Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-18
WITH OR WITHOUT

The Spiritual Meaning Conveyed in This
Query When Your Hostess Oners Tea
From the New York Sun.
my dear, il is shocking p said well-known
hostess the other day.
The newspaper woman looked interested
''This talk about tea being the beverage that
cheers but does not inebriate will have to be
revised Now, if should take one of my little
tea cups and look at you and say With or
without what would you think MEANT"
why. cream or sugar, suppose?" said the
newspaper woman, who had enjoyed only Q
limited afternoon-tea experience.
Cream echoed the hostess with . gesture
Of despair. my dear, have you really been
living on this earth?"
NO." said the newspaper woman 'Tve
been on the Sum"
'Oh! should have said you came from an
extinct STAR" said the hostess with mild scorn.
snow try il again. With or without"
with or Without" repeated the newspaper
woman. as she tried to think Of all the things
ever put into tea. Finally an inspiration came.
.'HOt water" she exclaimed in triumph.
Tie society woman looked at her with pity.
Il see that you are 'hopelessly behind the
times. You don't know any more about mod
ern fashionable tea drinking than Queen Eliza
beth did. Now I'll enlighten you. When
say With or without that means rum"
RUM"
"Yes, rum, and whisky! and brandy! and
tragic whisper.
The newspaper woman gasped
''All in one cup" she said.
No! you silly innocent! One at . time, Of
::.And what do I say when you say With or
Without"
well, you assume an expression that is
childlike and bland and say, "A suspicion of
rum, please or you put on o deprecating air
and e1claim. o. really now! Well. If must,
less, say boldly. DO 'liven it up with some
whisky! Its SO beastly fat Rather STIFF. mind
you"
oh" said the newspaper woman. "And
how do you measure a suspicion of rum2"
lone teaspoonful, my dear"
And q dropT"
1.-The same"
"And you .'liven il up with"
Two teaspoonfuls. or-occasionally-'alf
and 'alf. don't you know" and the society
woman put her finger on her lips and looked
around with an air OF secrecy.
And absnthe?" asked the news woman
"Sh-h-h!' said the hostess, looking ct the
minister's wife. who had just come in.
We'll, she said, in Q confidential tone after
the lady had passed ON, .'it's only the ultra
Bohemian women who take those French
things, you know. As for me, I've cut the
whole business, anyway. laid in q supply Of
all these things for one of my at home days
and all afternoon / mixed drinks till felt like
an old and accomplished bartender. Well, you
must know that rum and whisky and all those
things have very able bodied odors pertaining
to them. But, my good young friend, these
odors get to be regular samson smells when
they are put into hot tea.
by the time the outer edge OF the after
noon was reached the craven images in the
conservatory reeled and the very pictures on
the wall looked drunk. When my husband
came home to dinner he could hardly get his
latch key in the door. At least, he said 90.
When he got to the reception room, whore
was still sitting, thinking about several queer
things that had happened, he said-well never
mind just how he put it, but he asked me If
had been rehearsing Ten Nights in Q Bar
Room Think of it! Ten nights in well. a.
l say, I've cut the whole business. / have
plain tea, or put . slice Of lemon in IL and
call it Russian, or IL want to be eccentric /
Iput spoonful Of jam in instead OF sugar.
That's q real Russian fad, you know.
"But a. for mixing drinks under prstsnss Of
serving afternoon tea, I've quitf"