Tea and Tea Drinking

by Arthur Reade

CHAPTER V.
TEA AND PHYSICAL ENDURANCE.

Tea and dry bread versus porter and beefsteak—Tea for soldiers—Opinion of Professor Parkes—Tea versus spirits—Tea and Tel-el-Kebir—Lord Wolseley's testimony—Pegs and teapots—Temperance in the navy—Drinking the health of her Majesty in a bowl of tea—Cycling and tea-drinking—Mountain-climbing—Tea in the harvest-field—Cold tea as a summer drink.

Tea is not only a valuable stimulant to the mind, but is the most beneficial drink to those engaged in fatiguing work. Dr. Jackson, whom Buckle quotes as an authority, testified in 1845, that even for those who have to go through great fatigues a breakfast of tea and dry bread is more strengthening than one of beefsteak and porter. "I have been," says Dr. Inman, "a careful reader of all those accounts which tell of endurance of prolonged fatigue, and have been touched with the almost unanimous evidence in favour of vegetable diet and tea as a beverage, that I have determined in every instance where long nursing, as of a fever patient, is required, to recommend nothing stronger than tea for the watcher." In the army, as well as in the hospital, tea is slowly, but surely, supplanting the use of grog. "As an article of diet for soldiers," remarked Professor Parkes, "tea is most useful. The hot infusion, like that of coffee, is potent both against heat and cold; is most useful in great fatigue, especially in hot climates, and also has a great purifying effect on water. Tea is so light, is so easily carried and the infusion is so readily made, that it should form the drink par excellence of the soldier on service. There is also a belief that it lessens the susceptibility to malaria, but the evidence on this point is imperfect."

Admiral Inglefield, writing in January, 1881, strongly commended the use of tea and coffee as heat producers.

"During this almost Arctic weather, and in the midst of these almost Arctic surroundings, permit me as an old Arctic officer to plead for a short hearing in behalf of those whose lives may still be in jeopardy for want of some practical experience how to take care of themselves. Among the working classes there is an all-prevailing idea that nothing is so effectual to keep out cold as a raw nip of spirits, and this delusion is to their minds justified, because they find the "raw nip" setting the heart, and blood in more rapid motion; and heat being generated while the influence remains, a sensation of warmth is the natural result, but after a short space reaction sets in, and a slower circulation must ensue. In the evidence given before the last Arctic Committee, of which I was a member, all the witnesses were unanimous in the opinion that spirits taken to keep out cold was a fallacy, and that nothing was more effectual than a good fatty diet, and hot tea or coffee as a drink. Seamen who journeyed with me up the shores of Wellington Channel, in the Arctic Regions, after one day's experience of rum-drinking, came to the conclusion that tea, which was the only beverage I used, was much preferable, and they quickly derived great advantage from its use while undergoing hard work and considerable cold. If cabmen, watchmen, railway servants, and those who from the nature of their duties are compelled to expose themselves during this inclement weather could be persuaded to give up entirely the use of spirituous liquors and use hot tea or coffee for a beverage, I can promise that they would be better fortified to withstand the cold, they would experience more lasting comfort, and there would be more shillings to take to their homes on a Saturday night; happily, also, the trial of temperance for a time, to meet the present emergency, might become with some the habit of a life."

The soldiers who captured Tel-el-Kebir drank nothing but tea. It was served out to them three times a day. The correspondent of the Daily News (12th of September, 1882) wrote, "Sir Garnet Wolseley having ordered that the troops under his command should be allowed daily a triple allowance of tea, extra supplies of that article are being sent out from the commissariat stores to Ismailia. It is stated that the extra issue of tea is very acceptable to the men, who find a decoction of the mild stimulant in their canteen-bottles the most refreshing and invigorating beverage they can carry with them on the march."

Lord Wolseley having been asked for his temperance testimony, replied in an interesting letter, in which he strongly commended the use of tea. "Once during my military career," he says, "it fell to my lot to lead a brigade through a desert country for a distance of over 600 miles. I fed the men as well as I could, but no one, officer or private, had anything stronger than tea to drink during the expedition. The men had peculiarly hard work to do, and they did it well, and without a murmur. We seemed to have left crime and sickness behind us with the 'grog,' for the conduct of all was most exemplary, and no one was ever ill. I have always attributed much of our success upon that occasion to the fact that no form of intoxicating liquor formed any portion of the daily ration."

Evidence from other quarters shows very conclusively that soldiers would rather drink tea than grog. In an account of the return march through the Khyber Pass, the Rev. Gelson Gregson states that they were very kindly and hospitably received by the medical officer in charge, "who had a good brew of tea ready, with cheese and biscuits, much more sensible than another medico, who came round with a brandy-bottle as soon as we got in. Every one enjoyed the tea, and did not even call for a peg. I believe," he adds, "that pegs would soon go out of fashion if teapots were only oftener introduced." Tea, unfortunately, requires some trouble to make; but doubtless this difficulty is in a fair way of being removed by the pressure from without. Total abstinence is increasing greatly both in the army and navy. Miss Weston, whose labours amongst the blue jackets are well known, claims that one man out of every six is a teetotaler; and the Hong Kong Telegraph recently gave an account of a tea-meeting held with the men of H.M.S. Orontes and their successors in the port, at which between 300 and 400 sat down in the Temperance Hall. Mr. James Francis, Organizing Agent of the Royal Naval Temperance Society, having asked Admiral Willes to say a few words, his Excellency advanced to the top of the room and said, "Soldiers, sailors, and marines, I am going to ask you to drink the health, in a flowing bowl of tea, of her Gracious Majesty, the Queen, and in so doing I take the opportunity of bidding the marines and sailors going home on the 20th farewell. I wish them a pleasant passage and a happy meeting with their friends. I invite those lately come out to support by example those who are going away. I consider this an excellent institution. Drunkenness is the cause of nearly all the crimes in the navy, and I dare say also in the army. I ask you to drink the health of the Queen, and give her Majesty three cheers." The toast was duly drunk in sparkling Bohea, three rounds of cheers being given for her Majesty and "one more" for the gallant admiral. Mr. Haly, R.N., then proposed "The health of his Excellency, the Governor," the toast receiving like treatment. Mr. Chisham, R.N., next proposed "The health of Miss Agnes Weston," and said that no words of his could make her dearer than she already was to the British sailor. The toast was duly honoured, as was also that of Mr. Francis.

The use of tea among cricketers, scullers, pedestrians, cyclists, and others is also becoming more general; for instance, Mr. Wynter Blyth, Medical Officer of Health for Marylebone, says, "I have studied the diets recorded as in use, and find that those who have done long journeys successfully have used that class of diet which science has shown most suitable for muscular exertion—viz. one of a highly nitrogenized character: plenty of meat, eggs, and milk, with bread, but not much butter, and no alcohol. I have cycled for over fifty miles, taking frequent draughts of beer, and in these circumstances, although there has been no alcoholic effect, it has caused great physical depression. The experience of others is the same. However much it may stimulate for a little while, a period of well-marked depression follows. I attribute this in part to the salts of potash which some beers contain, in part to injurious bitters, and in part to the alcohol. My own experience as to the best drink when on the road is most decidedly in favour of tea. Tea appears to rouse both the nervous and muscular system, with, so far as I can discover, no after-depressing effect."