An English lady accustomed to travelling abroad, and able to converse
fluently in the languages of the countries she visited, recently found
herself alone in a railway carriage in Germany, when two foreigners
entered with pipes in their mouths, smoking strong tobacco furiously.
She quietly told them in their own language that it was not a smoking
carriage, but they persisted in continuing to smoke, remarking that it
was “the custom of the country,” upon which the lady took from her pocket
a pair of gloves and commenced cleaning them with benzoline. Her
fellow-passengers expressed their disgust at the nauseous effluvium, when
she remarked that it was the custom of her country. She was soon left in
the sole possession of the carriage.
—_Truth_.