After these homestretch efforts
Americans feel the need often of stimulants, or of a soporific, and this
they try to find in a cigar."
"Your views are wrong, I think. One would naturally infer that the use of
tobacco shortens life. Let me relate to you an incident.
"I was once in Sandusky, Ohio, and spent an evening at a lecture given by
Trask, the great anti-tobacconist. In his discourse he had reached the
climax of his argument, proving as he thought that tobacco shortened
life, when a well dressed man in the audience rose and said, 'Mr. Trask,
will you pardon me if I say a few words?'
"'Oh, yes' said the lecturer, 'give us the facts only.'
"'Well, Mr. Trask, there is living to-day in Castalia, southwest of here,
a man nearly a hundred years old and he has been a constant user of
tobacco since early childhood.'
"For a moment Mr. Trask stood nonplussed. To gain time for thought
he fell back upon the Socratic method, and began asking questions.
'Stranger, won't you stand up again so that the audience can see you?
Thank you! Evidently you are an intelligent citizen and reliable witness.
Did you say you knew the man?'
"'O yes, I have known him for over fifty years.
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