t down in her
armchair before he would go on with the story.

(_Continued on page 166._)

THE FIRST TEA.

Some people used to find fault with Dr. Johnson because, they said, he
was greedy in eating and drinking. He would often take twelve or
fourteen cups of tea at a meal. This seems a good deal, but we must
remember that in his time teacups were small, and the fashion was to
hand them round only half-filled. There is a story that one lady, when
the Doctor was taking tea in her parlour, rudely refused to pour him out
any more after he had had about a dozen cups, and he, quite as rudely,
retorted that her tea was really not worth drinking.

This China drink, as it was called at first, did not for some time
become the popular beverage it is now, mainly owing to its high price.
It seems that at first tea was taken without milk. An old book of 1657
states that the English were encouraged to take tea, because it was
recommended by doctors in France, Italy, and other countries of Europe,
so that evidently other nations had tea-drinkers before England. In
September 1660, Samuel Pepys notes that he had his first cup of tea, or
'dish,' as it was called. Many people called the plant 'tay,' in the
eighteenth century, and that name is heard occasionally even now. The
early price varied from four sovereigns, to twice the sum, for a single
pound; afterwards the price was lowered, and the quantity brought over
increased. At the end of the reign of Charles II. only five thousand
pounds were imported annually; by 1700, the number had become twenty-one
thousand, and in 1721, over a million pounds.

FOR THE LITTLE ONES.

The rich men have their gardens,
With blossoms rare and sweet,
Where lilies bloom, and roses
And honeysuckles meet;
And flowers that are the choicest
Within their grounds are seen,
I only have the blossoms
That grow upon the green.
But I think God made the daisies,
That are so fair to see,
Just for the little children--
The little ones like me.

The nobles have their paintings
That hang upon the walls,
Of wealthy lords and ladies,
And vales and waterfalls,
And soldiers out at battle,
And sailors on the deep;
I only look on fields and lanes.
And flowers that wake and sleep,
But I think God made the fields and hills,
And the bright blue sky I see
As pictures for the children--
The little ones like me.