The Ladies Of North Carolina

Fashion, habit, usage, call it what you please, goes far, and in fact is almost omnipotent, in the regulations of society, and in the establishment of codes of manners and customs - sometimes even of morality. Hence, portions of these codes will differ in different communities. An almost extreme modesty is assumed by the Southern lady. Many subjects which would not give even the smallest offence to a Yankee woman, however delicate and refined she might be, would call up a blush or frown on the cheek or countenance of the Southern lady, indicative of a supposed offence to her modesty, or outrage on her dignity. Yet these same delicate females never have their modesty shocked, by having constantly in heir view, and in their presence and being waited on by scores of " little niggers," from one to twelve years of age, some with a whole shirt, and no other clothing; - more with half a shirt or less, and not a few in an entire state of nudity. It makes a Yankee man blush to see such things in and around a dwelling, and he naturally feels some degree of sympathy for the ladies, whose offended modesty he is apt to imagine must be painfully embarrassing to them. But, as he steals a further glance at the faces around him, he discovers no blush there, no embarrassment, no sign of mortification. He soon learns that such things are far too common to create surprise, and that the lady whose modesty would receive a severe shock, by accidentally seeing a white man divested of his coat and vest, can look complacently on hundreds of naked and half naked "niggers," without having her modesty, or her nervous sensibilities at all disturbed. What would be a Yankee lady's feelings under such circumstances? She would blush scarlet in the eyes. And yet, conventionally, the Southern lady is truly modest. Such is the potent effect of long established usage, even in innate laws. A Southern lady, I speak now of those of the old North State, though the mark will as properly apply to many others, a lady then of North Carolina is highly amused, though at the same time disgusted, on being told that some Northern females, though comparatively few, are snuff-takers, and really dispatch the article on its way to the head, through the twin avenues of the nose. She can scarcely credit you - it is "mighty strange." Yet, would you believe it, there is nine chances in favor, for one against, that this same Carolina lady, if she be more than "sweet seventeen," uses more than thrice that amount of snuff each day, of that used by the most incorrigible snuff-taker, male or female, in the Yankee land! But she does not snuff - she eats it! There is the difference. Should a Carolina lady invite a Yankee lady to "dip" with her, the latter would probably be at a loss to know what operation was intended. As the Carolina lady is not present to tell, permit me to become her proxy, and explain for her what it is to "dip." In the first place you must provide yourself a snuff-box, and fill it with yellow Scotch snuff. In the second place, you must procure a green twig of some sort, of the size of a large pipe stem; and having cut a piece of about three inches in length proceed to chew one end of it, until the wood shall have been converted to a "brush." In the third place, you insert your brush into the box, and take up with it a sufficient quantity of snuff, which you are to convey to the mouth! And thus you will sit, perhaps for an hour, alternately rubbing your teeth, chewing the brush, ejecting a portion of the nauseous dust, and permitting the remainder to pursue its own course; ever and anon replenishing the brush with a new supply. This is what is called "dipping." The habit soon becomes an inveterate one, and is almost universal. Those who practice it, invariably "dip" a length of time after eating, much of the time besides carrying the "brush" in the mouth, as the smoker does his cigar, and now and then subjecting it to the same process as the tobacco chewer does his quid. The brush and the box are the necessary accompaniment of the other contents of the "dipper's" pocket or reicule, and on no excursion, whether on a visit, to a party, a wedding or to church, or elsewhere are they left behind. What a nauseous, filthy and unhealthy habit, says the Yankee snuff-taker, and smoker, and tobacco chewer! Oh - says the Carolina lady "dipper," what mighty nauseous, filthy and unhealthy habits - smoking and chewing, and Yankee snuffing! For the world, she would not imbibe one of those habits, except possibly smoking, of which, many Carolina ladies are fond. And the snuffer, the smoker, and the chewer of the North, have an equal horror of dipping. So we go - "one's meat is another's poison." Let judges decide.