The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-09-05
A BRISTOL MANS COLD TEA.
ONE BOTTLE COST HIN eI,ooO, AND
HE sWORE OFF.
Az otd Merchant whe Lives on Lively Reeol-
IeetIous nnd sTistsi Birdssye-ue Esti-
mates Hsw EouG n GreenhouSe wouid sap
port Llfe-An Investment In Monte Carrie.

At last" said the Bristol merchant. After
being used to our western cliffs and woods all
my life. I sit in this icnced-in square Of a Sun
day morning ard teebly try to imagine myself
in the country. But we must take things as
they come. I suppose
1t was Torrinston square that he was sitting
In: and what he took as II came was q large
black tobacco pouch from his pocket, prepare
tory to loading his pipe; one OF the great black
rubber bags known as the Cambridge pouch"
that will hold nearly half a pound each whom
fully charged. And It 10 only by courtesy that
he is called the British merchant. for some years
have passed since he did a large business in that
lively west-ot.England city. H" is such a jolly
dog when under sail, 90 childlike in his inno-
eencc, and 30 hrimful Of good stories, that his
friends refuse to know that he is spending the
afternoon OF life as n roorly-paid clerk in Lon
don. To them he Is still the Bristol merchant.
Now look at that /" said he, holding up the
pouch. so nearly empty that it's lean sides
wrinkled. That's a nice way TO buy tobacco.
isn't it'll To 20 into q little shop and ask for An
ounce OF birdseye, please! Why. it's not so
long since I've had Ave, ten-yes, sometimes
twenty tons at q time Of that stun stored in my
warehouse"
He pretended TO bemoan his fate; but 1t was
all pretence. for he 10 the kind OF man to laugh
at fate and light . fresh pipe.
80 you smoke birdseye, do you r the Amer
lean asked. The American 10 such a favorite
with the Bristol merchant that the Bristol
merchants English friends arc almost jealous.
His business was largely with America and the
West Indies, and an American is a sort of re-
hinder OF richer days. 1t would not do to say
happier days. for the Bristol merchant in his
poverty is happy as a lark.
Always" he replied: Bristol oirdseye, the
ounce, I wish I could have sold it by the ton at
that rate. Cigarsi No: cigars are q vanity. I
used to smoke them entirely when I had tobacco
In stacks. 1t is over two months since l have
smoked a cigar. Do you know how I came to
stop it'll I was walking across London Bridge
one Sunday morning and bought a cigar on the
Surrey side; price fourpence. BY the time l was
across the bridge 1t was smoked uu. and l threw
the stump into the Thames. There goes two
days good smoking in ten minutes said l..
One cigar. fourpence. One ounce Of Bristol
biriseye. fourpence. An ounce lasts two days.
No more cigars for the subscriber. Can't AFFORD
IT. You see a man never stops to consider what
fourpence is worth till he hasn't got the four
pence. You raise a great deal Of this stun in
your country" he added, tapping the pouch.
Il great deal" the American admitted.
THAT is American tobacco you are smoking.
though you manufacture it in Bristol and call 1t
Bristol birdseve. l don't see why you don't
raise IL in this country"
Climate untavorable." said the merchant,
twirIing the pouch in his fingers as II thinking
| OF something else. VERY unfavorable."
why. your climate Is all right for 1t, the
American insisted. They raise good tobacco
away up in Quebec. though they don't know
how to cure it. You have plenty OF heat here,
That's the trouble the merchant laughed
too much heat. Thew make it TOO hot for any
body who tries to raise tobacco. Two had a
big greenhouse. with a little land around it.
Now a greenhouse in the hands OF a Creenhorn
with no money Is about as useful as \ drove OF
cameis. | figured up how long ! could live on il.
and found that I'd eat and drink up the beams
an all the glass in about four months. That
wouldn't do. go l set my old head to work. and
determined 10 make a new fortune out oil
s9ssSfS, ! es sns , esi sse the grow yStH iS , PIsa aeid in Ana IND
ever saw. But one day a stranger came in and
That a nne LOT of tobacco plants you have.
said BE-
This was ali. He turned around and weni
OF. Two or three days afterward the revenue
"'That'sa dno lot Of tobacco plants you have,
~""So i've been told said l..
But. I'm sorry to say. you'll have to pull
them all up. said he.
az think hardly said l..
LOOK mere. oio Liam. salo ne. don I Do Q
into troubled It's 400 and Six months, arsi
offence, to raise tobacco in this country. III
not allowed; you know. II YOU want to raise 4
few plants In your garden for ornament that
all right: but you can't rise it to manufacture.
now. / haven't examined these plants yet. con
sequently l don't know whether they re tobacco
or not. But II you Ii take q friends advice you'll
pull them I'd and have no more said about IT.
We'll. never wa an oostintte m IN: | had
the plants pulled up. II I hadn't been n loyA
Briton I'd have sent them TO the First Lord o.
49, 800, .-I rutsA htrN 10 r.F Rb.-n Is
his pipe and smoke hem. a man can raise al
the tobacco be likes IN your country. can't he =
Il don't know who would stop him." The
'Thsi's the diHerence," the merchant wen
on. when = man gets down oyer Their. be
can pull himself together again. But when HI
getsdown here, why he can Just fail back on his
birdseye, at fourpenee IN ounce" and no rehllet
In this country when the moneys rolling In.
e essbs, "a. sIr. in M Len do b P:rtl9nlHIE Il, 6 6Ss . s9sssIi
like living TO stay here. There's such a rumpul
always in tho street: i gives N" The dazzles
keep your end up. rs one q the good point
Of pleasant days he has passed. You may TAI
nifty times, but there are your pleasant recollec
tons stu left. and al The 6,nkruptey courts II
am living very largely on memories just now
pieastnt memories and Bristol birdseye..
1t vas a high pressure sort Of life. that's a fact
But do yon know I lost a lot Of money once b.
being a Temperance man for a few daysi Fact
You see our business wis mostly with the ship
ping, export and import, and everything depend
cd on being on good Terms with the c. ptaIns-be
ing sociable with them. nd making them happy
When a ship 10 in a foreign port II rests mostl,
with her Captain to decide where he will hu,
his stores-or his cargo. II she Is q trader an,
CARRIES goods to soil on the own RS accouni
Many ID ship used to come over from German
or Holland or some other continental countr
on a trading voyage to America or the West In
dies, or, may be, the west coast OF South Ameri
ca. with half a cargo. the other half TO be bough
in BristoI-becRusc some goods could he bouRh
cheaper in Bristol than on the Continent.
Iii was necessary for us 10 be on good term
with those CT ptAins-and with all the rptsin,
for that matter. SO ~e had a little room back @
the office furnished like a parlor, where the
could come and smoke our tobacro and drtn
our brandy and champagne and BE- sociabl
with US and with each other. 1t was Ike "A clut
house for them, their great meeting place, AN
OF course there were no bills to pay. Furnishin
the stun was a small matter TO US. Tor We hn
plenty OF everything in the warehouse-an
iiauor and tobacco coming in by Wholesale Ia
tribe cheaper. you know, than birn's-eye at four
pence an ounce. But being sociable with ia
OF that fell 70 me. Many a Captain who will nc
touch u drop OF liquor AT sea feels that he ha
extra pri vilrges on shore. In general they di
not care so much Tor chninpaene, but when
came 10 brandy they wore, like dry spongea