The Washington herald., 1910-11-27
DECLINE OF TEA MAKING.
Even I'm England Lovers of Beverage
Have Fallen on Evil Days.

Have Fallen on Evil Days.
A certain family Of inveterate tea
drinkers used always TO inquire on the
occasion Of new people coming TO the
neighborhood. do they keep q good tea
pot?"
"Aiasr' exelaims a correspondent OF
the Ladys Pictorial. ''how seldom nova
days could the question be answered in
the affirmative! For nay own part. being
something of a fogey. 1 look back with
keen regret to long past days when tea
making was tea making, and every self
respecting hostess took the matter ssri-
ously.
Even though one fine flunkey carries
in a silver kettle and another equally as
fine follows at his heels with a heavily
laden tray, though they offer me sand
wiches IN their dozens. cakes and bon
bons innumerable. nothing makes up for
the flavor. the aroma OF the old Behea
and Souehong.
Then the fragrant leaves were five or
six shillings a pound; now the people
buy some latter-day mixture at a nominal
price. Then the hostess made the tea
herself with water from kettle on an
adjacent fire; now it IS left to the tender
mercies OF Jeames or the cook.
NO one knows or cares whether II is
weak or strong, or how long IL has been
/ drawing before its arrival in the drawing
room. and even then the dispenser Of
| hospitality has TO be reminded more than
once before she tears herself away from
-ov,,e ,,,ora -.o,oaDgoT oonrspafIo, Ghadaa
of our grandmothers! is it any wonder
the tea when you get it is undrinkable?
Either hot water bewitched. scalding TO
the tongue or & stewed deeoction tasting
Of the teapot and warranted TO injure
the strongest digestion.
For the golden age OF tea making we
must go back many years to time when
the mistress felt some pride in sitting
behind her own tea urn, a position the
eldest daughter alone presumed to c.
cupy in her absence. and. incidentally, it
may be remarked. there is no occupation
more becoming to a charming woman
than that OF presiding over a well-ap-
pointed tea table.
1T is TO feared that nothing less than
some commercial catastrophe bringing
/ the price OF tea up 10 alarming figures
will ever convince middle-class house
keepers OF the wastefulness OF an un-
considered teapot. We may be very sure
that In the days when DR.. Johnson used
as Boswell tells us-to drink enormous
quantities OF tea at all hours. il was no
vapid. mawlKish fluid he enjoyed, but a
stimulating beverage. pleasant and ex-
hilarating, or he would hardly have lived.
ir spite or a naturally sfeeble eonstitu-
ton to the ripe age of seventy-five.
IF statistics are 10 be trusted English
people are the greatest tea drinkers OF
Western Europe. We regard our yearly
increasing consumption of tea with COM
placency and rejoice TO think what a
sober people we are becoming and how
much better it is for the national we'll
being than an excessive use of alcoholic
drinks This is all very agreeable and
very WISE but | would Ike also to put
| in a plea for better tea, for a fair-prieed
and more carefully made beverage. De
pend upon it, even more tea would be
drunk, even fewer whiskies and sodas
| imbibed, If each lady saw TO il that real
| ~ good tea was served in her house.