The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1879-10-18
The Weed.
Oh, what supreme beatitudc is this
What soft snd sweet
Sensations greet
Nv gp,tl md NIran n in ElySinn hiss

Oh w Mh, sn pr, oSd ps ssasa this
Sensations greet 80
My soul, and wrap 1t in Eiys'an biss!
Dull earth in these ambrosia clouds, like Jove,
And down from mine Empyrian height 49,,
Look down upon the world with calm delight.
By a Cigdr.SHt0ket
We are A nation of smokers. Nothing shows our
Teutonic origin and Tcutonic influence more than
this. It's nonsense to talk about Plymouth Rock
as the bone and sinew Of the country; for did not
our Pilgrim Fathers fine the smoker or cage him
and hold him up in public places to the eXecra-
tons of the mob. And did they not soncUct the
heterodox dogserel-
Tobacco is an Indian weed
And twas the devil that sowed the seedT
And while the cold, straight jacketed Puritans
of New England were enactins Blue Laws to
make themselves uncomfortable and were har-
RAISING themselves at the advent of rascay
dissenter were not our good old Dutchmen of
Nieuw Amsterdam growing rich and becoming
Jolly and fat and stupid with their pipes forever
in their mouths? Doth not the erudite d. knick-
erbocker, Esq, tell us, 1T was their companion
in solitude, the relaxation of their gayer hours
Their counsellor, their CONSIDER, their JOY, their
pride; in word, they seemed to think and
breathe through their pipes" And many Il time
did the pipe save their beloved city What
mighty thoughts were sucked from tire depths of
its clayey bowl; and how potent were the mighty
clouds they pulled to shield their shores from the
rayages Of their English fooman, the e. ID. X.
Esq, above mentioned hath shown! Truly the
TeutOn rules us still, for though the Englishman
CONQUERED the Dutchman and oblterated the
name of his city of the New World, he could not
conquer his pipe and to this day the fragrant va
por of countless tobaccopipes arises from New
York and this whole land like the smoke of in
cense to his memory. Peace to his ashes! As to
see energy, life, perseverance and the rush Of
civilization the world looks to America, SO il you
want to see smoking to perfection you must see
it in America, where we smoke the best cigars in
The world.
Smoking is not mentioned in hsly writ SO far
as we know, but celebrated Scotch divine,
great snuff user, once said he had reason to be-
lieve David took snuff and that the habit was
hard fastened upon him, since he said, "My soul
ceavcth unto the dust" But smoking is no new
thing by any means. If Genesis tells us nothing
of Noah's smoking neither does it say he did not
wear claw hammer coats and eat New York counts
on the half shcl--whch may be an argument las
arguments go now-a-days) that he did do all
the relics of the lake-dwellers Of Europe, and if
the ake-dwellers didn't smoke what did theyuse
them for? Indeed, for all there is to the con-
trary the first man Adam may have smoked in
the Garden, unless we take it for granted that
he, like other innocent husbands under their
wives thumbs, forcswOre the weed because it
might scent the lace.curtains or injure the color
of her new Eastlake all-paper. Eve nosed him
about in other things-she may have done this
deed also.
But we venture to say he began TO smoke after
he moved out west and began to earn his daddy
dollars by the sweat Of his brow. man of his
sense would not be long in stumbling" to the
use of the weed "that cheers and not nebriates,"
Like all sorrowful men he smoked because it
soOthed his spirit and was not over agreeable to
his wife, who had fooled him in the better days
gone by. lie smoked In winter because il was
cheerful; and in summer to have an excuse for
loafng about the place in the shade; his boys
smoked because the old man" did; and his
ekildren's children smoke for the same reason or
because they like it.
All! there is nothing like the weed! II gives
wings to Imagination to bear us into "iantasy's
aerial deep" gives substance to philosophy; and
oRtwlneS It's Mccoy cnl!dreh' all around tue ma
chinery Of commerce and politics. 1T solaces the
wounded heart; aBd adds TO the charm Of friend
ship. Brethren, let us smoke and love this 10y
ous dispenser Of innocent pleasures for all his
brown skin!
But the praises OF tobacco are endless; and the
literature of the weed ~ no means scahty, and
some day the genius OF some lover Of the fragrant
Havana will cause it to be collected. UEfortun-
atelv tobacco won't furnish brains or the neces
sary facts fer such Compilation or We might
attempt 1t o--cc!e a5 duly We owe the Great
Consider"
From the views We have advanced above, per-
haps we might deduce the proposition, that the
greatest producer Of CIGARS (ss the most agreea-
HE aud sentecl form for using tobacco is the
greatest of earths beuefactors If this be true
then our friends on Main St,
AEssRs. A. HESS & CO.,
are the gTeates. vi AL our local good geniuses,
for they stand head and shoulders over all their
rivals in this section Of Illinois Is manufacturers
Of cigars. as will De seen from short resume
Of the business they are doing.
These gentlemen begsn business in Ottawa in
1867 IN the building they now occupy. They en-