ADVANTAGES OF DIPPING. 



247 



planter. For snuff the ladies have very nice round boxes 

 with lids which, they always carry with them full of black 

 snuff highly but pleasantly flavored. They also carry little 

 brushes or sticks about three inches long with pliable ends ; 

 these they wet in the mouth, then dip into the snuff-box, and 

 then place it in the mouth outside of the gums and rub earn- 

 estly for two or three minutes. * Will you dip with mef 



SNUFF-DIPPING* 



is the usual way of putting the invitation, when the box is 

 drawn from the pocket and rapped slightly on the cover, 

 sometimes by all present, who thus signify their readiness to 

 * dip,' then it is repassed open to all, and the ' dipping and 

 rubbing ' begins in earnest. 



" The only advantage I ever discovered in this unnatural 

 way of snuffing is in avoiding all unpleasant sneezing which 

 snuffing is sure to produce, although it is claimed that it 

 whitens and preserves the teeth and sweetens the mouth, and 

 produces a beneficial effect on the lungs, all of which is true 

 or not, just as you choose to believe. 'Will you dip and 

 rub with me V said one of the prettiest belles of Winchester, 

 and in another city in another state the daughter of an 

 ex-governor, handing me a silver-tipped brush and opening 

 a rose-wood snuff-box richly inlaid with gold, politely asked 

 me to * dip ' with her, expressing the belief that friendship 

 would always follow. I have frequently been asked by ladies 



