WHAT HE DID WITH THEM.

Observer, Volume 6, Issue 152, 11 August 1883, Page 11

WHAT HE DID WITH THEM.

♦ Dr W. Gordon Stables tills the following atoryia his latest book, 'Tea, the Drink of .Pleasure and of Health:— The following is a true and succinct account of a little adventure that befel me in 18G2. I Svas then a student in the University of Aberdeen, and one day, while walking along on the sunny side of Union-street, I came ivpon a man standing beside" a sack evidently well filled with something. He wasn't a prepossessing man by any means,nor was he very well dressed. He was perspiring freely, holding a dirty Glengarry in one hand, while with, the other he wiped a bald osfrontalis with an. objectionable-looking cotton handkerchief. The man, as I have said, was perspiring, and what is more, the sack seemed perspiring too ; both mart and sack seemed dam]}. 4 I'm saying sir,' said this fellow to me. " Well/ I replied, " what are yon saying ?" "• Would you mind givin' me n IIIc on to ma^M ;i;---r. her v. V •■.hh -bit baggie?' 1 X 3v>v.-. I'm naturally one of ihe most ebliginsaH is !>■"!: in the world^o I did Joel hesitate a momen^^H to no what !he JM^'eqnested. 7H ■• II is hcavJßHMkl, hoiritint;' up the sackJß '• Ami :></vr v.A\jm^H^V\ r hfltover dot')j it containJß mv 'rood follow ?"^^^^ ■ •• <•-■..:•.•. red," was the curt reply", -^-c^ . . _^H " Now, listen," I answered, shnrjily, (i it 'i^&ijfll smell like seaweed, and it Isn't sea-weed : so y|B|9 have told me a lie, and if you dojvt divulge. liHH pull you down by the run, saok and all." <•' What do you want to know for ?" said he. jß| " Only curiosity, perhaps. 1 ' T replied ; " but thi^H may be some poor wretch you've drowned, an^H you may be carrying his cold, slimy body to tj^H| dissecting room. This may be a body in bag." " There's precious little body in it," said tlaj^H fellow, with a gruff laugh ; •' it's tea leaves, azi^H dcil hae't else.'' ■■■ " Tea leaves ?"' *lfl| "Tea leaves, nothing else; I've been rouii<3M hotels and inns and places collecting thorn." ifl " But what," I continued, really moved by ciwjH iosity this time : : ' what the mystery do you collecMl tea leaves for? Look here "(seeing th.it the 'felloT^H hesitated to answer), " are you thirsty ?" jfl 'Olan!"'he rcjiliedj "I could drink a glaise oH whusky at any hour o' the day or night. 1 ' H After such a candid confession of course we ad-^B jouvned. The sack was placed at the door Of aj^H inn in Adelphi lane, and I treatod him to two con^H secutive "glaises " which he swallowed after th^H manner of men eating oysters (or Scotchmen drinmH ing whisky) U '• Weel/sir," he said, "I'll tell ye the truth ;"1H lmy tea leaves and sell them over again to wivies V to spread over their carpets, when sweepin' them, 1 to keep doon the dust. That's the truth." ■ "It isn't the truth, my man ; Aberdeen wiries, ■ of all wivies in the world, are not so averse to I dust as all that." J " Wcel sir, I'll tell you the real truth this timeM I sell the tea leaves to laddies to feed their rabbits^ wi'. That's the rr.al truth this time." I referred the man to my eye after that, andrequested to know if he saw anything the colour of cabbage in it. Then I threatened to kick over I the bag and call a constable, and finally I called t for another " glais o' whusky." Glug ! One gulp, I down wont the liquor, and then having had " the , j truth " and " the real truth," he told me what he termed the " honest truth," which I was bound to believe. This honest follow, it seems, bought the tea leaves from honest landladies of inns and hotels and sold them to an honest " firm," who dried and doctored them mixed with a modicum of fullflavourod tea, and sold them to honest shopkeepers to retail to the public as pure tea. So much honesty is somewhat confusing ; but far be it from. me to impute dtshonesty to t anyone, and least of all to an Abcrdonian. When this honest bagman. had gluggod down the fifth " glaise," his eyes watered, as well as they might, and he winked and smiled with unutterable satisfaction. " Man !" he said, " the fun o' the thing is this ; the wives — I mean the innkeeper's wives that I buy these tea leaves from — have, a good guess what Ido wi' them. They ken the leaves will be made over again, as Morrison made his imther,.^ _._. but they little ken what I ken, for asXhTold ™*#/' : i empty glaise between me.and^fche lichfr, iHoj.di^^ :. luy their am tea, leaves hack again, and rioVa bifr| wiser." fc - - : --" ' " ' '... ' ' .-'■' "