Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1866-10-25
Tea: A Womam's Brink.

Never has a masculine mind fully appre-
ciated or worthily estimated the subtle and
peculiarly refined qualities Of this beverage.
Since the death of DR.. Johnson it has been
hardly dealt with by many a caustic pen,
until Grabbed spinsters have appeared to be
the fitting presiding priestesses of the tea
table. AS we, all Of us, need our 'sspree,"
so also in this state of undeveloped human
organism, we require our stimulant; it is
to us what the spur is to the racing horse
we do with its use what we could not do
without its agency. And if, as I believe,
tea is one of the "good and perfect gifts :"
descending to us from above in pity for our
weakness, given to sustain US when we are
weary in daily well-doing, surely upon
nothing can we mora properly invoke a
blessing than upon this same much abused,
much valued Soup of tea"
Something more than two hundred years
ago, Pepys mentions in his admirable diary
of fashionable gossip: 81 did send for a
cup of tea "a Chinese drink, of which l
had never drank before;" and it was then
SO rare beverage in England as to COM
mand fifteen dollars pound!
In many of the agricultural districts in
England, saga and other herb drinks are
still in vogue, and the tisGnnes of the French
and Swiss are not yet replaced by bona tide
tea. In Morocco they combine tisGnne with
tea, putting sugar in the teapot with tanzy
and mint. In Thibet they boil the leaf
with water, flour, butter, and salt, eating
| the vegetable mess like dish Of spinach !;
and thus, it is recorded, did an English
country dame serve up pound of the pre-
cious plant sent her by London friend
boiling it in pan and dressing it with salt
and butter. Ta 8@.tEfHG #lt
During the next century no pains were
spared to destroy the "raging epidemical
madness of importing tea into Europe from
China The most influential journals
opened their columns to the fercest de-
nouncers of this excellent soother and
stimulant. Physicians reviewed, and politi-
cal economists Joined in the decry, until the
late DR.. johnson was reused to its spirited
defense. Johnson was, as he bravely con-
fesses, shardened and shameless in his
use of China" with tea amusing the even
ing, with tea solacing the midnight, with
tea welcoming the morning. Recent re-
searches into the peculiar properties of tea
claim for it the power of "ealm, placid
exhilaration, gently stimulating the stom-
ach when fatigued by digestion" It also
saves food, by its action in preventing vari-
Gus tfwastes of the system, and renders it
peculiarly acceptable to elderly persons, in
whom these wastes go on very rapidly,
while their stor' his assimilate less and less
| Of the nutrit rtion of food. = aiii
f. One ounce good tea contains about ten
grains Of theme; from three to four grains
of this theme is healthful amount for a
day, so that three ounces of really good tea
is more than a person in ordinary health
should consume in week.
i Tannin, the astringent element in tea, is
attracted by heightened infusion, and tc
avoid the effect of its astringency, the tea
should be used soon after the not water is
poured over it. AS this astringent quality
must constitute what was recently called
the 'sslow suicide of drinking tea at break
fast" it Win De seen how easily it can be
avoided
Tie lyrical ode painted on almost all tht
pig-tail teapots, concludes with: sat YOU
ease drink the pure liquor, which will drive
away the fee causes of trouble
Il An enterprising French firm has lately
imported and introduced in Paris an orchi(
from the island Of Bourbon, calleG
'.Fahim," said to be most agreeable sub
stitute for tea; the leaves are simply dries
, fat, as specimens in an herbarium; the in
fusion is of a light color, and of highly
, aromatic perfume, being of the same family
, as vanilla. The natives of this and adioin
ing islands have always preferred it to tea
and all travellers have indorsed their opin
ion. George Sand eulogized it thirty years
!: ago in an eloquent description of the isle o
Bourbon. 1t combines the tonic and diges
! tive attributes of tea without its tendency Il
, nrnducn sleanlnSsnpsc
: Upon all these, however, the womanly
, regard rests with but slight favor tea is Il
US the soothing, inspiriting draught tha
wins us from dependency, and creates fol
us fresh supply of that energy we so mucl
f need in our daily routine of never-endins
: cares. Truly says Thackeray, "Natur
i meant very gently by women when she mad
, that tea plant @
The Chinese herb may be said to stand il
,, / the same relation to woman that Tobacco
does to man. OF the latter, I think it i
Bulwer who says: g He who does not smok
has either known no griefs, or refusetl
himself the softest consolation next to tina
: which comes from Heaven" So in tn
$ matter of tea, woman who comprehend
e not the subtle. delicate potency of Thu
at cheering" decocti9n, should never know