Evening star., 1932-11-26
THE LIBRARY TABLE
BY SARAH G.. BOWERMAN.

fast Table" and "Over the Teacups.
Conversational and delicately satirical,
as all Miss Repplier's essays are, tho7e
in this volume are also pleasantly l.
formative. She tells of the first p
pearance of tea in England, wherc 1t
found such a warm and lasting well
come, of its early lovers and early
opponents, of the little unpleasantneSS
about it in the American Colonies, of
its place as an English institution and
in English literature. To read the book
makes one hunger for a cup OF good
Ceylon or China tea, with cream or
without cream, and all the neatly sliced
bread and butter, toast, and tea cakes
which go with it. DR.. johnson gave
1866 as the year in which tea came to
England in Dutch ships, but "Pepys
drank his first cup of tea In 1850; there
are records of sales at guineas a
pound in 1857; while in the region of
disputed dates we find 1910 and 1871
claiming, without evidence, the earliest
importations." Early handbills adver-
tising tea made much of its power to
keep drinkers from -Superfiucus sleep"
and to enable them to pass their nights
in study, also to clear dull head after
too much eating of flesh. Miss Rap
plier comments: 1T is pleasant to turn
from the modern plant of insomnia,
from men and women alarmed by the
comely presence of a tea pot, begging
for a cup of hot water with a slice Of
lemon in 1t, and nervously protesting
that if they drank tea they would lie
awake til morning; and go back in
spirit to the brave days when sleep
might be had for the asking, and when
the reel business of a scholar, as of a
saint, was to keep himself awake"
In the reign of William and Mary
began heavy taxation Of tea, and at
about the same time intensive snug
Cling began also. Cutters from Hol-
land brought tea, tobacco and French
brandy; anchored off the English coast
and waited for night, when a fleet of
little boats came out silently to receive
their loads. Dwellers along the coast,
including clergymen, sympathizcd with
the snlugglers, aided and patronized
them. Bales and kegs from the little
boats were stored in caves, cellars and
churches until they could be safely re-
moved to their markets. Officials who
supported the tariff Con tea) had no
more hesitation in buying smuggled
goods than Americans who support pro-
hibition have hesitation in buying boot
legged whisky" Tea parties FIRE
quently with smuggled tea) early be-
came the fashion in England. Gossip
and scandal-mongering were popularity
associated With them. Swift, a most
diSagreeable man, expressed violently
his opinions concerning the silly and
malicious talk of feminine tea drinkers.
We wonder about the talk Of the male
M Af hn
stocking tea drinkers often combined
Fanny Burney was addicted almost
equally to tea drinking and letter writ
ing, as were Mrs. Montagu and Miss
Anna Seward, the Swan Of Litchfield" ="
X X X
English literature, especially its prose,
is full of the praise of tea drinking,
and most English literary men and
women have been tea drinkers. Per-
haps this is only saying that they
are typically English. Dr. johnson
never allowed his tea kettle to cool,
drank tea at all hours and often COM
pletely exhausted his hostess by the
number of cups he obliged her to pour
for him. Twelve cups, 25 cups at a
time are mentioned by Boswell. The
reason for his tea excesses seems to
have been that he loved alcoholic
drinks, recognized that they harmed
him and prevented work, and turned
to tea instead. CoWper, so often the
victim of fears and mental depres-
sion, found in the closed room, with
curtains drawn and fire burning
brightly, and the cups of tea that "cheer
but not inebriate," rest and peece for
his abnormal nerves. "HaZlitt's love
of tea was strengthened by his solitary
habits. Lambs love of tea was weak
ened by the social habits of his sister,
which too often compelled him to drink
1t in company with literary ladies who
fretted and depressed him, who fed him
on macaroons, which have no proper
association with tea, and talked to him
about books which he had not read"
Opium was de Quincey's enemy, but
tea was ''his faithful friend and ally"
Carlyle was emphatic in his demand
for black tea and brewed his own at
home before going to any social gather
ing where he thought green tea would
be served. "Carlyle's recipe for content
was OF the simplest. A room of ones
own, a book to read, water to wash in,
tea to drink, and-if one were a man
tobacco to smoke" English statesmen
have been supported in their labors by
tea. Golden said that "the pump and
the teapot carried him through life"
and Palmerston drank tea copiously
during night sessions of Parliament.
Gladstone boaSted that he drank more
tea between midnight and am. than
any other member of the House of
Commons. Two chapters in Miss Rep
pliers volume are labeled "digressions"
-"On the Banishing of Tea From the
English Colonies of America" and "On
the Drinking of Tea In the East" The
last chapter is fitting cpclusion-
On the Drinking of Tea Today"
X X X X
Darling of Misfortune: Edwin
Booth is fitting caption for the story
OF the life OF the great actor who was
as tragic figure as any in the TRACE
dies he acted. The biography is by
Richard Lockridge, who considers that
Booth was real Hamlet, off the stage
as well as on. One of the peaks of
tragedy in the life of Booth was the
murder of Lincoln, by his brother, John
Wilkes Booth. Another was the bank
ruptcy and loss of his theater in the
panic of 1873, leaving him with a
burden of debt. He died before he was
60, a worn-out man.
* X X
Arthur weigall, historian of the
times of Caesar, Marc Antony and
Cleopatra, and of Nero, has dug out
from scraps of ancient history and lit
erature all that it is apparently pos
sible to find about the life of Sappho
and has written "Sappho of Lesbos"
If we do not feel sure that he has re-
constructed the real Sappho, at least
she harmonizeS very well with our ideas
Of her. The famous woman poet of
Greece lived only few centuries after
Homer and was one of the originators
Of lyric poetry, with its varied meters.
Only scattered fragments of her poetry
remain today. As Mr.. Weigall describes
her, she was small, swarthy, black
haired woman, an aristocrat of Mity-
ene, on the island of Lesbos, political
plotter, wife of wealthy merchant of
Syracuse, the Greek colony in Sicily.
a passionate lover. At SIS, she fell in
love with the sailor Phaon, who, unap-
preciative of the honor she paid him,
deserted her, Whereupon she committed