"Not only do smoky editors take advantage of this weakness of our
president, but tobacconists, greedy of gain, are subjecting it to their
sordid purposes. Hitherto these gentlemen have insulted the public taste
by posting at their shop doors some savage, some filthy squaw, or some
unearthly image, to invite attention to their cigars and 'negro head
tobacco.' And all this seemed appropriate. But cupidity is audacious, and
they now insult American pride by installing at their doors a full,
life-like, wooden bust of General Grant offering to passing travellers a
cigar. Emblems of majesty are not rare. We have Jupiter with his
thunderbolt, Hercules with his club, Ahasuerus with his sceptre,
Washington with his Declaration of Independence, Lincoln with his
Proclamation of Liberty to four millions, and now, in this year of our
Lord, we have President Grant and his cigar!
[Illustration: SIGN OF THE TIMES.]