"Exactly with this as with everything else. It is not the use, but the abuse, that causes trouble. Of course, chicory does not have the soothing and hunger-staying qualities of the real coffee, but the bitter principle in the root is a tonic, and the extract is used as a medicine for that purpose. The leaves of the endive, of which we are using the roots, make a most delicious salad."
"Don't many people use this as a kind of an intoxicant?"
"If used to excess it has an exhilarating influence, on account of its tonic properties."
"I have often thought it was wonderful," said Harry, "that people all over the world have some kind of a weed or plant that they use to stimulate themselves with."
"There seems to be a universal instinct in man to select the strong and bitter principles for that purpose. The aborigines of Central America used rolled tobacco leaves ages before Columbus was born; and the coca leaf, chewed by the lowest orders of the Peruvians, was for ages, and is now, their main source of strength and comfort. So opium, hemp and the betel-nut have been used by eastern Asiatics from the remotest antiquity; and the same is true of the pepper plants of the South Sea Islands and the Indian Archipelago; also of the thorn apples used among the natives of the Andes, and on the slopes of the Himalayas. In northern Europe the ledum and the hop have been so used, and in Siberia the narcotic fungus has been eaten from time immemorial."
At that moment Baby appeared on the scene, his hands and one side of his head dyed a beautiful red, presenting a ludicrous appearance. The first glance at him was one of astonishment; but realizing that he had been testing George's newly made dye, all burst out in laughter at the amusing sight.
"You really look like a red angel," was George's greeting, and Baby seemed to relish the joke. From that time forward Baby's name was "Red Angel," but it took him some time to learn what the new title was. It took him much longer to acquire it than it did to learn what honey meant.
"Red Angel is certainly a very smart little chap," said the Professor, with a laugh, "because he was really doing what is done in the dyeing art and in chemistry every day, furnishing a test sample."
"Test sample; what is that?"