March i, 1894.J- THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. s^t 
GEYLON TEA AT CHICAGO: 
LETTER FROM MR. BIP^KACH. 
By a recent mail we have a letter from Mr 
S. Bieraoh, lats of the Ceylon Commisiioner's ataff 
and now carrying on a "pura Ceylon tea buaines? at 
132, East 23rd Street, New York " We have also 
reoe'ivei epjcimens of iln advertising leaflet he has 
issued calling upon the oitizeng t3 send thoir orders 
for attention without extra charge tor delivery to 
him until their grooore can supply them w.th Ceylon 
tea which " ranks as the purest and choicest tea 
ia the American market" and had carried off the 
highest award at the Exhibition, The labels which 
are put on the packets contain directions " how 
to make a good oup o£ tea."— Mr. Bieraoh in hia 
letter says :— . . , , 
cer the Ubors of the Eibibition, it is with much 
nlensure that I lo ik bick upon the work that ha3 been 
aooompliahed. Without a qujsti.o, the spicy httle 
island of the eastern fc.\, your beauutul 0 -ylon, held 
a place foromosli among the nati n< rfp'ese;ited at 
the Great Coliim' i 411 Exhii.ition. Yanr Que n, your 
Governor, yonr people have every renson tj feel proul 
of the aotiievements on behalf of jour industries. 
Your exhibit was uuique, origiual, in'erestiug, beautiful 
and pleaainf? to thu artistic eye. 
Ceylon did well in fele-ting oue of it9 foremost 
citizens, the Hon. J. J. Griulintou, to represent its 
interest at. the World's Fair and he was aVdy assisted 
by W. Pole Fletcher, Esq. The most ouergetic and 
popular of the ForBign Commissioners, was yoar 
own Special Oaram saioner, who made hosts of friends 
by hia genial disposition and Kood-fellowahip; with 
an eye ever open on all occasions to the best in- 
terest of Ceylon. . 
Ceylon Te?, well ! It was ]u9t on top without a 
question and as we sajr in America— don't you for- 
get it. The commendations were numerous and well 
deserved. Delici us, delicate, very good, why this 
is like chocolate, the best at the Fair— were common 
expressions and it was a common thing to hear 
at the woman's court " That cap of tea has 
just savtd my life." I don't wonder, as many of 
the Udiei visiting the court seemed fagged out, 
ready to drop ; »nd I oan assure yon that it was 
very gratifying to see the good effect of a oup 
of tea. At the same time some very amusing remarks 
came to my ears as our tena seemed strange to a 
number of the vi8itor^. One stout old lady called for 
a oup of te.n, adjusted her classes carefully, turned to 
one corner in her mind to enjoy her cup of tea quiet'y. 
■With the first sip she looiied deep into the cup. 
" Fuuny Tei" came from her lips ; with the next sip 
the same expression and so on with e»ch sip and 1 
noticed when she returned the oup it was dry, not a 
drop left, it was funny but good. Perhaps the same 
old lady i«ay drink Ceylon tea now and when other 
than Ceylou be presented her she may say " Funny 
Tea" 1 " Fnnny Tea" ! . , ,, 
la the Woman's Building, on account of the small, 
nessof our Court, it was impossible to supply the great 
demand for oups of out delicious and cheering tea. On 
account of this great preeaure lam sorry to say we 
were obliged to turn hundreds of people away almont 
daily. It was a most happy arrangement when the 
Hon. J. ./• Qrinlintou secured the space in the favorite 
Woman's Building, for without a question, this was 
our pet court and added lar^-ely to our success at tho 
Columbiau Exhibition. Another happy arrangement 
was the building of ttie new tea houee adjoining our 
main court; without this it would have boon impossible 
to get on ; people would have Ceylcn tea and a place 
they must have and a place was provided. It was so 
novel and oriental that it was a pleasure to see theenjrjy- 
ment of our pa rona under the talipot roof quietly sip- 
p ngtho fra:?rant t .a of Ceylon; going away well pleased 
and refreshed. This was a great satisfaoiion and a 
very great aatisfaotion when at the midday oolleotion 
our good and genial ftiond Captain Hansard would 
hand me six to eight poundu Rlerliug resulting from 
tales of tea in the cup in this new addition, Was 
it a suco^s3i' Well I should smile; yet fti.other 
h^ppy event t- at I am pka>ed to bring to your notice 
Wis tho arrival of our good arjd much valued friend 
T. A. Coekburn at Chioigo. We hid to have him he 
was too valuab'e to let go, he was o:i his way to 
Sail Francisco, we just nailed on to him, chained him 
fast and it Wis well we di i, I don't know what the 
women's buildings and the ladies would have don? 
