Evening journal., 1896-10-29
THAT WICKED HABIT
A DRUMMER'S VIEWS OF SMOKING
AND ONE OF HIS STORIES.


Way He Smokes a cigar-A Banker Who
Escaped Ruin Because Of the sociabiIity
In the Smoking Habit.
"You can tell a good deal about a
man by the way he smokes a cigar"
said travelling man in a philosophicaI
mood at one of the hotels the other dav.
And 1t goes without saying that Won
can also tell something Of his disnosition
by the brand he generally smokes. For
instance, you see him coming ont from
the dining room after regaling the pbvs-
ical man with the delicacies Of first
class menu. He sits ON the cool side of
the building, draws long black cigar
from his pocket and bites about half an
inch of from one end, sets the other to
blazing and is soon putting great clouds
of smoke that ring and curl all around
him. If he pulls at it furiously, al
ways think he doesn't know how to en-
joy a good cigar He will probably
smoke two cigars while another man is
enjoying one. In that event, it is gener-
ally a mild weed that he prefers At
any rate, it is an indication of his nerv-
Gus temperament. Such man is never
happy unless he is in the midst of con-
slant change. He is impulsive and even
hot tempered. If you want to sell him S
any goods, it should be policy on your
part not to cross him if you can avoid it.
"Then there is the other fellow who E
methodically takes his knife out Of his s
pocket while he continues talking to his
companion and slowly trims the end Of
his favorite brand, returns his knife to 4
his pocket and settles back in his chair
for a quiet smoke. Putting the cigar
into his mouth, he generally chews the
end of it for five minutes before the
4, lighting operation is performed. AndN
when he puffs, you would hardly know
it. The delicate white ash hides the
fire, and the thin line Of smoke is hard 8
ly visible as it curls lazily upward. Yeti
he never has to relight his cigar. Such
q man is interpretive, cool in an emer-
genoy, logical in his thinking and just
the opposite in temper to the one / pre-
viously described If any thing star
tling should turn up, he would never ,apI
pear surprised. If he gets beat in
game of high five, he never shows hi
chagrin. And l venture to say that
his life purpose We're thwarted-and Ia
has one-very few people would evef
know it. he would suffer like the Spar
tan boy with the fox concealed unde
his coat and gnawing out his vitals y
Some would say this is all bosh, but S
fancy there is something in it," And
the man relapsed into silence again 70
; moment while he watched the blu
rings waited away by the cool breez
that is so graceful on a hot August day
Speaking Of the wicked habit 9
smoking. i" he continued after a minutd
~ Know a man who cOnscientiously id
/ clares that it is not so. He says that
Y he didn't know how to enjoy goSI
{, cigar he would have been poor ma
p. today. That sounds little strangl
; doesn't it? Well, this is how il haT
e pened, as the story teller says. He WI
seated in front of the Southern hote
= ST. Louis, one day. He was a travelir
man and had lit his after dinner ciga
A gruif looking gentleman was seatG
e next to him. He was smoking too. Thd
/. sat there in silence for several minute
d perhaps a half hour. Finally the drur
) mer was aroused from his reflections
> hearing an expression from his neig
q boris lips which Noah Webster new
~ invented. He was going through
- pockets for q match. The drummer n
litely rendered him one from his ne
little matchbox and handed him
1r cigar, too, adding that he had bett
Id take a fresh one. From that they Il
is to talking, first about cigars. The grI
ed gent warmed up at once and wanted
el know where the drummer got suei
~ choice cigar. 1t happened to be Fl
class brand which the htter had pick
up in the south. From that the two
into quite a pleasant conversation. Z
or drummer left town that evening. i
re they met by chance several times af
a that, and gradually warm friendsi
he sprang up between them.
H. Years afterward the travelling n
re- was engaged in the banking busine
nd OF course the only way drummer
nd becomes q banker is by the timely de-
NJ Of rich relative Well, he still retail
in the friendship Of his ST. Louis acquai
nd ance and often heard from him by
cd ter. The drummer was prosperous VI
les his bank, like many others in 1898,
VI drained with q terrific run. 1t seen
cd as though he must fail unless he ha
mo- few thousand dollars to tide over
an next day. AS he sat thinking the mat
-er over in the cool air of his front yar
re man came strolling through the fr
m. gate. It was his friend. OF course
or asked the banker what made him L
All so pale, and the story came out little
ed little. Tho next day the bank had
,es limited capital to back it and was
nd ON a solid footing. It was all thro
-be that cigar smoked several years bef
,se 80 the ex-drummer said. Now, my
ich would say that was no argument
mo such filthy habit, and that her hush
Re-. had never had any such fabulous exp
ence. That's the way with people
won't reason about these things,
it?'' And the travelling man pulled
be two fresh cigars from his pocket
at- left one behind as he went hurried