The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-03-29
THE ORIGIN OF TEA.
AN INTERESTING LEGEND OF THE
FloWERY KINGDOM.

In the youthful years of the nine
| tecnth century the proposal was made
| seriously, but apparently not entertain
| ed seriously. to make the tea plant the
| national flower OF tho United States.
! And why2 Because the advocates OF
| ten urged that II was the emblem of
resolution. and by some roundabout
mental process they argued that the
resolution displayed by strong tea was
emblematical OF the agency OF tea in
molding the destinies Of the American
people at the celebrated Boston tea
| party.
AS n matter Of fact, tea Is much more
popular now I'm the United States than
II was when the whimsical proposition
was made. We are not yet, like the
| English, n nation of tea drinkers, but
tea Is now on every restaurant bill Of
| fare-real tea and not pale yellow wa.
| ter. Most housewives know how to
make 1t, and afternoon tea is an estab-
lished institution.
Few persons know the Chinese myth
of the origin Of tea. A Chinese histo-
ran, to whom, as he has been dead for
many thousands of moons and hun.
drcds of years. n grateful acknowledg-
ment of Indebtedness Is hereby made,
tells the story. He says that In the
early part of the sixth century Prince
Darmal. the son of an Indian king,
landed in the Celestial empire.
Darmal was n missionary. He took
the utmost pains to spread throughout
China n knowledge of the Hindoo god
and of the most remarkable of the
IIindoo true religions. that which In re-
cent years enlisted the sympathies and
sometimes the active championship of
Sir Edwin Arnold and other thinking
men. This missionary prince must
have met with success, for all China.
men are not followers Of Confucius;
n great many of them are Buddhlsts.
Prince Darmal to stimulate others
by what he thought n good example,
subjected himself to privations of ev.
cry kind. He spent the greater part OF
his time In the open air. He prayed
frequently, and he often performed
long fasts. In one Of his fasts he vow.
ed that he would keep awake, but the
|
asleep. When he awoke, he was still
drowsy. but he reused himself by a
desperate effort, and, determined tC
make amends for his violation of his
oath of wakcfulness, he cut off his Of
Tending members - his eyelids - and
threw them on the ground.
| Next day, after being awake all night
having no eyelds, he could not sleep
that is the logic Of the story-he found
that his cast off eyelids had taken root
in the soil and had sprung up into q
shrub the like OF which the earth had
never before produced. He plucked
and ate some of the leaves of the shrub
He became eXhilarated His strength
was restored. His drowsiness left him
and he became more wide awake thar
ever before.
In fact, he never again missed his
eyelids. Whenever he felt sleepy OF
tired he ate some of the eyelid leaves
which may account for the modern ex
preston go. eat your eyelids." Oar
NAL recommended the wonderful plan
to his disciples and followers, by whose
means its reputation increased ant
since whose time it has been used gen
orally.
In due course Of time some careles!
Chinese servant split cup Of boiling
water over bowl of the eyelid leaves
and, drinking up the liquor in orde
that his carelessness might not be de
tected. was astonished at the result
With pitying and superior glances b,
watched his master and his master
, family and guests eat the tea leaves
Then, throwing himself upon tn,
ground, he acknowledged his fault, 70
they had been complaining that tn,
leaves were rather damp, and infused
for them all the liquor of the leaves II
the simplest fashion, which Is the Chi
nese fashion unto this day-putting tn
leaves into cups and pouring boiling
water over them.
J 1t is to be hoped that no one will
think any the less of tea when h
learns that 1t belongs to the natural OF
der ternstromacea. Lindley remark
o that although many Of the plants O
: this order come chiefly from China an,
9 America. after all they form an incon
siderable part of the whole number be
longing TO it.
China contains seven or eight, Mort
America four or five, while 60 or 7
\ are beautiful trees and shrubs. native
of the woods Of South America. Abou
: 20 varieties are known in the East In
dies. and one comes from Africa. Indi
and Ceylon teas are almost as we
known as Chinese.
4, The plant is called by the Chimes
o tcha or tha and te. In Malay it is tel
A English speaking people used to pre-
Y nounce II tay, as the French d.
u spelling 1t the, and the Germans. VIII
= spell II thee, at the present tim,
Pope, the English poet, rhymed it wit
obey, away and stay at various time
In various poems.-New York Press.