San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1897-10-03
MY FIRST CIGARETTE.

ing-that, algebra--and--
got-early--
MY FIRST CIGARETTE.
How 1 pity the baby boy,
AS he rides in his basinette;
For o, it's manly joy
To be seen with a cigarette.
And stroll about and strut,
Like high school marionette;
Though my eyes are nearly shut
With the smoke from the cigarette.
And l feel quite grown up now,
Though 1 may not marry YETI
With tow row row row row,
And hurrah for the cigarette.
o, give me my little bed,
A wrapper, a serviette,
To bind round my aching head,
To stifle that cigarette.
For my brain it whirls and sings
Like a midnight clarionette,
And my tongue is burnt and stings,
From that wretched cigarette.
o, bury me underground
In a gloomy onbliette,
Where the world stops going round,
And the sell no cigarettes.
Some Of us survive the ordeal, and,
later on, feel brave enough to try
cigar. Kind nature usually provides
for this interesting occasion an elon-
gated specimen of unclassified heritage
which burns at eccentric angles, and
needs a pair of bellows to keep alight.
We do our best to appear at home with
the formidable creature. We hold it
with two fingers, twist it in your
mouths, retain the smoke as If we rel
ished it,fiick the ashes off,, and general
ly manage to keep up appearances,
unless We are unfortunate enough to
suck the wrong end, when many things
happen; but the news-boy usually
picks up the reversion.
1t is all very foolish and childish,
this longing to be thought man; but
not any more absurd than the veter-
ans belief that he can tell a good ci-
gar. No wonder the tore-keeprs be-
come morose. and cynical and stick
Universities of humanity outside their
portals, as they watch daily the pinch
ing and shifting that takes place before
a quarter is paid for a nickel cigar.
Whence this odor softly stealing
On the gentle, summer air,
To my inner self appealing,
Till 1 wish l wasn't there?
Does 1t come from famed Havana,
Disregarding duties claim,
In a surreptitious manner,
Yelled beneath some other name?
Was it in the Indies captured?
Grown in Trichinopoly?
Or in Callia manufactured,
AS a state monopoly?
Can it be some gem assorted
From Virginia or Key West,
Which was meant to be exported
Wrapped in silver, labelled best"
No, think that subtle flavor,
Though it's strength 1 gladly grant,
Has a certain smack and SAVIOR
OF the humble cabbage plant.
A good many people would like to see
every cigar. every cigarette, every
shred of tobacco burnt; other people
would be glad to do the burning, but
like the young man John in the "Au-
tocrat of the Breakfast Table" they
would prefer to choose their own me-
thod. There are two sides to this
question as to most others and youth
full smokers usually put them both on.
The poor smoker has had cold water
thrown on his harmless luxury ever
since the servant tried to extinguish
primordial pipe of the great Sir Wal
ter. A good many of the arguments
against it are about as logical as that
of Queen Elizabeth who condemned 1t
as unnatural, because we were not
born with chimnies at the back of our
necks, which was about as sensible as
saying that Eve ought not to have
worn fig leaves because she wasn't
born with any branches. The most
cogent argument in it's favor, is, that
it is very nice, and, as this is the sole
raison d'etre of a-many things We do,
1 fear the custom will continue to the
end of the chapter.
When the days work is over, and du-
ty is done,
And the evening Of rest and refresh
ment is begun,
For true Taxation there's naught can
compare
With a book and pipe and big
easy chair.
o, it's good to be off when the summer
is hot
To stay for a while in a cool shady
spot;
But we never need sigh when it's time
to repair,
To our book and our pipe and our big
easy chair.
D it's fine to go forth on a clear frosty
morn
To the lanes and the fields with the
hounds and the horn