The Lambertville record., 1907-06-05
MARK Tv!AlN'S STOGlEs.
The Effect They Produced on the After
Dinner Festivities.

Dinner Festivities.
ore night at the Hartford Monday
Evening club meeting George, our col
aa-i lutler, came to me when the sup
per Was nearly over. and | noticed that
!, wa4 pale Normally his complexion
waS Il Gear black and very handsome,
but now it had modified to old amber.
lie said:
MIR. Clemens. - 1 are We godng To
do: There is n1t . :slr in tie house
but those old NNhee.iag long mines.
Can't nobody smoke them hut YOU,
They kin AT thirty yards 1t is too
late TO telephone couldn't get amy
cigars out from town what can we
do? Amt II best 10 say nothing and
lei on tliat we didn't Think"
No" said. that would not be
honest Fetch out the long mines.
which he did.
| had just come across those long
mines" Il few days or n week before
| hadn't seen Il long nine for years
When | was II cub pilot on the Mis-
sissppi in the late hfties | had had n
y
We're not only-to my mind perfect.
but you could get basketful of them
for II cent or n dime. They didn't use
cents out there in those days. So when
| saw them advertised in Hartford
sent for Il thousand nj once. They
came out To me In badly battered and
disreputahle looking old square paste
II, hn
BROUGHT Il box. which was caved In on
all sides looking the worst II could.
and began to pass them around. The
conversation had been brilliantly ami
.a.=V1 Hp ta that moment, but new a
eT0-t fell upon the company-th that Is to
.a5. Hot all of Il sudden, but the frost
fell upon each man as he took up Il
cigar and held II poised In the mir and
there. III the middle. his sentence broke
off That Kind of thing Went on all
around tie table until when George
had completed his crime the whole
place WAS full of n thick soemnlty and
silence.
These men began 10 light the cigars
Rev. Dr Parker WAS the first man to
tlGills lie lllh iIi't VI lthl iitibiN
whlfs. then gave il up. lie got mp
with the remark that he had 10 go TO
the he rlSitle of n sick parishioner lie
started ont Rev. Dr. Burton WIS the
next mm. He took only one whiif
and followed Parker. He furnished Il
| preteNt. and you could see by the
sound Of his voice that he didn't think
much OF the preteNt and WIS NeNed
with rnflier for getting IN ahead with
II fictitious aling client. Rev Mr..
Twichel followed and said hc had to
~ uoW beeaese he must tal5e The mid
night train for Boston Beston was
tlie first plnee that occurred 10 him. |
suppose.
1t VAS only quarter To II when
they bc-an to eistrihute preteNts. At
ten minutes To | all those people were
out of the house When nobody WAS
| left BAT G ergo and me. | Was cheer
| full | had 10 compunctlonS of con
science, no griefs of amy kind. But
Gc0re3' WIS beyond speech bcenuse Ia
held the heror and credit of the family
above his OWL and he WAS assumed
IIl;l lllIS flltltD lluH lh'tn IlHl upon II
told him 10 20 u bed and Try To sleep
| II off | " II II bed myself. At break
| fast IN the morning when George WIS
Iassing n ,Up of coffee | saw II trcm-
Idle In his hand | knew by that sign
that there was something on his mind.
lie brought the cup to me and asked
imp"esSlvely
MIR Clemens, how far ii II from the
front door to the upper gatcT'
said. III Is a hundred and twenty
five steps"
lie said. "Mr. Clemens, you can start
at the front door. and you can go
plumb 10 The upper gate and tread on
one Of them cigars every time"
II wasn't true in detail but IN csScn-
tials II Was. Mark Twains Autobiog
iaphy ia North American Review