The company clapped their hands.
“We have sent round papers for the merchants to sign an agreement that they will not sell any tea imported from England. All have signed it except Hutchinson’s two sons, Governor Bernard’s son-in-law, Theophilus Lillie, and two others. The agreement does not prevent the merchants from selling tea imported from Holland. The Tories, of course, will patronize the merchants who have not signed the agreement, and the question for us to consider is how we shall keep out the tea to be imported by the East India Company.”
“We must make it hot for ’em,” said Mr. Mackintosh.
“The tea, do you mean?” shouted several.
There was a ripple of laughter.
“I don’t see but that we shall have to quit drinking tea,” said Doctor Warren. “We drink altogether too much. It has become a dissipation. We drink it morning, noon, and night. Some of the old ladies of my acquaintance keep the teapot on the coals pretty much all the time. Our wives meet in the afternoon to sip tea and talk gossip. The girls getting ready to be married invite their mates to quiltings and serve them with Old Hyson. We have garden tea-parties on bright afternoons in summer and evening parties in winter. So much tea, such frequent use of an infusion of the herb, upsets our nerves, impairs healthful digestion, and brings on sleeplessness. I have several patients—old ladies, and those in middle life—whose nerves are so unstrung that I am obliged to dose them with opium occasionally, to enable them to sleep.”
“Do you think we can induce the ladies to quit drinking it?” Mr. Molineux asked.
“I am quite sure Mrs. Warren will cheerfully give it up, as will Mrs. Molineux if her husband should set the example,” Doctor Warren replied.