Angels Bend Down Their Wings to a Drinker of Tea

"Christopher Richards" wrote in message news:mLbpd.49271$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.com...

Oops! Proofreading. Better now, I think.

It's now called: The Magnificence of Tea, And a Bit About Coffee.

According to some seventeenth century English wag: "... the man whose object was to expose the 'vanities and vices of the town' was captivated by the ambience of the coffee house." Coffee was a bad boy drink.

But that elixir of life, that magic brew, tea, was also brought to England in the seventeenth century. There was hardly an ailment that this miracle leaf couldn't cure: "...maketh the Body active and lusty... helpeth the Head-ache, giddiness...cleareth the Sight...vanquisheth heavy Dreams...easeth the Brain..is good for Colds, Dropsies and Scurveys.." This was state-of-the-art, seventeenth century advertising.

Coffee was a dream come true for factory owners. At the time of the Industrial Revolution workers would refresh themselves with beer. Clean drinking water wasn't always available. When coffee took over from beer, work life then degenerated into efficiency. Was this the death-knell for the afternoon nap? Is this why the afternoon nap went the way of the dodo?

It's an odd thing that we don't valorize the afternoon nap. Just because we don't drink beer at work anymore shouldn't stop us for having an afternoon nap. I may be just old fashioned, but I want the afternoon put back into daily life. I want it revered. I look for a day when great afternoon nappers will be lead our people to a better world. Besides, children don't go to school in the summer. We haven't given up that tradition. And what is the thinking behind such an idea? It's so they can help bring in the crops, and do the things that farmers do. I may not have been paying attention, but I, haven't noticed fields crammed with children raking hay, and toiling behind the plough. They must be doing something else with their summer vacations.

But tea is the sublime delight; its magnificent perfume; its resplendent shimmering surface, its lush earthy darkness. One sip and the world is transformed. It's a happier, friendlier, and more relaxed world.

Is tea dangerous? Studies have shown almost all shoplifters have drunk tea at some time in their lives prior to their crime. British prisons are bursting at the seams with tea addicts. If those inmates had originally "just said NO" to offers of tea would they be in prison today? Is it peer pressure that makes a person go down the path of no return and end up a tea drinker? Who knows?

Thank goodness tea drinking its still legal.

A couple of centuries ago, the Earl of Sandwich had the stunning idea to put food between two slices of bread. Was this a tea-induced idea? Not long after this momentous event, the seventh Duchess of Bedford is said to have originated the idea of afternoon tea. The world never was the same again. Christopher