The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05

The use of snuff is on the increase in this
country The manufacturers know it; the
dealers find their sales increasing, and
Uncle Sans acknowledgements officials re-
cord the fact in their big annual reports.
The neYer-ceasing tide of immigration is
doubtless responsible for some of this in
crease. These liberty hunters bring their
bad habits with them-as well as their good
ones. From the south of Europe come the
Austrians. Bavarians, Hungarians and
Italians with their fondness for black
French rapee snuff; the Germans, Swedes,
Norwegians and Danes, who can't find any
thing that equals the Copenhagen brand,
just as black. but with faint suggestion
Of ammonia; then come the Scotch, Irish
and English, who stick pretty close to
Scotch brands; and so it goes. But these
people don't represent all the snuff users.
The greater part of the snuff sold in Mas
sachusetts every year is sold to mill girls.
These girls are clippers" or ''scourers,"
and they can be found in every mill town
from Berkshire to Cape Cod. There are
thousands of them.
Some, of course, use snuff as did our
very moral and highly respected maternal
ancestors of old; but this is not a common
practice. The great army of snuff users
in the State to-day are clippers" To
many of the present generation the mild
and sneezy dissipation of by-gone times is
but tradition. Then, possessed of a snuff
box. more or less ornate, as befitted the So
ciaI standing Of the owner, our great
grandmothers gently tapped the lid,
pinched the golden powder, and with a
skill only acquired by practice transferred
1t to the innermost recesses of the head.
n led
by a resonant inhalation. When the sounds
ceased the work was done, save the firt
of a delicate lace 'kerchief or the corner
of homespun apron to disengage the I'M
Tuly particles which refused to follow their
fellows. So they Snuffed when making for
NAL calls, and snuffed when making pies.
Too much snuff in the pies or some other
reason. caused the habit to become 0bso-
1ete for time in the old Bay State. Now,
years later, the New England girls, at
least those who live in the whirl of fac
tory life, have become abject worshipers
of King Tobacco. Not a few of them wres-
tie successfully with the seductive cigar
ette while in some instances their lips
more or less roSy-encircle a mild cigar,
mans size.
THE SNUFF DRUNKARDS.
But of the clippers" Not counting those
who have Sworn off, and they swear off
just like men, you know their name is
legion. A great many of them will never
swear off, because they can't; they are
snuff drunkards. To the average individ-
ual snuff dipping is only associated with
{. certain phase of Southern life; it savors
of the mountains of Georgia, of the pine
woods Of North Carolina; it is associated
with unfortunate conditions of life, with
ignorance. 1t becomes part and parcel OF
the daily existence of the poor Whites
the wcmen of the cracker class. One
is made familiar with this unpleasant pic
nf ifa nv fF-axy yb0 n,
held the mirror up to nature, and pictured
these ''lcW-down" women, with their gaunu
tobacco-stained lips. Not a pleasing pic
ture. truly, but Massachusetts, with its lit
Tie red schoolhouse-generally painted
white, hOWeVer-On nearly every hilltop,
can show similar one.
The difference is largely confined to
methods-nothing more. The Southern
- cracker woman lacks refinement. She
was born without it, and never has had
chance to, improve This shows itself in
the methods adopted in dipping and her
apparent Inconsistencies of any chance OF
improvement. Well, perhaps there isn't.
The Southern woman goes at it after
this manner: The dipper who would a-dip-
ping go first gets a soft stick. This she
proceeds to chew, mildly, but persistently
until the end has become ground into
something like q brush; in fact, it is a
homemade brush. This is the only imple-
ment required; tin box of snuff COM
pletes the outfit. The home manufactured
Swab is ''Wopsed' about in the snuff tin
until a sufficient amount of the stuff is OBJ
tanned. Then the soggy, snuff-laden brush
is poked into the mouth, the teeth and
gums Smeared with the sticky paste, and
then the stick is relegated to it's normal
position between the lower jaw and cheek
the handle left protruding from the mouth
Then the woman is all ready TO receive
the minister, which seldom happens or to
fry bacon, an everyday occurrence In the
case of a social gathering, it is not I'M
known for the hostess to calmly smear her
oN1 gums, and then, in the kindness of
her heart pass her secondhand brush and
4
until each visitor has sampled the donor
stock. Surely democracy could go no far
Their.
Just why New England girls should pat
tern after their Southern sisters would be
hard to determine, but they do. and the
big mills shelter an army of dippers slaves
to a most disgusting habit. and this too
in spite of q strong sentiment in oDpoSi-
ton. Spasmodic efforts have been made in
various directions to check the yearly in
creasipg consumption, but to little avail
other than to make the users more Sc
church took hold of the matter and to
such good purpose that Tor time the sales
very sensibly decreased.
THE MILL GIRLS BEGINNING.
The mill girls, when novitiates, apply
Snuff usually with a delicate brush, and
they are as secretive about it as a boy
securing his first shave. In some quiet
corner they fill the brush with the powder,
then gently dust the gums leaving only
II Ai4ullSu dAlOuul VI luS powder DenlDU,
just to try it, you know. A limited
amount. to be sure, but enough to create
in time a craving for doses not so homeo-
pathic, and also for more vigorous applica-
tions.
The candidate has now taken the first
degree in dipping, and it really must be
admitted that it is somewhat of an i'm
provement over the chewed stick of the
Southern woman. 1t isn't so primitive; it
suggests more refinement, if such a word
can be used in this connection. Then
again, the mill girl doesn't go about with
the stick protruding from her mouth. Oh
no; she knows that isn't becoming
Neither is she ready to acknowledge that
she is a victim of the habit 1t doesn't
take long to graduate into the second de-
gree, for soon the mild eXhlaration of
small doses of snuff fails of its purpose
The system raises its voice for more. So
the next lower grade of snuff dippers is
formed, not by a sudden step, but by a
mild graduation almost unnOticed.
One common method employed by the
girls in cotton mills is to use cotton waste
or tissue paper. Formed into the shape of
cornucopia. it is filled with snuff and
with a dexterity only acquired by practice
the Snun is sifted around the gums in the
desired quantities. Others form the waste
into long roll, and, having filled it, fold
It away around the jaw where as holv
writ hath it, they roll it like q sweet
mOrsel under the tongue
Perhaps the next in order are the SNUFF
chewers, practically a class by themselves
The younger chewers those who have re-