The Most Curious Thing.—A woman not being curious!
CURE FOR SMOKY CHILDREN
"My dear Mr. Punch,
"My son Henry—who promised to be such a good young man—has, I am sorry to say, acquired that nasty dirty habit of smoking tobacco, in which he indulges from morning till night: such a pity at his time of life! for he is not of age yet. In the Times the other day I saw a letter about the Smoke Nuisance, proposing to cure it by 'very frequent feeding in small quantities, and a reward for no smoke.' Do you think, now, it would be possible to break Henry of smoking by continually tempting him with little bits of something very nice to eat?—the worst of it is that filthy practice has quite spoiled his taste for cake and tart. Reward for no smoke I have offered in vain. I should be so much obliged to you, Mr. Punch, if you could suggest any plan by which I could manage to wean my child from his cigars by frequent feeding in small quantities; indeed, indeed, it would be quite a charity to
"A Mother."
⁂The frequent feeding in small quantities might, in all probability, be accomplished easily enough. An occasional kidney—if devilled, so much the better; a broiled bone now and then; from time to time a sausage; an anchovy toast after dessert: later in the evening, perhaps, a poached egg, a Welsh rabbit, or a few scalloped oysters: these and similar delicacies substituted for pastry, would most likely very much simplify the difficulty of getting Henry to take small quantities of food at short intervals. But experience unfortunately proves that such a system of diet is not generally accompanied, on the part of young men, by a discontinuance of smoking; whilst it is almost always attended with an excessive consumption of malt liquor.—Punch.
