30 THE HISTORY OF COFFEE. 



viding the best kinds of sugar and the most honest and well- 

 cleaned cups and saucers. At the shrine of one of these ven- 

 ders in the early hours of the morning, when the fogs of the 

 Mississippi are rolling over the Crescent City, breaking like 

 clouds against the intervening houses, and filling the air with 

 sickly miasma which nauseates the unfortunate whose business 

 calls him out before the fogs are dissipated, then it is that coffee 

 is most prized. Look at the recipient, who with blanched face, 

 dull eyes, and depressed mien, reaches out his hand and seizes 

 upon the nectar. The moment the fragrance reaches his nos- 

 trils a transformation for the better commences, the eyes grow 

 bright, a healthful color and natural fulness returns to the 

 cheeks, smiles wreath the mouth, the mind becomes active, the 

 fogs, the dark air, effluvia of all sorts are exorcised like ghosts 

 fleeing before the penetrating rays of the unobstructed sun. 



The European, the Creole, the New Englander, the men of 

 the West and the far-off Orient, all visit the coffee-stands. 

 While partaking there is for the instant a touch of nature which 

 makes mankind akin, for it is observable that the recipients of 

 the morning cup of pure Java are sociable. Artificial distinc- 

 tions are discarded in the very act of drinking in the crowded 

 market, or even standing in the open street. But it is the very 

 thing, this mixture of the rude and the refined, that adds zest to 

 the " open-air cup of coffee." The merry twinkle of the eye of 

 the attendant quadroon, her quiet manners, her attentive observ- 

 ance of the wants and tastes of the various customers, the very 

 polish of the tall copper kettle, the jet of steam, the whiteness 

 of the crockery, constitute associations that, once realized, one 

 never forgets, and justly places coffee among the most grateful, 

 innocent, and healthful things that we Americans include among 

 the necessaries of life. 



The coffee-houses of New York are intimately associated 

 with the history of the city. Within their walls have been the 



