Stories Of Early Experience With
Golden Leaf In New World Are Told
- *
"Tobacco Introduced Into
England In Sixteenth Cen
tury And Was Regarded
As Cure For Various Ail
ments
The Frenchman, Jacques Car
tier, was the first explorer to
penetrate to the district of Mon
. treal, which was the headquarter- j
ters of the Indians in this area. |
Pipe smoking amongst the Ind-:
f ians was a favourite form of re-1
* taxation and they carried their j
J tobacco bags or pouches hung |
. around their necks.
I I
Cartier and his companions
were amazed at the ability of j
these people to "consume" huge
quantities of smoke and exhale
it with every indication of pleas-1
ure. Cartier tried to imitate the!
j Indians but relinquished the at-1
I tempt after burning his mouth J
J severely.
The seed of the tobacco plant j
J was first introduced into Eur- j
j ope about the middle of the six
teeth century, and it was at first j
regarded by many eminent people i
as a cure for miscellaneous ills, j
About this time a colony of
French people settled in Brazil
and Nicolas Bane, a member of :
this pioneer party, wrote to his'
friends in Paris on the uses of
tobacco by the natives of Rio de 1
Janeiro. He stated that the na-!
tives could exist on it for eight'
or nine days without touching:
a morsel of food.
The records of Andre Thevet
describe a roll of palm leaves
about the size of a candle filled i
with dried tobacco "which the
natives light at one end and in-j
hale through mouth and nostrils.";
"They say", he adds, "that this
is very good for loosening and I
carrying off the superflous hum-1
ours of the brain "
He also stated that the smoke
habit was practised in Brazil j
to the point of dizziness and in-;
toxlcation. Thevet claimed to j
have introduced tobacco into1
France but many contemporar-1
ies of his emphatically denied
this claim. In fact, one of them
went so far as to call him a
colossal liar.
The name of Jean Nicot of
Nimes was immortalized through
his association with the tobacco
plant. He was French ambassador
to the Portuguese Court in 1559 j
and during his stay in Lisbon he [
had excellent opportunities of j
studying colonial progress.
He learned from a botanist [
friend of his that the application
of the plant to a cancerous turn- ;
our had produced extraordinary
healing results. He also foundI
its fragrance effective in the!
healing of headaches but appears i
to have had only a medicinal in- I
terest in Its use.
Liebault's L'Agriculture et la
Maison Rustique described the
tobacco plant for the first time
by its botanical name, i. e., Nico
tiana. The existence of nicotine
wa3 only discovered in the nine
teenth century but both words'
have passed down the name of j
Jean Nicot through the pages of j
history.
Samples of the tobacco plant j
were first introduced into Eng-!
land towards the close of the six-!
teenth century. Admiral Haw-1
kins Drake and Sir Walter Ral-:
eigh were engaged in a relent- J
less war with Spanish and Port
uguese ships, and their activities j
took them around the coasts of;
Central and South America. When
they returned from these expedi
tions many of the men had devel-'
| oped a taste for smoking.
G. L. Apperson, In his work, I
The Social History of Smoking, j
tells us that it was first brought
from America by sea captains
who were the first to smoke
publicly in the streets of London
"to the great amazement of the
people who collected to see so
strange and incomprehensible a
sight."
Raleigh was a heavy pipe
smoker and was shrewd to rec
ognize the commercial importance
of tobacco. The old story attribut
ed to him records his disagree
able experience on day when his
gardener became alarmed at the
quantity of smoke issuing from
his master's mouth and nostrils
and promptly proceeded to extin
guish the conflagration with a
bucket of water
Not long after this smoking
became immensely popular in
England despite the fact that it
was an extraordinarily expensive
luxury. A pound of tobacco was
sold for Its equal weight in sil
ver coins.
When James I succeeded Eliza
beth in 1603 he did his utmost
to bann the smoking habit. He
seems to have taken a particular
antipathy to Walter Raleigh, who
i continued to enjoy his pipe and
certain chroniclers hint that Jam
es' decision to condemn him for
! conspiracy was precipitiated by
Raleigh's unpopularity at court.
