, writing about 1680, says: They (the English people) first had silver pipes, but the ordinary sort made use of a walnut shell and strawe. I have heard my grandfather say that one pipe was handed from man to man round the table. Within these thirty-five years 'twas scandalous for a divine to take tobacco. It was then sold for its wayte in silver. I have heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say that when they went to market they culled out their biggest shillings to lay in the scales against tobacco; now the customers of it are the greatest his majesty hath." It is not generally known that the word cutty, applied to a species of clay pipe very much used, is a corruption of Kutaich, a city in Asia Minor, where a species of soft white stone is found, which is exported by the Turks to Germany for the manufacture of tobacco-pipes. Concerning the origin of meerschaum or child-can produce this flame with a single puff; but a European acquires the same ability only by considerable practice. As each filling produces only a couple of whiffs, the pipe has to be refilled over and over again to obtain satisfaction. Every time a pinch is smoked the remnant is blown away by lifting the tube and blowing vigorously through it from the lower end. The rapidity with which a devotee of this pipe puffs the paper into a flame, lights the tobacco, blows the paper out again, lifts the tube, blows out the refuse, fills it again, and so on, until he has had enough, is quite a remarkable performance. The common Chinaman uses a pipe of primitive pattern-merely a slender joint of bamboo with a hole bored in the side near the closed end. A pinch of tobacco is laid on this hole, and affords one or two whiffs. pipes, it is said that, in 1723, there lived | paper burns slowly, and when required for at Pesth, the capital of Hungary, one Carl lighting a pipe, it is blown into flame by a Kowates, a shoemaker by trade, whose peculiar puff. Any Celestial-man, woman, ingenuity in cutting and carving on wood and other substances brought him into contact with Count Andrassy, with whom he became a favourite. The Count, on his return from a mission to Turkey, brought with him a large piece of whitish clay, which had been presented to him as a curiosity, on account of its light specific gravity. The shoemaker was struck with its porous quality, and suggested that, as it would absorb the nicotine, it was well adapted for pipes. He was told to make the experiment, and manufactured one each for himself and the Count. But in the pursuit of his trade he could not keep his hands clean, and many a piece of shoemaker's wax became attached to the pipe. The clay, however, instead of assuming a dirty appearance, as was naturally to be expected, when he wiped it off, received, wherever the wax had touched it, a clear brown polish, instead of the dull white it previously had. Attributing the change in tint to the proper cause, Karl waxed the whole surface, and polishing the pipe again, noticed how admirably and beautifully it coloured, also how much more sweetly it smoked after being waxed. The news soon became the talk of the nobles, who imported considerable quantities," It is mentioned by Homer, and is found which the shoemaker made up into pipes for them, greatly to his advantage. The first pipe thus made is still preserved in the Pesth Museum. Until 1820, owing to the great cost of importation, meerschaum pipes were exclusively confined to the richest noblemen, and even now a genuine meerschaum is an expensive luxury. Meerschaum is, in reality, a compound of silica, magnesia, lime, water, and carbolic acid. When first dug on the seashore, where it is always found, it lathers like soap, and is used by the Tartars as such. The Chinese use a handsome little waterpipe, made entirely of brass and silver. It is all in one piece, except the bowl and neck, which is merely a tube, with an upper chamber for the tobacco. The merest pinch of long-cut tobacco fills the bowl, and one filling is only expected to provide one or two whiffs. The body of the pipe contains a neat reservoir for tobacco. The long, claw-like nails of the Celestials are used as deftly as a pair of tweezers in feeling in this little box for a pinch of tobacco. Long strips of prepared paper are used for lighting the pipe. This Amber, which plays such an important part in modern smoking, is a carbonaceous mineral, principally found in the northern parts of Europe. It has been of great repute in the world from the earliest time, and was esteemed as a medicine before the Christian era. Three hundred years before Christ, Theophrastus wrote about it. A writer in the "Argosy" points out that introduced in the most ancient specimens of Etruscan jewellery. In the collection of the Prince Canino, was a necklace of very choice Etruscan workmanship, having pendants in the form of Scarabei of alternate sardonyx and amber. The Greeks termed amber electron, from Elector, one of the names of the sur-god. Amongst the Romans, also, the substance was greatly prized. Pliny tells us that a small figure carved in amber had been