The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-05-14
A CIGARETTE SMOKE
As the Recherche Thing for a Quiet
Gathering of Society Ladies
Nowadays.
The Latest Feminine Fancy Reckless
ness i'm Rock Island.


Cigarette smoking is not confined to
the adolescent youth on the streets by a
great deal An ARGUS reporter as he
stood by drug store cigar case this
morning could not but notice that the
portion devoted to choice cigarettes
showed a more continued, steady drain
upon its stores than did the fine brands of
cigars near by, and not having had his
attention called to any large increase in
the street consumption, his curiosity was
somewhat aroused and he started on a
round of inspection and inquiry He soon
found he had STRUCK something" from
the simple fact that while proprietors and
clerks were ready to talk business, trade,
tobacco and cigars freely and volumin-
ously. they were exceedingly reticent on
cigarettes, and when particular attention
was invited to that subject scared sort
OF look came over them that was sure
evidence of something concealed. But
this only whetted up reportorial zeal To
serve as an excuse for standing around
awhile and watching some things, the
man of papers pulled Des Moines State
Leader from his pocket to make pretense
of reading. Almost the first thing to
catch his attention was an article on the
same subject he was thinking about, and
| it started off somewhat after this style:
Last evening a reporter noticed little
newsboy enter drng store and handed a
clerk, who was standing near and talking
| to the reporter, note, and said: She
said you would give me little package
to bring her, and that must he careful
not to squeeze it. After opening and
reading the note, the clerk glanced at the
reporter with an uneasy look which
seemed expressive of silent wish for the
absence instead of presence of the re-
porter; he stood on one foot, then grace
fully changed to the other, talking of the
rain this morning and the prospects for
fruit, until the boy sang out mister she
said she was in an awful hurry for that
little bundle, so | wish you'd give it to
me- The clerk continued his general
flow of words, opened the fancy cigar case
| with a quiet maneuver and selected five
packages of cigarettes, and moving over
to the paper and string place. tied them
up, and siding up TO the GRAND boy gave
him the little bundle and hustled him out
of the door. Eureka, thought the re
porter, five packages gone at once, and a
She ordering them Talk about the hor-
rore OF the inquisition, they were nothing
compared with the. process Immediately
put in force for extracting the truth from
that poor clerk, and finally when suffi,
ciently reduced about the following was
CLEANED He was asked about how often
he was called upon to fill such prettily
penned and urgent prescriptions. Ere
quently, indeed so very frequently that
the sales surprise US, replied the clerk
| Then it must be dead certain fact that
the away up ladies of this city are habit
ually becoming cigarette smokers?
! We'll. | really think that fact would be-
come well settled in.your reportorial mind
if you were to stand behind this counter
and respond to as many of those note
orders as do, continued the clerk. I'm
sorry you happened to catch on to this
little special trade, for it is fact that
| give you soberly, we have been time and
again urgently requested, by the ladies
who purchase cigarettes, to, above all
things, keep the matter as private as a
confidential prescription That's all
right said the reporter, but did it ever
occur TO you that we newspaper men
enjoy little revelation like this, Just for
our positively personal enjoyment? 'Of
course continued the clerk, that may
also be true, but you fellows, not one in a
thousand, can scarcely be depended upon
to keep even what you call a positively
personal bit of news. However, I'll put
you squarely on your honor now and tell
in word or two, all that's square for me
to tell. In the first place we as often get
these orders verbally from the ladies as by
notes. Our attention was first called to
their buying unusual quantities of them
the first part of last winter, when the
party season first opened, and it has CON
tinued to increase ever since Here the
reporter asked whether the ladies were
young girls or married women They
are mostly-Strange to say-marred
ladies. But of course their husbands
must know they smoke? No, for ii they
did they would have their husbands buy
the cigarettes. That seems little strange.
added the reporter, Not so very for
whether you'll believe it or not, they get
together in twos and threes, and it's a
square fact that they seem to enjoy it to
the very utmost. The different ladies
have little, unused room which their
husbands seldom enter, and in their wrap
pers--wrappers SO they can leave the
odor all behind when they finish their
smoke-they joke and sing over their
cigaretts.' / could show you over 100 of
these notes ordering these cigaretts. And
let me add that there is nicely of dainty
style to the way in which these ladies in
dulge in this luxury which is about as fine
as you can imagine. 3"
At this moment some customers coming
in with quite large prescription orders