The Home Circle | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Feb 11, 1886

The Home Circle.

"ONLY A CIGARETTE."

HE wrapped it up neatly in paper white— The very best weed he could get— "I'll try it; it surely can do me no harm, It's only a cigarette.

"It costs but the veriest trifle, you know, About two for a cent you can get;" But he couldn't see that meant dollars a year, 'Twas "only a cigarette."

His face was fair and his young step light, And his black eyes shone like jet; But listless he grew, and the doctor said, It was "only the cigarette."

He came to a clerkship, his mouth was filled At every sly chance he met; The boss—he scolded and warned in vain, It was "only a cigarette."

Then came the cigar, the lager, the pool, "I'll have fun to-night, you bet;" And every one asked, "I wonder who pays For 'only a cigarette'?"

The mother, she watched by the midnight lamp For the nightly return of her pet, And plead with her tears, that he no more would touch Just "only a cigarette."

But his face grew flushed, unsteady his step, And he heeded the warning he met Too late—and it came from that curse of the land, Just "only a cigarette."

—Christian at Work.