and grace whenever it was
assailed. The young gentlemen when in the society of the
young ladies generally join them in this unique use of
snuff, as they are always sure to be invited and urged if
they decline, and to merit their favor of course they must
appear social. I believe, in credit to their taste,
however, that they really prefer a good cigar, and think it
more in keeping with their ideas of manhood and neatness. I
have seen young girls of ten 'rubbing and chewing,' as if
they appreciated it as much as mother Eve did the apple in
the garden of paradise.

"I have also seen old ladies with trembling limbs and few
teeth 'rubbing and chewing,' as if it made them feel young
again. I have frequently been ushered unexpectedly into the
presence of young ladies, and found them puffing their
cigarettes in a manner that convinced me that they knew how
to smoke. There is nothing that will more surely and quickly
bring a stranger into the fellowship and good graces of the
ladies than to join them in their pet habit of
snuff-rubbing. It seems to form a bond of friendship which
they regard as sacred as the vows of wedlock.

"The older matrons 'rub' less and smoke more, which is in
accordance with nature and philosophy: The older we grow the
more we smoke. They find solid pleasure in sitting by the
open grate after tea with fifteen inches of pipe's tail
between their teeth, and slowly but gracefully puffing the
perfumes of the exhilarating weed into the room, and
watching with childish pleasure the hazy curling wreaths of
smoke as they gently float around, changing in form and
color until they finally disappear up the chimney, affording
rich themes for meditation and profitable study, and perhaps
suggestive of earlier days when grandmother, an innocent,
blooming maid, was exchanged for the weed, the seed of which
produced the plant she is now burning. Everywhere I marked
only pleasant and soothing effects from the use of tobacco.

"The planter is never more indifferent to the ills of life
and in sympathy with good feeling and pleasure, than when he
sits down after dinner in his vine-thatched portico and
lights his pipe, passing to his guests pipes, cigars, and
tobacco in various forms, leaving them to choose their
favorite m