great enough to counterbalance the satisfaction which a confirmed
smoker takes in his cigar or pipe, or any worse than the restlessness
which the sacrifice of it might engender, is one of those delicate
personal problems that one can hardly solve for another. But certainly
where the habit is not formed, the loss of tobacco involves no
important deprivation; its use is chiefly a social custom which can
be discontinued without ill effects. Effort should be made to keep
the young from forming the habit; college "smokers," where free
cigarettes and cigars are furnished, should be superseded by "rallies,"
where the same amount of money could provide some light and harmless
refreshment. This is not one of the important problems. But, after
all, everything is important; and men must, and ultimately will, learn
to find their happiness in things that forward, instead of thwarting,
their great interests; what makes at all against health and
efficiency-when it is so needless and artificial a habit as smoking,
so mildly pleasant and so purely selfish-must be rooted out of desire.
The great amount of money wasted on tobacco could be far more
wisely and fruitfully expended. We shall not brand smoking as a sin,
hardly as a vice; but the man who wishes to make the most of his life
will avoid it himself, and the man who wishes to work for the general
welfare will put his influence and example against it.

H. S. King, Rational Living, chap. VI, secs. I, II. J. Payot, The
Education of the Will, book III, sec. IV. J. MacCunn, The Making of
Character, part II, chap. II. W. Hutchinson, Handbook of Health. L.
H. Gulick, The Efficient Life. F. Paulsen, System of Ethics, book III,
chap. III. T. Roosevelt, The Strenuous Life. P. G. Hamerton, The
Intellectual Life, part I.