"Spring " Tea The Rev. T. W. Griffiths, of Combe
Vicarage, Oxford, writes to me about the fact that some old country-people are suspicious of " pipe" water and prefer water from the pump, and he goes on to mention- that, when his wife entertained members of a women's organisation to tea, two old ladies excused themselves, saying that the tea would be made of " pipe" water and they only drank tea made of well-water. One of them referred to " a nice cup of spring tea." Having had such tea often in my life, I can understand the old lady's enjoyment of her
spring" tea. In remote cottages and farms where, by luck and good fortune, the blend of tea happens to suit the water from the spring, a cup of such tea is a reward for a long journey. Sometimes, it is true, it has the flavour of wood-smoke in it, a suggestion of peat reek or gorse kindling that has blackened the sides of the iron kettle, but if it has these flavours the tea-drinker can be sure that it has nothing of the " fur" of a pipe in it and no taint of chlorine. I sat in a farmhouse only last week, drinking spring tea, talking about the shepherd's life and the intelligence of collie dogs. The tea was as
delightful as the conversation. •
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