It was not until the ’sixties of the last century that cigarette-smoking by women began to creep in.  Mortimer Collins, writing in 1869, in a curious outburst against the use of tobacco by young men, said, “When one hears of sly cigarettes between feminine lips at croquet parties, there is no more to be said.”  Since that date cigarette-smoking has become increasingly popular among women, and the term “sly” has long ceased to be applicable.  “Punch’s Pocket-Book” for 1878 had an amusing skit on a ladies’ reading-party, to which Mr. Punch acted as “coach.”  After breakfast the reading ladies lounged on the lawn with cigarettes.

What Queen Victoria, who hated tobacco and banished it from her presence and from her abodes as far as she could, would have thought and said of the extent to which cigarette-smoking is indulged in now by women, is a question quite unanswerable.  Yet Queen Victoria once received a present of pipes and tobacco.  By the hands of Sir Richard Burton the Queen had sent a damask tent, a silver pipe, and two silver trays to the King of Dahomey.  That potentate told Sir Richard that the tent was very handsome, but too small; that the silver pipe did not smoke so well as his old red clay with a wooden stem; and that though he liked the trays very much, he thought them hardly large enough to serve as shields.  He hoped that the next gifts would include a carriage and pair, and a white woman, both of which he would appreciate very much.  However, he sent gifts in return to her Britannic Majesty, and among them were a West African state umbrella, a selection of highly coloured clothing materials, and some native pipes and tobacco for the Queen to smoke.

Many royal ladies of Europe, contemporaries of Queen Victoria and her son, have had the reputation of being confirmed smokers.  Among them may be named Carmen Sylva, the poetess—­Queen of Roumania, the Dowager Tsaritsa of Russia, the late Empress of Austria, King Alfonso’s mother, formerly Queen-Regent of Spain, the Dowager Queen Margherita of Italy and ex-Queen Amelie of Portugal.  It is, of course, well known that Austrian and Russian ladies generally are fond of cigarette-smoking.  On Russian railways it is not unusual to find a compartment labelled “For ladies who do not smoke.”

The newspapers reported not long ago from the other side of the Atlantic that the “smart” women of Chicago had substituted cigars for cigarettes.  According to an interview with a Chicago hotel proprietor, the fair smokers “select their cigars as men do, either black and strong, or light, according to taste.”  How in the world else could they select them?  It is not likely, however, that cigar-smoking will become popular among women.  For one thing, it leaves too strong and too clinging an odour on the clothes.