wedded Baltimore couple seem to have considered 

 a good floor covering as valuable as a silver teapot 

 with stand, certainly one of the items of prestige in the 

 18th century when tea drinking was the social activ- 

 ity.'"" In a letter of 1799 to his father in England, 



Joseph Brevitt wrote suggesting that "If Mrs. 

 Stracy should be induced to make me any present 

 & request of you 'what may be best?' I would wish 

 a silver Teapot & stand for my wife or a good 

 carpet." "' 



"° RODRIS Roth, Tea Drni/cirig in 18th-Ccntwy America: 

 lis EliqueUe and Equipage (Paper 14 in "Contributions from the 

 Museum of History and Technology," U.S. National Museum 

 Bulletin 225), Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office, 

 1961. 



"" Letter from Joseph Brevitt, Baltimore, to his father in 

 England, 1799. (MS, Maryland Historical Society.) Brevitt 

 Letter Book. 



60 



BULLETIN 250 : CONTRIBUTIONS FROM THE MUSEUM OF HISTORY AND TECHNOLOGY 



