Page 1 Advertisements Column 5

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 4, Issue 204, 16 August 1860, Page 1

Snuff-Dipping by American Ladies.— A graphic account was published by one of our contemporaries a few days ago of the disgusting practice of ‘‘ snuff-dipping,” so extensively in vogue among women of all das es in the Southern States. People from- thenortb, travelling through Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Alabama, have been* astonished at beholding the open and matter-of-fact method of indulging in it—at feeing pretty young g'rls, love'y ladies, married women and single, sitting in circles, formed expressly for this purpose. Each snuff dipper h. s lnr.- lottle and swab-stick, or box .and m; p, from and ly which she. conveys the li thy dust to her lips, and then,., withdrawing the mop, perhaps passes it along to her neigh- - hour as an act of delicate attention. Many of, our readers will be surprised to learn that great mistake is made in supposing that this foul and pernicious habit is confined to the women of the south. It is more or Jess secretly in practice among the women of our own city, and to quite a considerable extent. Certain tobacconists on Broadway and the Bowery have established a reputation for the particular quality, of snuff, which they manufacture, and sell the greater portion of the amount here consumed. With them and their customers the practice is called “ digging,” instead of “ dipping,” and those who are slaves to it go by the name of “ diggers”—a name - that certainly seems most appropriate, if in-, tended to convey the idea of analogy - .between their habits and those of the. Digger Indians,. who, of all wretched and barbarous tribes,.. live on the most unnatural and loathsome diet. The votaries of snuff-chewing are not confined to any particular class of the women of ISew York. Though; probably it. is most prevalent among the poorer and uneducated >, females, yet all the sellers.agree, that a large.part of th.i demand is from genteel and highbred ladies in the fashionable walk-, of life. /f\>men of .all ages are among their customers, if'lie combination of the various snuffs is kept a trade secret by the manufacturers,..but about 20 per cent, is made up of, salt,;pearlash, and . other pungent substances, which add flavour aud sinnuia ing power to the article. Hundreds of women buy their snuff under thepretence of cleaning their teeth, and it is claimed by the dealers that all their “ digging” customers, old or young, have their teeth in a remarkably sound and lustrous condition. How the practice became so extensively spread -., in New York is not known, though it. is proba- . oly a Southern importation, and has not obtained much of a foothold until within the past fifteen years. Those who are addicted ; to it here do not display*their habit openly, as at the South, but conceal it carefully from their nearest friends, shutting themselves iu iheir rooms, aud secretly indulging in a snuff debaudi. They deposit the mixture with a peculiarly shaped horn or silver spoon iu the inside of the lower lip. There it is allowed to remain until thoroughly moistened, when ifr L passed around to the sides of the mouth, where it stays till exhausted of its essential powers. When this habit has once fastened upon a woman, she rarely, if ever, is able to shake it off. Keither ruined health, self-res-pe'et;- nor love for her husband, children, and, friends cau give her sufficient resolution to abstain from snuff-chewing. That our readers „ may form some idea of the enormous prevalence of this habit, in their midst, we may state that one tobacconist, having a small store on Broadway, letails 100 lb. per week to his “digging” customers alone.- His snuffing customers consume but 25 lb. Oue firm keeping a store on the Bowery and another down town make and set! three barrels (700 lb,) .inu the siine number of days, all of which is.consuined by women of New York city. The amount used by each “ digger” varies from one quarter of a pound to a pound per week... New York Herald.

The love of Ribbons and Crosses a . Universal Passion -—Titles are abolished; and aa American Republic swarms with men claiming the bearing them. -You .have, the French soldier cheered and happy in his dyiug agony, and kissing with frantic joy the chief’s hand who lays the little cross on the bleeding bosom. At home you have the dukes aud earls jobbing and intriguing for the Garter; the military knights, grumbling at the civil knighis of the Bath ;. the little ribbon eager for the collar; the soldiers and seamen from India and the Crimea marching in procession before the Queen, and receiving from her hands the cross bearing her royal name, remember, there are not only the cross wearers, but all the fathers and friends; all the women who have prayed for their absent heroes; Harry’s wife, aud Tom’s mother, and Jack’s daughter, and Frank's sweetheart, each of which wears in her heart of hearts afterwards the badge which son, father, lover, has won by, his merit.;; each of whom is. made happy and" proud, and is bound to the country by that little bit of ribbon.—«C 'ornhill Magazine for. May . ' ~ : ■