Stump of cigar, as I am, I have a history that is interwoven with that of human beings. When I was in the form of seed I was safely housed in a nice glass jar in a large seed store. For some reason or other I was given the best shelf in the show window.
One day a beautiful young lady came into the store and priced me.
"Why," said the clerk, "that is——"
"Never mind," said she, "what it is. I simply want to know the price."
He told her; she paid it, and bore me off gracefully.
"Ah," said I to myself, "I shall never again see the young man who comes every day and stops opposite the show-window." One windy day, as he stood in his usual place, a lady's hat came rolling along the pavement. What immediately followed this will be told further on.
As I said before, the lady bore me off gracefully. It was night when she entered her well-lighted apartment. "She will examine me," thought I, "and sniff me. Then how I will worship the tears that fall from her eyes."
However, I received no such attention as I had anticipated, for the young lady simply placed me in the center of a large table, sounded a bell, and began to talk, as if addressing someone present.
"You were there, weren't you? You will take me at my word, will you? Let's see. This is how it will go." She then walked to the middle of the floor and acted out a little play that will be given further on. As she finished, she turned to a young woman who was standing in the door and said harshly: "What do you want?"
"The bell sounded," replied the young woman.