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LESSON 3
ONCE upon a time there was no tea at all in our country. In England, in the olden time, people used to drink ale, and a sweet kind of wine called mead.
Great tankards
of ale stood on the breakfast table. Now we use tea and coffee.
When tea was first brought to England, an old man and woman had some sent to them as a great treat. But when they got it, they did not know how it ought to be used. At length they boiled the leaves, and strewed
them on a piece of bacon which they were going to have for dinner. They ate the leaves, and threw the tea away!
In those days, a pound of tea cost so much money that only the rich could buy it. Now it is so cheap that even the poorest can enjoy it.
Tea is the leaf of a plant which grows plentifully
in China, Japan, and other Eastern lands. The Chinese drink their tea without either milk or sugar. Whenever a visitor comes into a house, a servant always brings him a cup of tea.
Every cottager in China has his little tea-garden. He sells what he does not use, and can thus buy food and clothing for his family.
When a man has a large piece of ground, and grows a great many tea-plants, he is called a tea farmer. When the tea-leaves are ready to be gathered, the farmer and his family are very busy. They pull off the leaves and throw them into baskets. When the baskets are full, they are carried into the house.
The leaves are dried in iron pans over a fire. While they are drying, men and women keep turning them about. As soon as they begin to crack, they are taken out and spread upon a table. Then the work-people roll them up in their hands, and press all the juice they can out of them.
After being once more dried in the air, the leaves have to go into the pan again over the fire. There they begin to curl and twist; and at last they look as we see them in this country.
The farmer then picks out the best leaves, and gets them ready for market. He may be seen marching off to the town, with his chest of tea slung over his shoulder, on a pole made of bamboo.
He goes to a tea merchant
and off ers the chest of tea for sale. The merchant looks at it, and if he thinks it good he buys it. Then the farmer marches home again, with his money slung over his shoulder. His money consists of a number of strings of brass coins,
of so little value that a great many of them make but a small sum.
What was used in England for breakfast before tea and coffee were known? What mistake did an old man and woman make, when tea fi rst came in? What is tea? Where does it come from? What is a man called who grows a great many tea-plants? What is the fi rst thing done with the leaves when they are pulled? What next? and next? How does the grower carry his tea to market? What does he bring back?
cot´-ta-ger vis´-it-or en-joy´ val´-ue march´-es
shoul´-der bas´-kets dry´-ing East´-ern mar´-ket
break´-fast fam´-i-ly con-sists´ when-ev´-er read´-y
