Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-08-20

! The coffee house! Mod
but carrying in its very name
ca. Over a great span of "
coupling the present with the
They brewed real coffee in the
old coffee house, aye, and they
ibrewed the American Revolution
There, too. And there, when it was
lbrewed, many campaigns by sea
and land were planned over the
Isteaming cups, across the worn
Ideal tables.
Resort Of the statesman and the
4 warrior, the merchant and the
1trader, it welcomed to it's bar and
Its tables the great minds of the
COLONIES, where, stimulated by the
beverage for which the coffee
}house was named and famed, wis
tdom gave expression to the ideals
Heading to unity and independence.
| No wits muddled by liquor were
Those which COPIED with the tyran-
lny Of George, Of the House Of Han
lover. No scatter-brained radicals
planned the revolt which culmi-
mated in freedom. Sane remedies
flor affront and oppression were
tsought and found by our forbears
lover many a cup of coffee in many
a coffee house session.
! A heritage, that, for the coffee
houses springing up today. Envi-
Prominent is changed. Clothes and
customs are altered. Vastly diff
ferent problems have arisen. But
human nature has seen no trans
formation in nigh $50 years. The
ideals of 1776 are the ideals of
1923. The coffee of today is no
different than the refreshing drink
Our ancestors slipped.
| Revolutionary Coffee Houses.
| Imperishably entwined with the
romance and deeds of the Revolu-
ltion are three famous coffee
houses:
| The Sign of the Green Dragon, in
boston.
| The Merchants Coffee House, in
New York.
The London Coffee House, in
Philadelphia.
The Sign Of the Green Dragon
saw the birth of resentment, the
crystallizing of determination, the
decision to resist. It's era was the
period from 1865 to 1775.
Shorter was the epoch of the
Merchants Coffee House. Six
months of 1875 saw it's greatest
glory. 1t fathered the revolt in
New York against Toryism.
Drank Their Coffee Black.
But it was around the London
Coffee House that the waves of the
Revolution beat highest. Philadel-
phia, seat Of the Continental Con-
gress, drank it's coffee black
through the years Of the struggle
and exchanged it's hopes and fears
around the board in William Brad
ford's popular establishment. Back
bone of the Revolution it, with the
great lights of the nation it's ha-
bitues.
To tell the story of these coffee
houses Is to tell the story Of the
Revolution, its causes, it's progress
and its results. Sketchily then, let
us touch the high points in coffee
house history; the color, the
glamour, the romance, with the
scenes permeated always by the
fragrant odor Of the beverage
brewed therein.
Boston's Coffee House.
Boston's Sign of the Green
Dragon stood on Union street in
the heart Of the old Colonial town.
Through Union Street passed the
traffic from the Neck to the Town
House and back again. All per-
sons stopped at the Green Dragon
for it was the centre Of all inter
ests. Here met also Boston's first
Masonic Lodge, and, in the upper
floor where the Masons gathered,
no one was held in greater respect
than Joseph Warren, the first
Grand Master, the same Joseph
Warren who was to die so glorious
ly at Bunker Hill.
Colonial Governors, red coats of
the 10Th Regiment Of British foot,
wealthy manufacturers from the
Rope Walk, sea captains fresh
from European and other Colonial
ports. members of the bar and OF
the assembly came to the Green
Dragon to exchange views and
news over their coffee. Peaceful
on the surface, but restless under
meath was the intercourse in the
early days for even as far back as
1888 the crown had evinced no con-
ciliatory attitude toward the Colo
nists.
Green Dragon oratory.
Then, in 1765, news came of the
passage Of the Stamp Act. The
peaceful air vanished. In the
Green Dragon men talked Of re-
taliation, of resistance. The red
coats entered it's doors no longer,
or, II they ventured there. sharp
words were exchanged, quarrels
gave threat of violence. Individ-
luals began to stand forth as lead
Iers. James Otis, the pioneer pa
triot; John Hancock, merchant
prince and almost the sole aristo-