24 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



statistics to go upon, but it would not surprise me 

 to learn that Americans, careless of nerves, uric 

 acid and other caveats oi modern medicine, consume 

 more coffee than even Frenchmen and Germans, 

 rarely substituting the generous wines of the one 

 or the fuddling beer of the other, but drinking 

 coffee morning, noon and night, as Arabs pray, 

 drinking it indeed as regularly as Australians 

 drink tea. The American does not trouble tea 

 much, and no wonder, for his tea is vile and vile 

 remains, being so little in demand. It may be that 

 his contempt for the favourite beverage of England 

 is a survival of that wondrous epoch of secession, 

 when even the rule of the road was reversed and 

 made to conform to that of Continental countries, 

 in order that the new nation might differ in every 

 possible detail of the daily life from the parent 

 stock. As one humble result of this passion for 

 distinction, the few provincial Americans who keep 

 tea at all, innocently offer you stuff that might 

 soothe an American child, but that would, at home, 

 certainly be refused by the kitchen-maid. 



Allusion has been made to the prevalent taste 

 for iced water at table. When a man staying in an 

 English hotel asks for water, it may be surmised 

 that he desires to shave or to wash. In the States, 

 he wants to drink it. One evening I got back late 

 to my hotel and asked the clerk at the desk 

 whether I could get a drink at that hour. To my 

 amazement he replied — 



"Stop a bit; I'll get you one; I keep a little 

 stock handy." 



He dived behind a screen, leaving me em- 

 barrassed with vague thoughts of giving him 



