The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-05-03
Mrs. John Sherwood Tells How to
Make 1t an Agreeable En-
tertainment
History Of the Beverage and How
It Should Be
Served.
The Dangers That Reset tho Path Of Those
Who Drink Too Much
Of II.
Written for The SUNDAY INDEPENDENT. !

took up the cudgels for tea, settling it as q
brain inspirer for all time, wrote Rasselas.
On the strength of it Cobbett wrote against
Its use by the laboriDR classes, and the Ed
inburgh Review indorsed his arguments
stating that a "prohibition absolute and
incorporating Of the noxious beverage
was the first step toward insurinR health
and strength for the poor" and asserting
that when a laborer fanoied himself ''re-
freshed with a mess of this stuff. sweetened
with the coarsest brown sugar and BY azure
blue milk, it was only the warmth Of the
water which consoled him for the moment"
Cobbett claimed that the tea table cost
more to support than would keep two
children at nurse.
The Quarterly Review in an article writ
ten perhaps by the most famous chemist of
the day said that tea relieves the pains Of
hunger rather by mechanical distention
than by supplying the waste of nature by
adequate austenance," but claimed for it
the power of calm, placid and %benignant
exhilaration. greatly stimulating the stom-
ach when fatigued by digestive e~xertion
and acting as an appropriate dilutent of
the chyle. More recent inquiries into the
qualities Of the peculiar power of tea have
tended to false it in popular esteem, al
though mo one has satisfactorily explained
why it has become 70 universally necessary
to the human race.
An agreeable little book called "The bey-
erages we indulge in: the herbs which we
infuse"-or some such title-had a great
deal to do with the adoption of tea as a
drink for young men who were training for
a boat race, or who desired to economic
their strength in Il mountain climb.
But every one, from the tired washer
woman to the student, the wrestler, the fine
lady and the strong man demands a cup of
tea.
To the invalid it is the dearest s%olace, if
it is dangerous. Tannin, the %astringent
element in tea is. however, bad for delicate
stomachs and seems to ruin the appetite.
Tea therefore should never be allowed to
stand, Hot water poured on the leaves
and poured off into a cup can hardly afford
the tannin time to get out. Since tea
drinkers even put the grounds in a silver
ball perforated, and sling. this through a
cup Of boiling water, thus is produced the
most delicate cup of tea.
The famous Chinese lyric which is painted
on almosta all Of the Chinese tea pots of the
empire, is highly p%oetical.
q Il slow fire set n tripod, fill it with
clear %rainwater. Boil it as long as it would
be needed to turn fish white and lobsters
red. Throw this upon the delicate leaves of
choice tea, let it remain as long az the vapor
rises in a cloud. At your ease drink the
pure liquid which will chase away the Ave
causes of trouble"
The "tea of the cells of the dragoons,''
the purest Pekoe from the leaf buds of
three-year-old plants, no one ever sees in
Europe.
But we have now secured many brands OF
tea which are sufficiently good. and the
exposition in Paris in 1889 10 fast gaining
an enviable reputation. 1t has a perfect
boquet and flavor. Green tea, beloved by
our grandmothers and still a ~favorits with
some connoisseurs, has proved to have so
much theme, the element of into1ication in
tea, that it is forbidden to nervous people.
1t is this element which makes tea save
food by it's action in preventing wastes to
the system, 1t is thus peculiarly accepta-
BILE to elderly persons-to the tired laboring
woman. Doubtless Mrs. Camps ~favorite
teapot with which she entertained Betsy
Prig contained green tea.
But there is an unusually large amount
of nitrogen in theme, and green tea pos
sesses SO large a portion of it rs to be pos
ltively dangerous. In the process of dry
ing and roasting this volatile oil is engen-
dered. The Chinese dare not use it for a
year after the leaf has been prepared, and
the packer and unpacker of the tea suffer
much from paralysis. The tasters of ten
become frequently great invalids, unable to
eat.
therefore our favorite herb has its
dangers.
More consoli1g is the legend of the origin
of the plant. A dtowsy hermit, after long
wrestling with sleep, cut off his eyelids and
cast them on the ground. From them
sprang a shrub whose leaves, shaped like
eyelids and bordered with a fringe of lashes,
possessed the power of warding of sleep.
This was i'll the third century, and the plant
was tea.
But what has all this to do with that
pleasant vision of a steaming kettle boiling
over a blazing alcohol lamp, the silver tea
caddy, the padded cozy to keep the
teapot warm, tie basket of cake, the
thin bread and butter, the pretty
girl presiding over the cups, the
delicate china, the more delicate unfu-
sion. All these elements go to make up the
afternoon tea. From one or two ladies' who
staid at home one day in the week and
offered this refreshment to the many, who
Grew to lind that it was a very easy method
of entertaining (the original five O'Clock
tea, which arose in England, from the fact
required some slight refreshment before
blessing for dinner, and liked to meet for II
little chat), out of this simple. informal
entertainment grew the present party in
the day time. 1t now is used as the method
of introducing a daughter, ETC., an - the
ordinary way of entertaining everybody.
Ihe primal idea was a good one. People
who had no money for grand spreads were
enabled to show to their more opulent
neighbors TINT they, too, had the spirit of
hospitality. The doctors discovered that
tea was healthy. English breakfast tea
would keep nobody awake. The cup of tea
and the sandwich at five would spoil no
body's dinner. The ladies who began these
entertainments receiving modestly in
plain dresses were not out of tone with
their guests who came in walking dresses.
But, then. the ''other side" was this:
Ladies had to go to nine teas of an after
noon, perhaps taste something everywhere.
Hen Q the new disease, delirium "teamens.'
1t was uncomfortable to assist at II large
party in heavy winter garment of velvet
and fur. The afternoon tea lost its primi-
tive character and became an evening party
in the daytime with the hostess and Der
daughters in full dress and her guests in
walking costume,
The slipping of SO much tea produces the
nervous prostitution, the sleeplessness, the
nameless misery of our overwrought
women, and thus a healthful, inexpensive
and most agreeable adjunct to the art of
entertaining grew into n thing without a
NAME, and became the large, gns-liRhted
ball at five o'clock, where half the ladies'
were in decollete dresses, the others in fur
tippets. 1t was pronounced IA breeder of
infiuenzas and the high road to a headache.
II n lady can be at home every Thursday
during the senson, and always at her posi-
ton behind the blazing urn, if she will have
the frmness to continue this practice, she
may create n salon out of her teacups.
In giving n large afternoon tea for which