Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-06-24
TEA DRINKERS suPERsT1r1oNs.
Telling Fortunes From the Cup-Lucky
and Unlucky Pots.
From the London Globe

From the London Globe.
With regard to superstitions connected
with the teapot OF rather the teacup, the
most widely spread, probably, Is that
which concerns its use for divinatory pur-
poses. Professors of the domestic black
art told and tell fortunes by the grounds
and stalks in the cup, as others do by the
cards.
When Arthur Clennam in Little Dorit,"
on his return nome vent over the old
house. he found that thy ceilings, we are
told. were so Enthusiastically clouded by
smoke and dust that old women might
have told fortunes in them better than in
"grouts of tea" CIRCUITS. by the way, is a
word which Is not so often heard nova
days as OF yore. John Thomas Smith. the
anttquary In that Book for Rainy Day"
which has recently been reissued in so ex-
cellent and attractive form under the
editorial oversight Of John o. London"
says that when he was about twelve years
old he received not only tip of half
guinea from Charles Townley, the collect
or of the famous marbles. but a pat on
the head and some encouraging words
from the great Samual Johnson, and con-
sequently began to think. he says, that
there was something in representation
announced to my dear mother by an old
star gazer or tea grouter that through life
I should be favored by persons of high
rank"
How fortunes are read from the sedi-
ment In the teacup the present writer
knoweth not. The process is to turn the
cup upside down in the saucer and then.
returning the cup, to draw intimations of
the future from observation or the posi-
lions assumed by the grouts. An allusion
to the performance may be found In
somewhat unexpected quarter. Rossetti
in Dante at Verona" says
Wherefore should turn the grout
In drained cup?
The grouts or stalks play another part
when they float on the SURFACE OF tue tea
Every one knows that hoating Stalk
indicates the coming of a stranger; bus
perhaps every ones does not know That II
you test the stalk with the teeth and hnd
1t soft, the coming stranger Is 1enaie, II
hard q male Again. to continue The div-
nation. you should put the stalk on the
back Of the left hand, and strike 1t three
times with the back of the right. II the
tea stalk falls on the stranger 9, VIII ho mot
to arrive 1t is curious that form or
this stranger superstition exists in Japan
The late Miss Bird. In her ohpeat Ten
north. "if a stalk Of tea falls into tea
cup. and remains upright for a second, a
visitor is expected from the oireclon IN
The habit OF "saucering'' the tea again
in another social danger signal. Inc people
who quietly pour the tea into the saucer
and then drink therefrom. aithoush 'iey
saf al nauRht the customs OF renned So
ciety. are vet in the straight line OF descent
from fine f1rst tea drinkers. who used very
shallow cups. and who always spoke OF
dish of tea .. ~ ,a-,,
A curious custom which used to De very
general. even in the most renned circles.
hut which now would be looked upon as
quite vulgar, was the practice or placing
the spoon in the cup by way OF lntimation
that no further supply OF the beverage was
Ths late Mr.. Fitz Edward Hall. so honor
ahlv known for his pathological work SAID,
rrit,ne In 1891, that he remembered. as
how in America, that he was always ex-
nected after drinking tea or conee. II ne
did not wish for more to put nus spoon
into the cup, and he knew that In at least
acme parts OF the United States the custom
suryiyed until less than twenty years be-
fore the date at which he was writing.
Among vulgar folk the same disinchna-
tton for more tea was shown by the much
more forcible method OF turning the cup
rpside down In the saucer! There could
b. no possibility of mistakfng the signfn-
canoe Of this action. Anderson. In one OF
his Cumberland ballads" describing
christening. says:
No more no morel I've drank two cups
Nay dunuet turn tee-cup down.
That's n0wt; whatl I've ta'en four
One or two less known fancies are as
ISOLATED with tea drinking In various parts
OF the country. In Durham. X you put milk
in your tea before your sugar, you lose your
sweetheart. The late "Cuthbert Bede" has
recorded that he knew a woman In Rut-