At the Tobacco Store

At what time shall we set out on our way to visit the boarding house? We ought to leave early for we have not our bearings yet. Why are you stopping? I have lost my cigarettes, I believe. Hunt through your pockets. No, they are not there. I didn't pay attention when I was dressing and I left them at the hotel. Let us look for a tobacco store. We shall soon see one.

1 having eaten. 2 I regret it. 3 Present subjunctive.

What does that signboard announce? I can't read it from here. I believe that they x sell tobacco there. Let us cross the street. I beg your pardon, madame, but have you any English cigarettes? I have only French brands, sir. Please show me those that you have. Here they are on the counter with the cigars.

You can make your selection among these. Are they the only ones 2 that you have ? Generally I have many others, but a crowd of Americans entered here this morning and bought them all. I was glad of it because that brand was not selling 3 well. My customers insist on smoking the others. If I don't have the kind that they want, these customers begin to smoke their pipes.

Why don't the French tobacco stores sell a greater number of brands of cigars and 4 cigarettes? Because the government has the monopoly of the sale of tobacco in France. Do you mean that the government does not permit all the merchants to retail it in their stores? Yes, and besides, the growing of tobacco cannot be done by any farmer whatsoever, but only by those who have received the government's authorization for it.

Then who has the right to retail it? Those to whom the government gives this permission. Oh, I understand now why the merchant in those little shops is generally a crippled soldier or the widow of a former soldier. The sale of tobacco furnishes the 5 government an admirable way of rewarding the man who has made great sacrifices for the country. That is a fine privilege, isn't it ? It permits this man to earn his living honorably.