24 THE ORIGIN OF TOBACCO. 



The French give Sir Francis Drake 

 the credit of carrying it to England, and 

 there is no doubt but what Sir Walter 

 and Sir Francis succeeded in making 

 tobacco a fashionable luxury. From 

 there it spread. Every lover of the plant 

 can easily imagine the rest. 



THE ORIGIN OF TOBACCO. 



THE Prophet was taking a stroll in the 

 country when he saw a serpent, stiff with 

 cold, lying on the ground. He compas- 

 sionately took it up and warmed it in 

 his bosom. When the serpent had re- 

 covered, it said : 



"Divine Prophet, listen. I am now 

 going to bite thee." 



" Why, pray ? " inquired Mahomet. 



"Because thy race persecutest mine 

 and tries to stamp it out." 



" But does not thy race, too, make 

 perpetual war against mine?" was the 

 Prophet's rejoinder. "How canst thou, 





