The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Little Tea Book, by Arthur Gray

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Title: The Little Tea Book

Author: Arthur Gray

Illustrator: George W. Hood

Release Date: September 27, 2006 [EBook #19392]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LITTLE TEA BOOK ***

Produced by Transcribed by Ruth Hart ruthhart@twilightoracle.com

[Cover illustration]

[Illustration of Boswell and Johnson at the Mitre]

THE LITTLE TEA BOOK

COMPILED BY
ARTHUR GRAY

_Compiler of Over the Black Coffee_

ILLUSTRATED BY GEORGE W. HOOD

[Illustration of tea kettle]

NEW YORK

THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY
33-37 EAST 17TH ST., UNION SQ. NORTH

COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY
THE BAKER & TAYLOR COMPANY

_Published, October, 1903_

The Crow Press, N.H.

Thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid! Thou
innocent pretence for bringing the wicked of both sexes
together in the morning! Thou female tongue-running,
smile-soothing, heart-opening, wink-tipping cordial
to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest
moments of my life.
--COLLEY CIBBER.

_INTRODUCING THE LITTLE TEA BOOK_

After all, tea is _the_ drink! Domestically and socially it is the
beverage of the world. There may be those who will come forward
with _their_ figures to prove that other fruits of the soil--
agriculturally and commercially--are more important. Perhaps
they are right when quoting statistics. But what other product
can compare with tea in the high regard in which it has always
been held by writers whose standing in literature, and recognized
good taste in other walks, cannot be questioned?

A glance through this book will show that the spirit of the tea
beverage is one of peace, comfort, and refinement. As these
qualities are all associated with the ways of women, it is to them,
therefore--the real rulers of the world--that tea owes its prestige
and vogue.

Further peeps through these pages prove this to be true; for
nearly all the allusions and references to the beverage, by male
writers, reveal the womanly influence that tea imparts. But this
is not all. The side-lights of hist