Evening journal., 1910-05-03
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
How | Saved" Mark
TWain'S Life
BY "Holland."

one morning in the late eighties /
met Mark Twain in the office Of a
mutual friend.
Il am come to see you on an err
raid OF mercy" he said. as he shook
hands. You can save my life. You
must have observed my distraction.
because / have appeared upon The
streets these mornings wearing my
somewhat rusty silk hat and a sack
coat | have been told that this is a
highly improper thing to do in New
York, and while l am temporary
sojourner here l am anxious to OBJ
serve the proprietes"
saw that behind this jesting Mark
Twain had a real purpose in mind,
and In moment or two he revealed
it,
MY friends for some years now
have remarked that / am an inveter-
ate consumer OF tobacco" he said.
That is true. but my habits with re-
gard TO tobacco have changed. I have
no doubt that you will say. when I
have explained to you what my pres-
ent purpose is, that my taste has de-
Perforated, but I do not so regard It.
Let mo tell you briefly the history
Of my personal relation to tobacco. IT
began, ! think, when I was "a lad, and
took the form Of quid. of which ]
became an expert I'm tucking under my
tongue. Afterwards l learned the de-
lights Of the pipe. and ! suppose there
was no other youngster of my age
who could more deftly cut plug to-
bacoo so as to make IL available for
pipe smoking
well, time runs on, and there came
time when / was able 20 crafty one
of my youthful ambitions could buy
the choicest Havana cigars without
seriously interfering with my income.
smoked a good many. changing off
from the Havana cigars to the pipe
in the course of a days smoking.
AT last IL occurred to me that
something was lacking in the Havana
cigar II did not quite fulfil my
youthful anticlpations. / experiment.
ed. l bought what was called a seed
leaf cigar with a Connecticut wrap
per. After a while / became satiated
Of these and 7 searched for something
else. The Pittsburgh stogie was re-
commended to me. II certainly had
the merit of cheapness. if that be a
merit in tobacco, and 1 experimental
with the stogie. Then, once more, /
changed off, so that I might acquire
the subtler flavor OF the Wheeling
toby. Now that has palled. and have
been looking around New York in the
hope OF finding cigars which would
seem to most people vile, but which,
I am sure would be ambrosial to me.
/ can't find any. They have put into
my hands some of those little things
that cost ten cents a box. but they
are delusion 1 would sooner smoke
sweet fern cigarettes.
so / want to know If you can di-
rect me to an honest tobacco mer-
chant who will tell me what Is tho
worst cigar In the New York market,
excepting those made for Chinese
consumption wan real tobacco
and II you will do this
and find the man is as good
as his word. I will guarantee him a
regular market for a fair amount OF
his cigars"
saw Mark Twain was really in
earnest and after making some in
quiry took him to a tobacco dealer
who 1 knew would tell the truth; who
II a cigar was bad. would badly say
so. I introduced the humorist TO this
man, explaining our errand, and nc
produced what he called the very worst
cigars he had ever had IN his shop