known to sell at a higher price than a slave in vigorous health. In the time of Nero, one of the Equestrian order was sent to Germany by Julianus, the manager of the Gladiatorial Exhibitions, in order to procure a supply. He succeeded so well, and brought back such vast quantities that the very nets that protected the podium against the wild beasts, the litters upon which the slain gladiators were carried away, and all other articles used were studded with amber. Sir Thomas Browne, also, in his 'Urn Burial,' mentions among the contents of the Roman urn in the procession of Cardinal Farnese, not only jewels, but an ape in agate, and a grasshopper and an elephant carved in amber." Whenever beds of lignite occur, amber is found, so that it is generally diffused over the world. But the shores of the Baltic, between Memel and Konigsberg, is the only district that supplies it in quantities. As much as four thousand pounds weight of amber yearly is said to be the product of that country. It is mostly found on the seashore, but in Prussia there are also mines. They are thus described: "First at the surface of the earth is found a stratum of sand. Immediately under this sand is a bed of clay filled with small flints; under this clay is a stratum of black earth or turf, filled with fossil wood, half decomposed and bituminous; this stratum is extended upon minerals containing little metal, except iron, which are consequently pyrites. Lastly, under this bed the amber is found scattered about in pieces and sometimes accumulated in heaps." It is accounted for in the following manner: "The oils in the woody stratum have been impregnated by the acid contained in the clay of the upper stratum, which has descended by the filtration of water. This mixture of oil and acid has become bituminous; the most pure and liquid parts of this bitumen have descended on the mineral stratum, and in traversing it have become charged with particles of iron; and the result of this last combination is the formation of the amber which is found below." In Shakespeare's time, amber would seem to have been fashionable as an ornament, as he more than once alludes to it. When Petruchio promises to take Katherine on a visit to her father, he mentions "amber bracelets" among the "bravery" with which she is to be adorned. Amongst the artists of the Renaissance period it was chiefly used in the formation of jewel caskets and such like elegant objects. It is still much valued in the East; but the chief market at present is China, where it is crushed into powder and burnt as incense. Mouthpieces for cigars, beads, and other ornaments in this material are, however, extensively manufactured in the workshops of Dantzig, Hamburg, and elsewhere. Nearly all the poets and members of the literary profession have been addicted to tobacco in one form or another. Milton dearly loved his pipe; Addison, Congreve, Philips, Prior, and Steele smoked prodigiously. Sir Walter Scott smoked, and SO did Campbell. Beattie, Campbell's Campbell, with lengthy pipe in hand, Moore, Byron, Hood, and Carlyle were equally addicted to the "weed." Lord Tennyson is said to be particularly attached to a long churchwarden, a basketful of which is placed by the side of his writing-table, while on the other side is a second basket. As soon as a pipe is finished, the poet throws it into the second basket and charges a fresh one, which is treated in precisely the same way when finished with. The philosopher, Hobbes, smoked to excess, and lived to be ninety-two; while Sir Isaac Newton, who was never without his pipe, lived to green old age, and never lost but one tooth, Samuel Parr was invariably to be discovered "half-hidden by fuliginous clouds, a yard or so behind the bowl of a large churchwarden." He smoked everywhere, even in the company of ladies. Twenty pipes of an evening was his limit; and he never wrote well without tobacco. As he lived to the ripe old age of seventy-eight years, it is pretty good proof that immoderate use of tobacco is not fatal. Mario, the great singer, was an inveterate smoker; he smoked incessantly everywhere, and his servant always stood at the wings of the theatres in which he performed, to receive the burning cigar from his mouth at the moment when he went on to the stage. In a sketch of Edward Lytton Bulwer, by Maclise, in the South Kensington Museum, the great novelist is represented in an easy-chair with his legs stretched out, and smoking a pipe, the straight stem of which almost reaches down to his slippers. In one of his novels, he says: "He who doth not smoke hath either known no great griefs, or refuseth himself the softest translation next to that which comes from Heaven. What, softer than woman?' whispers the young reader. Young reader, woman teases as well as consoles. Woman makes half the sorrows which she boasts the privilege to soothe. Woman consoles us, it is true, while we are young and handsome; when we are old and ugly, woman snubs and scolds us. On the whole, then, woman in this scale, the weed in that-Jupiter, hang out thy balance, and weigh them both, and if thou |