CHAPTEK 2XVI. 



THE TEOPICS' BEST GIFT. 



How little do the millions throughout the civilized world, 

 who sit at their breakfast-tables, realize the labor and pains which 

 have been taken to place before them the fragrant cup which, if 

 good, makes everything good I 



From the time when the little seedling first shoots above the 

 ground in the tropics, it is watched and shaded, pruned and cul- 

 tured by the dusky sons of toil; nor is the task near ended when 

 the planter sees his hopes realized in the red, ripe berry. 



Let us trace it from hand to hand until it reaches the table of 

 the consumer. In its gathering and preparation a vast amount 

 of labor is required ; then comes its transportation to the sea- 

 board, where it is weighed, stored, sampled, assorted, and sold, 

 oftentimes passing through the hands of several owners before 

 shipment to the country where it is destined to be consumed. 

 Here it is placed in great warehouses and the same formalities are 

 again observed. After leaving the plantation and before reaching 

 the consumer, it has paid tribute to the transporter to the shipping 

 port, to the laborers, warehousemen, brokers, merchants, ^nd 

 bankers of that country ; to the ships which carry it abroad ; to 

 the custom-houses of importing countries, to their stevedores, 

 storage warehouses, insurance companies, and bankers; to the 

 brokers who sample and sell it, the weighers who weigh it, and 

 the wholesale merchants who buy it. Then comes its cartage or 

 lighterage, its roasting and sale to retail merchants, and its trans- 

 portation to the point where it is finally distributed and consumed. 

 Twelve hundred millions of pounds of coffee annually pass through 

 this routine, and probably a hundred millions of people, besides 

 the consumers, are directly or indirectly benefited. Factories 



