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."
[Illustration: PRESSING THE TEA-LEAVES.]
The use of alcohol is almost invariably condemned in the various
handbooks on training; but the use of tea is always commended. Mr. C.
J. Michôd, late Hon. Sec. of the London Athletic Club, in his "Guide
to Athletic Training," considers tea preferable for training purposes,
as it possesses less heating properties, and is more digestible. The
greatest pedestrian of our time, Mr. Edward Payson Weston, finds in
tea and rest the most effective restoratives. Lately he walked 5000
miles in 100 days, and after each day's work, lectured on "Tea _versus_
Beer." Even the publicans on the roads, he says, used to meet him with
cups of tea and basins of milk. A Norwich physician, Dr. Beverley,
testified to the value of tea in mountain-climbing. "The hardest
physical work I have done," he says, "has been mountain-climbing in
Switzerland, and on such occasions after a breakfast, of which coffee
and milk and bread formed the chief articles of food, it was my custom
to fill my flask with an infusion of cold tea, made over-night from a
stock kept for the purpose in my knapsack, and this I invariably found
to be the most refreshing drink for such purposes. This is confirmed
by all experienced in Alpine ascents, who know only too well that the
man who has recourse to his flask of brandy or sherry seldom gains the
mountain-top."
In the harvest-field, also, tea is being substituted for beer. At a
conference of the members of the Newbury Chamber of Agriculture, held
in July, 1878, Mr. T. Bland Garland maintained that nothing can be
more unsuitable as a thirst-quenching beverage during hard work in hot
weather than beer, and stated that in 1871 he determined to supply no
more beer to his labourers under any circumstances. He had agreed as
an alternative, to pay the men 18_s._ instead of 14_s._, and the women
9_s._ instead of 7_s._; but reflecting that the people would probably
find it impossible to supply themselves with a suitable substitute
for the beer, and would, in a measure, be driven to the public-house,
he determined to supply them with tea. He thus describes his method of
brewing tea,--
"I purchased a common flat-bottomed 8-1/2-gallon iron boiler, with
a lid, long spout, and tap; this is taken in a cart to the field,
with a few bricks to form a temporary fireplace, a few sticks for the
fire, some tea in 7-oz. packets, and sugar in 4-lb. packets. The first
thing in the morning a woman lights the fire, boils the water, the
bailiff puts on the 7 ozs. of tea in a small bag, to boil for ten to
fifteen minutes, then removes it and puts in 4 lbs. of sugar; if skim
milk can be spared, two to four quarts are added, but this is not a
necessity, although desirable. All the labourers are then at liberty
to take as much as they like at all times of the day, beginning at
breakfast-time, and ending when they leave off work at night. If the
field is large, they send large cans to the boiler for it; so soon as
the quantity in the boiler is reduced to two gallons, it is drawn off
in a pail for consumption, whilst another boilerful is being prepared.
The knowledge that they have at their disposal as much good tea as
they choose to drink during every minute of the day materially lessens
their thirst.
The cost of tea in my case is as follows:--
s. d.
7 ozs. of tea 1 0
4 lbs. of sugar 1 2
Skim milk about 0 2
----
2 4
or 8-1/2 gallons of tea, at 3-1/2_d._ per gallon.
I had twenty-eight men and women employed in hay-making this year,
and the consumption was,--
Gals.
Generally, 2 boilers full per day 17
Occasionally, 2-1/2 " " 21-1/4
On one day, 3 " " 25-1/2
My calculation is, that they drink on the average two-thirds of a
gallon each per day, at a cost of 2_d._ Thus I pay them, in lieu of
beer, 8_d._ per day in money, and 2_d._ in tea, or 10_d._ in all. But
if the change involved a much larger expenditure than the cost of the
beer, employers would be amply remunerated in the better and larger
amount of work done, the better disposition of their labourers, the
decrease of pauperism, and the general well-being of the people."
Mr. Garland, having benefited so much by the substitution of tea for
beer, was naturally anxious that other farmers should follow his
example, and urged them to "let the additional wages be given to the
full value of the beer; let the tea be good, and made with care in
the field, not sent out from the house, or there will not be enough;
be sure that it is always within the reach of every labourer, without
stint. See to this yourself: trust it to no one; beer has many friends.
Be firm in carrying out the change, and it will be a source of great
satisfaction to you and to your labourers, with very little trouble
and at no extra expense." The late Sir Philip Rose testified that the
men on his farm "were in better condition at the conclusion of the
day, less stupid and sullen, and certainly much better fitted the next
morning to resume their labours, than with the old system of beer." It
would be easy to multiply extracts, but enough has been said to prove
the benefit of tea over alcohol, whether in marching or fighting,
cricketing or sculling, cycling or mowing. We may add that cold tea is
considered by many writers on the subject one of the most refreshing
and satisfactory summer drinks, provided it be not spoiled by the
addition of milk and sugar. It ought to be made early in the day, and
left to stand in a stone jar until thoroughly cool, and should then be
flavoured, in the Russian fashion, with slices of fresh lemon.