company clapped their hands.

"We have sent round papers for the merchants to sign an agreement that
they will not sell any tea imported from England. All have signed it
except Hutchinson's two sons, Governor Bernard's son-in-law,
Theophilus Lillie, and two others. The agreement does not prevent the
merchants from selling tea imported from Holland. The Tories, of
course, will patronize the merchants who have not signed the
agreement, and the question for us to consider is how we shall keep
out the tea to be imported by the East India Company."

"We must make it hot for 'em," said Mr. Mackintosh.

"The tea, do you mean?" shouted several.

There was a ripple of laughter.

"I don't see but that we shall have to quit drinking tea," said Doctor
Warren. "We drink altogether too much. It has become a dissipation. We
drink it morning, noon, and night. Some of the old ladies of my
acquaintance keep the teapot on the coals pretty much all the time.
Our wives meet in the afternoon to sip tea and talk gossip. The girls
getting ready to be married invite their mates to quiltings and serve
them with Old Hyson. We have garden tea-parties on bright afternoons
in summer and evening parties in winter. So much tea, such frequent
use of an infusion of the herb, upsets our nerves, impairs healthful
digestion, and brings on sleeplessness. I have several patients--old
ladies, and those in middle life--whose nerves are so unstrung that I
am obliged to dose them with opium occasionally, to enable them to
sleep."

"Do you think we can induce the ladies to quit drinking it?" Mr.
Molineux asked.

"I am quite sure Mrs. Warren will cheerfully give it up, as will Mrs.
Molineux if her husband should set the example," Doctor Warren
replied.

Mr. Molineux said he was ready to banish the teapot from his table.

"I believe," continued the doctor, "that the women of America will be
ready to give up the gratification of their appetites to maintain a
great principle. They will sacrifice all personal considerations to
secure the rights of the Colonies. Parliament proposes to tax this
country without our having a voice in the matter. It is a seductive
and insidious proposition--this export duty. I suppose they think we
are simpletons, and will be caught in the trap they are setting. They
think we are so fond of tea we shall continue to purchase it, but the
time has come when we must let them know there is nothing so precious
to us as our rights an