Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1893-08-12
HOW NE SAVED MONEY.
ne.ox tho story os tho smoker, The ro0as


pc,ny tho story vi tho Smoltcr, the Tobao-
cnn.,t aud the pretty Cigar lloldor.
".Ns ucs,r nv I c.ul calculatc, remarked
Maior Shortcut. a victorian smoker, as no
li;yN;ra u bis. black cigar and settled
h,m,Nsit paelS In mn easy chair, II have
lust osea,N.a ~, error that would have
Nwu,isA IN an Increase of about $500 u
yssr IN my personal expenses. 1t was
lNs way, W,ia morntng | dropped in to
nN,es, a Rsw lunlred fresh cigars from
;.,e lw,ser Who had hcon supplying me
With lAis Same hranl For tiveyears Aft
er hooking my orlor tho amiable tobac-
cSs,ss, brought FROM his desk and handed
70 me newt little leather case. remark
inss that he wanted to present mo With a
ht,lc gift, Upon opening it'll found that
1t contained beautiful meerschaum
cigar holder My first impulse was to
cXprcSs tue admiration which actually
folt and TO thank him for his great kind
ness. The next instant, however, | had
regaincd control of myself and was safe.
Handing the case back to the dealer. |
told him how much I appreciated his
generosity and how beautiful the gift
was. but that lie must really excuse me
for dcclininyit. Itoldh in confidence
that was possessed of Il strange, unrea-
soning superstition of all articles made
of meerschaum; that they had always
seemed to bring me bad luck and busi-
ness disaster, and that begged him not
to think ME churlish in refusing to ac
cept this one.
He took my story good naturally,
laughed at my superstitions, and came
away fully confident that 1 had not an
gered or wounded him. was particu-
larly anxious to avoid hurting his feel
ings; hence my plain and fancy lying.
1.-The plain truth is that I declined his
gift because the acceptance Of it would
have been SO expensive. Give q man
handsome pipe OF cigar holder of mecr-
schaum, and he Immediately sets out to
color it. His smoking increases enor-
mously, and his outlay for tobacco or
cigars moves in the same direction. He
can't help it. Tie idea i'll his head is
that this particular pipe or cigar holder
is somewhat the finest thing of the kind
eyer made and that it is his duty to
color it up to the artistic hue. In the
average case the smoker will consume
twice as much tobacco as he did before,
butin many instances the increase will DO
threefold OF more. The smoker may not
notice it at first, the neerschaum habit
is so seductive IL its progress, but it
he buys his own cigars and keeps track
of his personal expenditures he will dis
cover it ut tho end of the month and be
amazed at it.
eff had accepted tho friendly tobac-
conist's pretty cigar holder, it would
have resulted-for some time at least
in my smoking about twice Us much asI
usually do, for, like other meerschau1n
cranks, should have felt bound to color
the thing. That would have meant an
increase of 100 per cent in my cigar bill,
which is something like $5O0a year. The
meerschaum craze is mild type of in
sanity. have tried it and know all
about it. The tobacconist who wants
to present you with fancy pipe or cigar
holder has designs on your nerves and
your wallet. He may be the incest sort
of fellow, but doesn't the knowing sa-
loonist place dish of caviare and an
other of pretzels on the free lunch coun-
ter to excite thirst among his patrons2
And does the crafty tobacconist scatter
mecrscAaum cigar holders among his
customers merely to benefit their health?'
New York Herald