HELEN MOLTON TO CLARA PETERS.
Yes, my dear Miss Peters, you are rightly informed.
I did say that, the ladies, or many of them, on your Eastern
Shore of Maryland; and, in your beautiful city of Baltimore
too, “were guilty of beastly practices.” You
cannot be ignorant of what I alluded to; for, when I met
you at Baltimore, you were in a fair way to follow their
example. Must I speak plainly? Do you forget what
they meant, by inviting you, frequently, to go into the
garden, or your room, and take a rub? Merciful heaven,
how often have I seen them, with all their heads together
in a bye place, before I knew what was meant by taking
a rub; and, when I found that it was a cant phrase, to express,
what my stomach turns at, while I write—the division
of snuff—to be taken by handfulls—you have no
idea how pained and humbled I felt. What! women!—
young and beautiful, getting into a corner, to eat snuff.—
The thing would be incredible, were it not known to be
very common. I know a remedy. Let their names be
published.
The women that I speak of, are accustomed to chewing
snuff, in such quantities, and so continually, as to
intoxicate them, and shatter their constitution. Clara
Peters—have you forgotten Mrs. C—, and the two
Misses P—? They consumed pounds and pounds of
snuff, till the hands of the former, shook like those of a
confirmed drunkard; and her head trembled, as if she
had the palsy; and the complexion of the two latter, the
younger of whom was once a blooming, sprightly girl,
became swarthy, sallow, and cadaverous. When I spoke
to them, and to you, my dear, for your folly in attempting
the experiment, what was their apology? They only
used snuff they said, to clean their teeth.—Faugh!—what
a filthy practice. But that was not true. They always
had a mouthful of it. They ate it, by spoonfuls; and
loved it, as they say in Maryland, mighty bad; and I told
them nothing more than was true—when I said, that it
was beastly—that it was the worst and most unpardonable
of all intemperance;—that it was eaten only to produce
inebriety, like opium, brandy, or tobacco, except
that, no tobacco-chewer,
beastly as he may be, consumes
a quantity like them. Yes—It was to that, that I alluded.
The practice
is beastly.
