DIALOGUE WITH A TEA.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 195, 24 August 1870, Page 2

DIALOGUE WITH A TEA.

DiJINKfcB. (FSO3I THE '' FAMILY DOCTOR.") " Well, 1117 good woman, what have you got to say H" '• 1 have eoiiic for your advice concerning a complaint in the stomach, that troubles me very niucii." ' w State your symptoms." '■I complain of fullness at. the pit of the stomach, colic, asid shooting pains, giddin^;:?. feeling of sickness, bile, bad taste in ray mouth, in the morning, belching, and general weakness." " What are your habits: you don't drink, do you ?" " Oh! no sir. Nothing but tea; my husband drinks for both of us. I hate the very sight of drink. " How often do you take tea?" ';It is ray only comfort, sir. I hare some warm in the morning, and then at breakfast; sometimes when I am tired I take a quiet cup ac noon : then an regular teatinie 1 enjoy myself." •' With, how many caps?" " Three or four, perhaps five" " And you eat first ?" "ZS'o, sir; I doa't care much about eacin<r ; I like a cup of hot tea, for it do«s ray stomach good, but I ana obliged to take it often again to relieve me of the head-ache, drowsiness1, and a lazy feeling that gets ever me." "Are you aware of the cau.se of your stomach, complant?" "2-'o. sir; unless it be constitutional weakness." i; . o such thing. It springs from, the same cause aa the drunkard.-;." •• 2ion.sen.se, Doctor, I told you I drank nothing, and it is (.rod's truth." " Excepting the tea." h, yes, excepting the tea" " Weil, are you aware thai; excessive tea drinking, soda water drinking, or ginger beer drinking are, if possible, more likely to produce these feeling than even spirits." •• I d >n't believe a good cup of tea can do any one harm." c< Are you sure it is tea you drink ?"' '• I am sure of it, because I mask it my sell. '• _iye. bun did you see it made before it was masked, for masked it is to all intents and purposes. Hawthorn and sloe leaves are masked so as to represent te«t —old leaves are redried, and your masking only produces the worst part of the refuse of the leaf. Besides verdigris, such a.suyou see on an old penny-piece, is used to dye the leaves green, ihe sour sloe leaf or the verdigris, either will j account for the colics, shooting pains, j head-ache, and giddiness." (i Doctor, do you moan to say, doctor. ' that in is so ?" '• I mean to say that any custom-liouse officer can tell you how many seizures are made of cheap unadulterated teas. Let me continue. Supposing it to be a wholesome article, you drink large quantities, you distend the stomach, sit without exercise, relax its fibres, render it sluggish in action, and leave the food undigested to struggle through the system the best vray it can." '• Bless me, can thai: be true ?" " Perfectly so. Drugs of all kinds are introduced to the tea drinker, and thou- ! sands without knowing the cause, drink , destruction to themselves amidst the family circle, sink slowly in health, aa if I poisoned, and gradually perish without once detecting the fatal cau.-.e that hastened their doom." " W hat viliany there is in this world ?" "Yes, one portion dye for Lain, another die through tea, yet the poor are greatest sufferers ii body and mini. The colouring matter is rank poison in itself and will create an amazing commotion in the system, but who detects the cause or would suppose it to be lurking in teetotal tea ?" '• What am I to do ?" " That is the qutstion ! The poor have no other alternative, but to buy cheap, as they are bought ch-?ap themselves. They buy poison. If you can afford if, buy a superior article, and above all drink little of it for whether good or lad, the stomach will not contain it if poured in, in large quantitiee." '• The government ought to interfere." "So it ought, out the government wants revenue, as much as the poor want wages; and therefore, the system will continue, and cheap tea poison, act as a ' curse and a scourge on the fai:v ; ;L portion of God 3 creation, those w.;io bore us, those who pass through life.; trials vrith us, those whom we ad love —the women.