TOBACCO LEAVES 



in letters of gold on a blue ground, " The 

 Russell Sage Cigar." 



Mr. Sage thought it one of the best 

 of jokes, and said: 



"John, you smoke, don't you?" (He 

 had " caught " me in the act about five 

 hundred times, by appearing at absolutely 

 uncalled-for hours, in the office, for about 

 nine years.) 



I answered in the affirmative, and he 

 said: 



" Well, here's a present for you," and 

 he handed me the box, then went up to the 

 Western Union Building to attend a meet- 

 ing of the directors, and I lit up. 



There was a broker that had cheated 

 me out of a commission, in an office across 

 Broadway, and to him I hurried with that 

 box of cigars, after I had smoked one of 

 them for a minute and a half. I presented 

 the box to him. 



40 



