The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-01-22
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

decision that they wanted a better cup of tea than was obtainable at that time l in London.
 ! Now, this statement may be put in the same category which says the British empire was founded in fit of absent mindedness. Your Britisher may acci- dentally stumble across a new colony. bit of earth he knows how to keep his feet put. picked up book the other day in 1 which I read that almost every one un- derstands how to make chocolate. It was written by Frank Carpenter in his very readable book How the World Is Fed and was in chapter devoted to | cacao, chocolate and cocoa. Evidently ! he never drank chocolate on his visit ! here, for it's been my experience that | very few know how to prepare It prop erly.
 1 I got to thinking about just what mess of a drink is served in some | founts, cafes and hotels when one asks for chocolate. Talk about the man who named near-beer as being poor judge of distance, he has a keen eye when compared to the average soda jerker, restaurant cook. or hotel chef whose business it is to make chocolate for the public. Some of it served even lacks the proper color, less know the ingre- dients.
 | The stringent laws and the high price of beer, light wines, whisky and liquors do not worry me, for I had been on the water wagon long before even Birming- ham went dry and so was in condition l to meet the drouth which struck us few weeks back when America became a regular Sahara and booze took to the high seas to keep from being poured down gutters instead of parched throats.
 1 I have never been much of a tea drinker, though can swallow a cup on social occasions. For years I gave up 1 coffee, but now occasionally drink it for l breakfast when I am visiting on small cup after dinner; but have never cared for the taste or it's effects But the one drink I do love is chocolate. I got the habit during my student days in the Latin quarter when every one made his own pot of chocolate and went to the 1 bakery for his yard of-bread, carrying it proudly through the streets un- wrapped.
 @ Being on the town now, as my fam fly is in Florida, the other night I went into one of the most popular downtown | restaurants and ordered a cup of choco- late, expecting that it would take some time to get it ready to be served. But not so, for the waiter dipped spoon into some powdered stuff. put it in a cup, and held it under the hot water faucet and in the twinklng of an eye my drink was placed in front of me.
 Now, I am a bit accustomed to the capsule method of prepared drinks. Tablets to which water is added to get any kind of mineral dring on the mar ket. I am not knocking the coffee and Postum powders, but only say they have never appealed to me. Haste is prime necessity these days. but to see choco- late made ready in a minute was too much for me. I couldn't help joshing the waiter as I vainly tried to make the concoction lose it's identity in the water, and only succeeded in doing so by dis guising the liquid with milk.
 The story of chocolate is an interest ing one. When the Spaniards, com manded by Hernando Cortez, conquered Mexico. they found the natives using a drink made from the group-up seeds of a fruit that grew on a tree. The Elm peror Montezuma was so fond of it that he had some made for him daily, and about 2000 jars for his household. The drink was served to him smoking hot. in golden goblets. and he slipped it from spoons of fine tortoise shells.
 But the Mexicans had no monopoly
 on the drink, as Spain did later, for
 Pizarro found the Incas using the same drink in Peru, and his soldiers, as those of Cortez, tried the beverage and liked
 it. They carried the seeds of the tree
 back to Spain, and from there the knowledge of the new drink gradually spread. until 1t was known throughout
 Europe. and the seeds became an article of commerce The seed had been so val ued by the Aztecs that they used them
 as money. and a good double handful
 was the price of a slave.
 The manner of preparing it for drink
 ing was long kept secret by the Span
 iards, who sold it at high price to the
 wealthy classes. The French. however got on to the art of making it and have ever excelled at it The first notice oi its use in England appears in the Pub lie Advertiser of 18th June, 1857. which
 stated that Tn Bishopgate street, in Queens Head alley. at a Frenchman house is an excellent West India drink lcalled chocolate. to be sold where you
 may have it ready at any time; and also lunmade at reasonable rates" This tthrows an interesting sidelight on the
 value of advertising from historical standpoint.
 1 In the time of Charles II 16sO-1es5)
 the price of chocolate was shillings and pence a pound, equivalent to about $6 before the value of the dollar was cut in two. Had it not been for the
 monopoly that Spain long possessed
 which kept the price at point where : only the rich could afford to use it ] chocolate or cocoa would have come into as general use as tea and coffee did . later. In 170s. Steele began the Tatler . and to show that it was then used. we read: 'Lisander has been twice day at the chocolate house." This is pretty fhaf f,-