The Red Cloud chief., 1889-11-15
MY FIRST CIGAR.
Reasons That Determined Me To
Let It Be My Last


"Go and buy a cigar"
Mr.. NimOn was a carpenter employed
in building a warehouse for grain-ship-
! pers at Wyckles, a little station on the
Wabash railway, in Central Illinois, and,
as he spoke, ne handed me q five-ceDt
piece.
My parents lived at Wyckles. I was
! the youngest of four II and was ten
years old at the time-just the right age
, 10 think it smart to step around with q
| cigar between my teeth.
! / had always been a favorite with Mr..
| Nimon, and / suppose he thought he
was doing the right thing when he told
me to buy a cigar, or, he may have
thought the attractions Of '~'gum-drops"
and ''taffy-on-a-stick" would be tOOmuch
for me and l would lay out the nickel in
those luxuries instead of buying a cigar
with it. But. if such were his thoughts,
he was mistaken, for I took the nickel.
and, marching into a store near by, kept
by a cripple named Bradshaw, planked
1t down upon the counter and asked for
. cigar with as Indifferent an air IS /
could assume. with the doubts of my
ability to conquer the weed already as
Sailing me.
The stOre-keeper gave me a quizzical
look, reached for a box, hesitated for a
moment, and then took down another.
Throwing the lid back, he set before
me some very dark and ominOus-loOking
cigars.
Had / been an experienced smoker and
q Judge of cigars, l would have known
that the ones before me were particular
1y dangerous specimens, but l wasn't,
and didn't, and SO, in blissful Unconscious
ness of what was before me, I selected
one of the nOisome weeds, bit of the end
las / had seen men dO), and then light
ing it, stuck it in my mouth and strutted
out of the store with my head thrown
back and chest expanded, putting away
like one to the manner born.
Had i seen the amused smile upon
Bradshaw's face as / left his store, my
suspicious might have been aroused, but
! didn't see it, and so continued to step
round with the cigar between my teeth,
feeling, or rather, ~endeavOring to feel
for the cigar tasted horrible, and made
me have a queer sensation in the region
of my stOmach-that / was every inch a
man.
But this state of affairs lasted but a
short time. Had / taken the trouble to
lSOk at myself in a mirror after five
minutes at that cigar, l would have no
ticed an unusual pallor to my face, and a
wilderness about my lips foreign to them
in a normal state. And my stomach!
from a simple state of sickness it had
broken out in open rebellion, and the
wal which was waged between the le-
ultimate contents of said stomach and
the poisonous saliva and bits of tobacco
which l had unwittingly swallowed was
awful while it lasted, and it lasted quite
long enough to suit me-, / assure you.
Needless to say, perhaps, the tobacco
conquered, and around behind some cars
which were standing on the sidetrack-
where i had gone as quickly as a swim
ming head and staggering footsteps
would let mel was speedily relieved Of
both contending forces.
But. oh! how weak, and sick and faint,
and wretched i did feel!-not a bit like
q man now-and thinking 1 would keep
quiet for awhile, until l felt better, /
crawled under one of the cars and laid
down beside the rails. How it happened
that / went to sleep l do not know.
Perhaps it was induced by my particu-
lar weak state, both mentally and phys
ically, at that time; but, be that as it
may, certain it is that i had not lain
there ten minutes before / was asleep,
sound as q top.
How long / slept I do not know, but 1
was suddenly awakened by a queer,
grinding, gliding noise, accompanied by
. regular click-click! click-click!
knew the sound only too we'll, and
even if my eyes had not told me what
occasioned the queer noise, l wouldhave
known what made it:
The cars under which / was living
ware moving, and at . speed which
would have made it dangerous for me
to have attempted to spring out between
the wheels, even if I had been on my
feet, braced, ready for the leap.
But 1 wasn't. i was lying 1at upon
my back upon the thin layer of earth
which covered the crossties, between
the rails, and to attempt to regain my
feet would have been suicidal, for the
trucks of the cars would have knocked
me down and I would have been run
over by the big iron wheels and killed.
What 70 do / did not know. I was
frightened, almost ~paralyzed with fear,
and I lay motionless, Watching with q
species Of fascination the rapidly revolv-
ing wheels and listening to their click
click! click-click! as they crossed the
jUints where the ends Of the rails came |
together.