We have all heard the
stories about the incidents that prompted D&C 89. The school of the prophets would meet and the elders would
dirty the floor chewing tobacco that they spit liberally in all directions, and
they’d fill the room with smoke from their pipes as they discussed the
doctrines of Zion. Emma Smith had
to clean up all that yuck from the floor in the evening and she complained to
her husband about it, and then he asked the Lord about it and received the Word
of Wisdom.
We might be inclined to
think that for some reason the elders of the church were major slobs to spit
tobacco all over, but actually their behavior was typical in various American cities at that time. So typical, in fact, that Charles
Dickens commented freely on his observations in his travelogue American Notes.
As
Washington may be called the head-quarters of tobacco-tinctured saliva, the
time is come when I must confess, without any disguise, that the prevalence of
those two odious practices of chewing and expectorating began about this time
to be anything but agreeable, and soon became most offensive and sickening. In
all the public places of America, this filthy custom is recognised. In the
courts of law, the judge has his spittoon, the crier his, the witness his, and
the prisoner his; while the jurymen and spectators are provided for, as so many
men who in the course of nature must desire to spit incessantly. In the
hospitals, the students of medicine are requested, by notices upon the wall, to
eject their tobacco juice into the boxes provided for that purpose, and not to
discolour the stairs. In public buildings, visitors are implored, through the
same agency, to squirt the essence of their quids, or ‘plugs,’ as I have heard
them called by gentlemen learned in this kind of sweetmeat, into the national
spittoons, and not about the bases of the marble columns. But in some parts,
this custom is inseparably mixed up with every meal and morning call, and with
all the transactions of social life. The stranger, who follows in the track I
took myself, will find it in its full bloom and glory, luxuriant in all its
alarming recklessness, at Washington. And let him not persuade himself (as I once
did, to my shame) that previous tourists have exaggerated its extent. The thing
itself is an exaggeration of nastiness, which cannot be outdone.
On
board this steamboat, there were two young gentlemen, with shirt-collars
reversed as usual, and armed with very big walking-sticks; who planted two
seats in the middle of the deck, at a distance of some four paces apart; took
out their tobacco-boxes; and sat down opposite each other, to chew. In less
than a quarter of an hour’s time, these hopeful youths had shed about them on
the clean boards, a copious shower of yellow rain; clearing, by that means, a
kind of magic circle, within whose limits no intruders dared to come, and which
they never failed to refresh and re-refresh before a spot was dry. This being before
breakfast, rather disposed me, I confess, to nausea; but looking attentively at
one of the expectorators, I plainly saw that he was young in chewing, and felt
inwardly uneasy, himself. A glow of delight came over me at this discovery; and
as I marked his face turn paler and paler, and saw the ball of tobacco in his
left cheek, quiver with his suppressed agony, while yet he spat, and chewed,
and spat again, in emulation of his older friend, I could have fallen on his
neck and implored him to go on for hours….
The Senate is a dignified
and decorous body, and its proceedings are conducted with much gravity and
order. Both houses are handsomely carpeted; but the state to which these
carpets are reduced by the universal disregard of the spittoon with which every
honourable member is accommodated, and the extraordinary improvements on the
pattern which are squirted and dabbled upon it in every direction, do not admit
of being described. I will merely observe, that I strongly recommend all
strangers not to look at the floor; and if they happen to drop anything, though
it be their purse, not to pick it up with an ungloved hand on any account.
It is somewhat remarkable
too, at first, to say the least, to see so many honourable members with swelled
faces; and it is scarcely less remarkable to discover that this appearance is
caused by the quantity of tobacco they contrive to stow within the hollow of
the cheek. It is strange enough too, to see an honourable gentleman leaning
back in his tilted chair with his legs on the desk before him, shaping a
convenient ‘plug’ with his penknife, and when it is quite ready for use,
shooting the old one from his mouth, as from a pop-gun, and clapping the new
one in its place.
I
was surprised to observe that even steady old chewers of great experience, are
not always good marksmen, which has rather inclined me to doubt that general
proficiency with the rifle, of which we have heard so much in England. Several
gentlemen called upon me who, in the course of conversation, frequently missed
the spittoon at five paces; and one (but he was certainly short-sighted)
mistook the closed sash for the open window, at three. On another occasion,
when I dined out, and was sitting with two ladies and some gentlemen round a
fire before dinner, one of the company fell short of the fireplace, six
distinct times. I am disposed to think, however, that this was occasioned by
his not aiming at that object; as there was a white marble hearth before the
fender, which was more convenient, and may have suited his purpose better. (1)
I remember when I first read
this I was simply amazed that such a dirty
and disgusting habit could have been so widespread and socially
acceptable. It gave me a deeper
sense of what a revolutionary concept it would be for our church members in
that time to learn that tobacco was not for the body or the belly. I had an instant appreciation for the messes that we don’t have to clean up
now that this is no longer a common practice in our society. And too, a look at some pictures of decayed and rotting mouths of teeth caused by frequent tobacco chewing caused me to appreciate the greatly increased health we enjoy now.
As I was working on this
post, I started to wonder at what point in our history people decided that
spitting tobacco was bad. Michael
Pekker had a bit of insight on his blog about smoking tobacco.
When the germ theory was
proven in the late 19th century, public reform efforts began targeting
unsanitary practices, such as spitting, which could spread disease. Public opinion turned against spitting
tobacco, and laws were framed that made spitting unlawful in public places. (2)
Might we have spiritual
habits that are just as ugly and unhealthy which we wouldn’t see without an
outsider telling us how gross they are?
Sources
(1)
(Charles
Dickens, American Notes, chapter 8)
[http://www.online-literature.com/dickens/americannotes/9/]
(2)
Michael Pekker,
“Chewing Tobacco: History, Specifics, and Health Effects”, http://smoking-tobacco.blogspot.com/2011/05/chewing-tobacco-history-specifics-and.html
