A REFLECTIVE TOBACCONIST.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1041, 4 January 1884, Page 4

A REFLECTIVE TOBACCONIST.

“A.-certain tobacconist of my acquaintance (writes a correspondent to the Pall Mall Gazette), modest as is his occupation, has always seemed to me one of the happiest of men. He is prosperous, he has a keen sense of humor, and -every person who enters his shop contributes to his entertainment as well as to his coffers. His very manper, is ,a,sedative as calming as the LataTda which he dispenses. For years bis chief pleasure has been in the preparation of a philosophical treatise on character reading. Some experts pro-.

fess to judge a man on the evidence of his-band writing. My tobacconist sells a cigaj-to a customer, and sums up his character as the result of the sale. He has formulated his system, and meanwhile I betray no confidence in revealing follows, more interjectional than is good perhaps, but the pearls dropped through periodic clouds of smoke :— ‘ An even-tempered, quiet map never So es to an extreme in dhoosipga tobacco; a nervous man wants something.strong and furious ; a mild maii'* something that smokes, and nothing more. There is a great deal ift- the J way men handle their cigars. If a man smokes his cigar only epough to Hccp it lighted, and relishes trying it from between his lips to puff a curl of blue smoke into the_ air, set him down-as easy-going. He has keen perceptions and delicate sensibilities. He will'not create trouble, but is apt td See it out when it is once begun. ’ Bewafe of, tjh.e . nian who never releases the cigar from the grip Of his teeth, and iff indifferent whether it burns or dies. He is cool, calculating, and exacting. Jig Sa'Seldom energetic physically, but live3‘easily offthose who perform the Ipppf. .A man who smokes a bit, rests a-.bit, and fumbles the cigar more or less, is apt to be easily affected by circumstances! -If the cigar goes out frequently, the man has a whole-souled dfsrpdsitioh,’ is a devil-may-care sort of fellow, with a lively brain and a glib tongue, and generally a 1 fine fund of anecdotes. To hold half of the cigar in the mouth and smoke indifferently is alslzy man’s habit. They are generally - of little force, and their characters are not of the highest strata. A nervous mpn, or one under exciting influences, fumbles his cigar a great deal. He is a kind of popinjay among men. . Holding the cigar constantly between his teeth, chewing it occasionally, and not caring whether or not it has' been lighted at ally are characteristics of men with the tenacity of bull-dogs. They never forget'anything, and never release .a hold, The fop stands his cigar epd, and.'an inexperienced smoker pmpts it straight ahead or almost pit-right: angles .with his course.” Such aieiSome -of. the reflections made behind the ebunter of my unambitious but jreflective friend.