Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 January 1898 — ANTIQUITY OF TEA [ARTICLE]

ANTIQUITY OF TEA

A Pretty, Romantic Story Told of Its First Use •• a Beverage. Thb antiquity of ter. as a beverage ( Is a favorite subject of discussion by confirmed tea-drinkers. China claims the origin of the use of tea as a drink. Of course there are various stories I oennected with K, among which, peri hape, the following is quite as Interesting and bHtevable as any. As the tale I runs, one of the daughters of a reigning sovereign was hopelessly enamored of a young nobleman whose caste did net permit him to aspire to her baud; but they exchanged glances, and occasionally he gathered a few blossoms and took meaus to have them conveyed to her. One day the princess met her admirer in the grounds of the palaeo, and as the attention of her attendants was attracted In another direction, the young man tried to put a few flowers into her hand, but all that she could grasp was a little twig with green leaves. This she treasured, and when she reached her apartments she placed tbs twig in a goblet of water, here to remain for some hours, the object of her tenderest cere. Toward evening she was seized with a sentimental attack, j during which she drank the water in I which the twig had been kept. It had a most agreeable taste, and then she toe the leaves and stalk. The flavor pleased her greatly, and •very day, In memory of her admirer, she had bunches of the tea brought to her, and ate them, or put them in water and drank the Infusion. The ladles of the court observed her, and were moved tc try it themselves, I and did so with snch pleasing results ' that the practice spread throughout the kingdom, and one of the great Indus- • trios of China was thus established. It Is claimed that the date of the sentimental origin of tea-drinking was nearly 8,000 years before Christ.