without him. It is needless for me to say he was 
a suocoes. Toe best evidence was the great success 
of the women's court and it's my sincere prayer that 
the same success will follow our good friend to Frisco. 
He was a long time getting to Frisco but he finally 
got there an 1 to continue tho good work in the in- 
terest of Ceylon. 
On June 20'h, my so:i, S Bieraoh, (junior) came 
out for a ten days' vacation : he arrived at a good 
time, proved himself quite a valuable assistant to our 
gooil friend Cojkburn for twenSy-five days at the 
Women's Court. It was voluntnry on his pirt and » 
pleasure to lend his assistanoo to further the interest 
of Ceylon which he has done more or less in assisting 
m'i at local'exhibitions without cost. 
Tho mmy queslions asked in many ways were 
moat amuaiog : " Where is Ceylon ? what kind of 
people are they? is that a man or a woman?" 
"No, madam, that woman ia a man, the man 
with the large turhaii is a Tamil, the one 
with the comb is a Sinhalese" " This man," pointing to 
"f.A.O." ia a single mm? is he m itried?. "No madam 
he is a single man." "Oh ! does he spesk English?', 
"Yes, inidam." Then tho single man would answer 
for himself. With all oar hird work, the little 
amusing events from time to time ware quite a 
relief and m^de life worth living at the exiiibition. 
It waa my pleasure to assist at many receptions 
in the Oommissioner's tea room iu the upper oc''- 
agon, outside of the Adminis'ration and Woman's 
Buildings. I di not know of another room, where 
so many people from all parts of our common 
country, Europe, India, and oth°r countries, were en- 
tertained. One of the last aflfaira that I attended, 
as a guest, was the Colonial reception and ball at 
the New York state building, one of the best ad- 
apted buildings on the ground for tho purpose: pure 
in style of architecture and oontainiufi a mignifioenS 
ball room. On this occasion, a suite of three rooms 
on the main floor were put at our disposal and ten 
of our native servants brewed and served tea to 
pood satisfaction. I felt as proud as a Ceylon man 
of them, they looked so nice and clean : in fact the 
reputation of our native staff stood second to none 
at the exhibition : always well behaved and polite. 
I sincerely trust that the Chicago venture will prove 
a very gre»t suaoess ; that the store will be blessed 
with good business and became self-supporting. But 
I do regret very much that nothing has been done 
as to New York, the most importiut city in the 
states. H>d I the mean", I would not worrj' my- 
self much about it, but would siil in on my own 
account, to do that which is being left undone. 
A tea Kiosk, in a proper looation, properly 
started, I am snre would be a success almost 
from the word go ; in a short lime beosme self-sup- 
porting and later, from thi profits, would he the meana 
of starting similar estn'disbments in other cities ; 
but the thing is to start right and in the right 
place. 
My plans for oooduothi? suoh a tea kiosk would 
not conflict with tho retail e^rocer, as my purpose 
would bo to make'it self-supporting and, at tho s»ma 
time, have the favou- and help of the dealer, in the 
sales of tho Ceylon Te* so that the establishment 
would be a mutual benefit, approved by Che dealer 
and the planters made happy with increased sales. 
In closing, I wish to express my gratitude to the 
Hon. J. J. Grinliiiton, for bis kind oouaidoration at 
tho Great Columbian Exposition ; I also wi«h to 
express my sincera thanks to W. Pole Fletcher, Esq., 
and Oaptatu A. rlanaard and tho staff generally 
for the kiud iess shown me. Our relations have been 
moat pleasant and I ehall ever cherish my association 
with Ceylon at the World's Fair. 
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