1 Shortly before Raleigh went to
i the block he enjoyed his final
! P'P?
i James' successor?Charles I?
i was also averse to smoking but
j did not condemn the practice as
j heartily as his father. When he
I was ' executed during the Civil
War of 1642, Cromwell could do
nothing to stop the habit al
j though he dislike smoking in
tensely.
Poor Pop
! Junior?Pop, when I bring,
home my report card, why do
you always sign it with an X
instead of writing your name?
i Father?I don't want your
teacher to think that anyone
who can read and write would
have a son as dumb as you.
Trees Symbolize
Nation's Liberty
Thirteen Original Colonies
Each Boast One Or More
Of Historic Landmarks
Many flourishing trees are
symbols of this nation's fight
for freedom. Each of the 13 ori
ginal colonies boasts one or more
of these historic sentinels.
Don Fowler, of the Davey j
Tree Expert Co., says undoubted-1
ly one of the most notable of i
these is the Liberty Tree near j
Clinton, Pa., sometimes called |
the Tiadaghton Elm or Pine Creek
Elm. Under its even then giant
branches, on July 4, 1776, at the
same time the momentous Dec
laration of Independence was be
ing signed in Philadelphia, Penn
sylvania backwoodsmen, calling
themselves the Fair Play Men,
signatured their own document
attesting they were "free and in
dependent" of England.
At the risk of their lives,
horsemen rode through the night
to deliver the scroll of the Tia
daghton Declaration of Independ-1
ence to this nation's Founding
Fathers at Philadelphia.
Princeton, N. J., home of the
famed university, is proud of its
Beatty Catalpa, one of the 13
planted in commeration of the
Declaration of Independence. It
often flowers over the Fourth of
July and is popularly termed the
Independence Tree. It stands in
front of the mansion once owned
by Col. Erkuries Beatty, an aide
to Lafayette in the Revolution.
The MidWest, too, has its own
cherished arboreal link in the
great Council Oak of Winameg,
Ohio. Its trunk still bears the
scars of tomahawk and arrow
marksmanship practice by the
Indians. Its significence, however,
rests with its fame as the scene
of one of the earliest Mid-West
celebrations in 1845 of "Nation's
Day," in observance of the Four
Ith"
Soon Be Eleven
Cleo?"Dere goes dat slattern
! ly Mandy Johnson wid her ten
I pickininnies. Sne sho' do look re
| pugnant."
Mozelle?*Lan' sakes, agin?"
Wait Mr S i
When a doctor, cajuj
house to attend a 1
had been upstairs a
be came down ana
a corkscrew. He hirn^l
(upstairs. A few rr.'.r^l
,he came down again
I for a screwdriver. He J
with it and left the htyl
house chewing his r.aiU,
On his third trip, ^ I
for a chisel and mallet
"Good heavens, d?J
worried husband said, -ai
, thing all right? Is it n
girl?"
"Don't know yet,"
[doctor. "Can't get my
case open."
Trapped
A much-married man >
ing to chisel some frt>
from a lawyer friend, is
some way In which a
avoid paying alimony
quired.
"Yes," replied the law*
He can stay single or n
ried"
PENNSYLVANIA TIRES ???
WHEN YOU GET ....... ...YOU
"IF I'D LISTENED TC
THE MADAM, I
WOULD BE RIDING
ON THEM
PENNSYLVANIA TIRE5
AND TUBES, TOO
BLACK'S
SERVICE STATION
TIRES - WHEELS ? RIMS ? RECAPPING
W. C. BLACK WHITEVILLE ? Phone 110J
PENNSYLVANIA
P-100 TIRES
Save Up To
50%
On Your Old Tires
WHILE SELLING YOUR TOBACCO IN
WHITEVILLE HAVE YOUR ^IRES
RECAPPED ... OR LET US PUT ON A
SET OF NEW PENNSYLVANIA TIRES