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tea In Ladies' Novels


What would women novelists do without tea in their books?

The novelists of the rougher sex write of over the coffee and

cigars; or, around the gay and festive board; or, over a

bottle of old port; or, another bottle of dry and sparkling

champagne was cracked; or, and the succulent welsh rarebits

were washed down with royal mugs of musty ale; or, as the

storm grew fiercer, the captain ordered all hands to splice the

main brace, i. e., to take a drink of rum; or, as he gulped

down the last drink of fiery whiskey, he reeled through the

tavern door, and his swaying form drifted into the bleak, black

night, as a roar of laughter drowned his repentant sobs. But the

ladies of the novel confine themselves almost exclusively to

tea--rarely allowing their heroes and heroines to indulge in even

coffee, though they sometimes treat their heroes to wine; but

their heroines rarely get anything from them but Oolong.



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