. Little helpers . elfishness. She wishedJohnnys wife, if he should be so for-tunate as to have a good wife someday in the far future, to love him alto-gether, not with a putting-up with one thing, and making allowances for another ; and she meant,when the time came, to lay the whole subject plainly before him,and let him choose rationally for himself. It was quite true thathis father smoked ; but he smoked very moderately, never where itcould annoy any one, and, whenever he bought cigars, he depos-ited a sum equal to that spent for them, in the little earthern jug with which he presented his
. Little helpers . elfishness. She wishedJohnnys wife, if he should be so for-tunate as to have a good wife someday in the far future, to love him alto-gether, not with a putting-up with one thing, and making allowances for another ; and she meant,when the time came, to lay the whole subject plainly before him,and let him choose rationally for himself. It was quite true thathis father smoked ; but he smoked very moderately, never where itcould annoy any one, and, whenever he bought cigars, he depos-ited a sum equal to that spent for them, in the little earthern jug with which he presented his wife oncea year, and this money was neither housemoney nor pin money; it was forMrs. Leslie to spend absolutely as sheliked. And Johnnys mother meant him,if he should smoke at all, to be just such asmoker as his father was. But on the third of July, as Johnnycame marching home, he met Jim at the usual corner, and Jimhad a long cigar in his mouth! Johnny felt a good deal thought Jim looked very manly 18 LITTLE HELPERS. {jf Have a cigar ? asked Jim affably. One of my best cus-tomers gave me this, he added, and the one Im smoking, andI tell you its not many fellows Id offer this to, for theyreprime ! It was a regular joke on him — hes always poking funat me, and this morning, when I said Id give anything to be asailor, he just pulls these out of his pocket, and says, seriously,1 Smoke these, my boy, and youll be as sure youre at sea asyou ever will if you really get there! He thought I wouldnttake em, but I did, and Jim chuckled, I thanked him kindly,and told him Id learned to smoke years ago ! Learned ? said Johnny, why, what is there to learn ? Itlooks easy enough. So it is, said Jim, with another chuckle, its like whatthe Irishman said about his fall; Sure, its not the fall, its thefetch up that hurts! I wasnt sea-sick after that first cigar?Oh, no ! not at all! and he gave an indescribable wink. All this time Johnny held the cigar doubtfully in his
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Keywords: ., bookauthorjanviermargaretthomso, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880
