ha! um h'm! In that you seem to be of one mind with my friends here,
the Dinsmores and Travilla," remarked Lilburn, lighting one for himself
and placing it between his lips. "I wonder now if you know what you miss
by your abstinence?"

"Well, sir, as to that, I know what some of my friends and acquaintance
would have missed if they had abstained from the use of the weed. One
would have missed a terrible dyspepsia that laid him in his grave in the
prime of life; another cancer of the lip which did the same by him after
years of horrible suffering."

"Ah ha! um h'm! ah ha! But surely those were rare cases?"

"I think not very."

"You don't think the majority of those who use it feel any ill effects?"

"I do indeed; though probably comparatively few are aware that tobacco
is the cause of their ailments."

"Doubtless that is the case," remarked Mr. Dinsmore. "I was a moderate
smoker for years before I discovered that I was undermining my
constitution by the indulgence; at length, however, I became convinced
of that fact, and gave it up at once: for that reason and for the sake
of the example to my boy here, who has been willing to profit by his
father's experience, and abstain altogether."

"I have never used the weed in any way," said Horace, Jr.

"And I," remarked Travilla, "abandoned its use about the same time that
Dinsmore did, and for the same reasons. By the way, I met with a very
strong article on the subject, lately, which I cut out and placed in my
pocket-book."

"Ah ha! um h'm! suppose you give us the benefit of it," suggested
Lilburn good naturally, "I'm open to conviction."

"With all my heart, if you will step into the gentlemen's cabin where
there's a light."

He led the way, the others all following, and taking out a slip of paper
read from it in a distinct tone, loud enough to be heard by those about
him, without disturbing the other passengers.

"'One drop of nicotine--extract of tobacco--placed on the tongue of a
dog, will kill him in a minute; the hundredth part of a grain picked
under the skin of a man's arm, will produce nausea and fainting. That
which blackens old tobacco pipes is empyreumatic oil, a grain of which
would kill a man in a few seconds.

"'The half dozen cigars which most smokers use a day, contain six or
seven grains--enough, if concentrated and absorbed, to kill three men,
and a pound of tobacco, according to its quality, contains from
one-quarter to one and a quarter o