The Forest Republican

Snuff Eating.

City druggists have very many glimpses in the inner life of their customers. "I want five cents worth of snuff," said a little woman, as she bent over the counter of a drug store this morning and whispered the order in the clerk's ear with a mysterious mien. Glancing furtively around to assure herself that there were no witnesses to the transaction, she added: "It's for another lady. I never use the stuff." Picking up a neatly wrapped little bundle in white paper, she placed it to her nose to assure herself that it was the genuine article, then flung down a nickle and hurriedly left the store. "Here, Johnny," said the clerk, turning to a boy who was standing behind the prescription case in conversation with a reporter, "put up some more snuff. All those packages we made last night are gone already. Hurry up. Here's another customer across the street. Yes, our chief patrons are women. We have no male callers for snuff at all. The men chew tobacco instead. Of course no woman buys the snuff for herself. The purchase is made for a neighbor or a friend. I have heard women complain of the stuff, which they said they were buying for another woman. The habit, when once begun is more binding than I understand, is very fascinating, and either chewing tobacco or smoking. In its strength to enslave the will it approaches the power of narcotics."