The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-11-14

Rigid enemies of alcoholic drink often
assure us, IN poetieal and ecstatic Ian
guage, that water is the only reasonable
and right drink for man, as for other ami
mails; but the water which they recon-
mend and describe as gushing and spark
ling in mountain rills does not come to
the hearth and home of every mountain
dweller, much less is it at,ainable by the
inhabitants of cities or boggy plains.
The hardy beasts of the field, if they can
get the water pure, manage to endure its
coldness in all seasons; so perhFps might
we, if we could recover ROBUSTNESS of the
stomach without losing any advantage of
a developed brain.
That such recovery is impossible is not
here asserted, but simply that, under the
existing circumstances, the water
Through its impurities or its coldness)
often needs to be cooked, to be warmed,
to have then some taste superadded which
shall overcome mawkishness. When this
is conceded, the question arises, will no
native botany suffice? Are we of neces-
sity driven to import tea from China or
Assam? Such are the wonderful and
deep harmonies of nature, that in each
long inhabited country the constitution
of animals becomes adapted to its plants
as well as 20 its climate, and finds among
them not only its food, but its remedies
for disease. F. ...
Native herbs are often found more
health-restotinS than pretentious foreign
drugs; nor is it extravagant to imagine
that native leaves and berries might
adopt themselves as we'll to the palate of
Engishman as tea and coffee, and better
to their stomach, if, instead of buying
from the foreigner; we had duly studied
our home resources. In the case of cof-
fee, it curiously happens that there are
persons among us who prefer what is
called dandelion coffee to the coffee of
Arabia; and that the preference is sincere
seems proved by the accident that the
dandelion thus prepared is dearer than
the best Mocha. Nor does this dearness
weigh against our argument.
Twenty years ago brown bread was
charged by bakers as fancy bread; ten
years ago lentils were double their pres
ent price, in each case because the de-
mand was so uncertain. The price of
dandelion would qnickly come down if it
were in large and daily request. As sub
stitutes for tea, many leaves may be
named which will not be called simply
medicinal, prominently those of the
sweet bay, the peach and the black cur
rant. If we were, by any cause, cut
off from tropical markets, some combina-
ton would soon be discovered which car
ried off pnblic preference; and when a
national taste in it had once been estab-
lished, every good purpose would have
been attained without the foreign article.
Should we not in that case moralize
with wonder over the vast apparatus of
great ships, which had been built and
manned, and stored, and sent to sea, with
loss of sailors lives, entaiing widow
hood and orphanhood, for no better
reason than to bring back leaves, for
which adequate substitutes abound at
home? This argument undertakes not
to prove, but to illustrate. 1t is not es-
ppcially confined to the case of tea or
coffee. 1t does not make positive asser-
ton that we can now change the English
taste, nor does it urge transition which
would be violent, if at all sudden. 1t
merely points to reasonable probabilities,
as showing that vast trade with
distant country to crafty an
I artificial want, if it prove
how much we can afford to spend with
out being ruined, yet does not at all
prove that we enrich ourselves by the
exchange. At the same time SO great is
the facility for making drinks that we
might assume higher ground and press
our argument further. The delicious
! ness of Oriental sherbet is no matter Of
, doubt or controversy. Its basis is simply
, barley-water, to flavor it the foreigner, Of
: course, uses some of his own fruits, but
we have plenty of substitutes at hand, al
r least while sugar abounds to us. 1t may
j be warmed if necessary, 80 little need We
: depend on the Chinese. Besides, somt
: among us are satisfied with and warmly
: applaud the drink prepared from simple
n oatmeal. If we all had this taste W,
should be nationally richer.
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