THE "SNUFF-DIPPING" LADY OF NEW YORK

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 2226, 22 February 1886, Page 2

THE "SNUFF-DIPPING" LADY OF NEW YORK

Nc* picture can be more revolting than the ono which is given by an American ■ authoreßß, Meta Lander, in a recent work in which she describes tho "snuff-dipping", that is prevalent not only among the poor women of the Southern States but among the ladies of New York. Circles of young and married ladies meet for • the express purpose of practising it. Each snuffdipper carries her bottle or box, and alsa a swab, by which she conveys tfc,e filthy stuff to her mouth, aftewara?,- perhaps, passing it to her neighbor,. Tho ladies prepare % spb.by taking a little stick of Hood, about ail eighth of an. inch in. diameter, and chewing one end, of it till the fibres are separated, giving it the appearance of a small broom. Saturating this with aafiva, they dip it hj&heir box of snuff, and then place it as f!y back in the mouth as possible, leaving the' other end sticking ouc. Many walk along the streets with the dip in their mouth'.' The New York tobacconists, who call the practictf "digaing," admit that a larg<> part of the demand conies from fashionable circles. One tobacconist havhfca small shop in Broadway, retails Ito&b per week to his M digging" customers. The amppt used by each digger varies (tojtr one quarter of a pound to a pound a week. A atory is told of one victim of tis terrible mania who, finding when she had started on a voyage that sho had forgotten her snuff-box, gave * a black stewardess five dollars for a little of the baneful dust which she had in tier possession. " Alas for the woman," says Miaji Lander, "who has surrendered'herself ta this vilest habit! The costliest gifts, ans the. most earnest rebukes, sue, alike unavailing. Neither conscience nor reason, neither ruined health nor pleading friends canity^