exhilaration of the mental faculties which it produced, made it a necessary assistant to break the stiffness of those old-fashioned parties. It contains an active principle, theine, which when taken in considerable quantity produces a species of intoxication. Foreigners who visit China, where tea is served upon almost every occasion, become frequently tea-drunk. The method of preparing tea by our ancestors was essentially that of the wealthy class in China. The tea was brought upon the table in decorated china tea-caddies, some of which are still in existence, along with an urn of boiling water. The tea-leaves were then placed in the cup of every guest, the cup filled with hot water, and the saucer inverted over it for a few minutes to retain the aroma. The tea-pot was only used then by the rather bourgeoisie. The incidents connected with this particular tea-party are especially interesting, as they come to us through the blue mist of a century. We can easily imagine how they sat around in their low-necked, short-waisted gowns, and after they had gossiped sufficiently, "it was resolved that those who could spin ought to be employed in that way, and those who could not should reel. When the time arrived for drinking tea, Bohea and Hyperion were provided, and every one of the ladies judiciously rejected the poisonous Bohea, and unanimously, to their very great honor, preferred the balsamic Hyperion," which was nothing more than the dried leaves of the raspberry vine, a drink, in the writer's opinion, more vile even than the much vaunted Yeopon. The picture of this patriotic party, incorrectly alluded to by Wheeler, has a strange and unique history, and I give it as I have received it from the lady into whose possession the picture has now fallen. Lieutenant William T. Muse, a United States naval officer who became conspicuous during the late war, and whose mother was a Miss Blount of Edenton, while on a cruise in the Mediterranean stopped at Port Mahon on the island of Minorca, and accidentally saw hanging in a barber's shop there a picture representing the Edenton tea-party of 1774. It was purchased and brought by him to Edenton in 1830. I have this date from an old Bible bearing the date of his return from the cruise. It was first placed on exhibition in the court-house, and the representation of the characters was so distinct that many of the ladies were easily recognized. It then found a resting-place in the old tailor shop of Joseph Manning, an ancestor of the late Chief-justice Manning of Louisiana, and finally, in a cracked condition, was intrusted to the care of the Collins family, a member of which has it still. During the confusion of refugeeing during the civil war, it was broken in three pieces. A very patriotic gentleman is making a praiseworthy effort to have this picture reproduced on canvas, to be exhibited at the Columbian exposition at Chicago. It is a painting upon glass, twelve by fifteen inches. Upon one of the pieces is the declaration set forth by the ladies, that they would drink no tea nor wear any stuffs of British manufacture. Upon another is the picture of the lady who presided upon that occasion. She is seated at a table with a pen in her hand, her maid Amelia standing behind her chair. This maid lived for many years after this incident, and is still remembered by some of the oldest citizens. By a singular coincidence her granddaughter is still living upon the very same lot where the tea-party was held. Upon the third fragment of this picture in plain letters is written, "The Town of Edenton." It is not known how a picture of this party was obtained, or how it found its way to Port Mahon or even into the barber shop. The printer's name in the corner of the picture is said to have been the same one who printed the celebrated letters of Junius in the reign of George III. Pictures have immortalized many events in history, and it is very probable that but for this one the pleasing little incident would have been lost or forgotten. "Porte Crayon" (General Strother), in his interesting article on Edenton and the surroundings, written for Harper's Magazine in 1857, says, "It is to be regretted that Porte Crayon did not get a sight of this painting, that the world might have heard more of it, and that the patriotism of the ladies of Edenton might have been blazoned beside that of the men of Boston, who have figured in so many bad woodcuts." None of the names of the fifty-one ladies present at this party have been preserved in history, but I have succeeded in rescuing five of their names from the local traditions. Mrs. Penelope Barker, whose picture appears here, was the president of this party. She was no advocate of celibacy, having been married first to a Mr. Hodgson, then to a Mr. Craven, and lastly to Mr. Barker, whom she survived. At a casual glance one might easily mistake her portrait for that of Lady Washington. She was one of those lofty, intrepid, high-born women peculiarly fitted by nature to lead; fear formed no part of her composition. Her face bears the expression of sternness without harshness, which a cheap novelist would describe as hauteur. She was a brilliant conversationalist and a society leader of her day. Mr. Thomas Barker, her husband, was a gifted Scotch lawyer, and had for his pupil at one time the distinguished governor, Samuel Johnston. The attachment of Governor Johnston for Mr. Barker was so great that in after years he had him and his more illustrious wife interred in his private graveyard on his beautiful estate Hayes, where a mossy slab marks their last resting-place. Mr. Barker was detained for some time in London during the Revolution, and while there his wife was called upon to show some of that pluck and courage she had evinced at the tea-party. Being informed by a servant that some British soldiers were taking her carriage horses from her stables, she snatched her husband's sword from the wall, went out, and with a single blow severed the reins in the officer's hands, and drove her horses back into the stables. The British officer declared that for such exhibition of bravery she should be allowed to keep her horses, and she was never afterward molested. Mrs. Sarah Valentine was one of the signers, and her portrait is in the possession of her descendants, and her house is still standing on the lower end of Main street. Mrs. Elizabeth King was another signer, and it was at her house, as before mentioned, that the party was held. She was the wife of Thomas King, a prominent merchant of the town. The Miss Johnston referred to in the Iredell letter was undoubtedly Miss Isabella, a sister of Governor Johnston. She was engaged to Joseph Hewes, a signer of the Declaration of Independence from North Carolina, and died just before her marriage was consummated. Hewes, who was a man of great wealth and refinement, soon followed her broken-hearted to the grave. Mrs. Mary Hoskins, another signer, lived in the country near Edenton, and was the wife of Richard Hoskins, one of the signers of the St. Paul's Declaration of Independence, antedating the national by two weeks, and of which we are justly proud. From the Napoleonic standpoint she was the greatest of them all, having given eight sons and eight daughters to her country. I extract the following from the first volume (1877) of the Magazine of American History: "Revolutionary Caricature. I send a description of a caricature that may interest collectors. It is a mezzotint, fourteen by ten inches, entitled A Society of Patriotic Ladies, at Edenton, in North Carolina. London. Printed for R. Sayer & J. Bennett, No. 53 in Fleet Street, as the Act directs 25 March, 1775, Plate V. A group of fifteen figures are around or near a table in a room. A female at the table with a gavel is evidently a man, probably meant for Lord North. A lady, with pen in hand, is being kissed by a gentleman. Another lady, standing, is writing on a large circular, which can be read, 'We the Ladys of Edenton do hereby solemnly engage not to Conform to that Pernicious Custom of Drinking Tea, or that we the aforesaid Ladys will not promote ye wear of any manufacture from England, untill such time that all Acts which tend to enslave this our Native Country shall be repealed.' The other figures are not close around the table, and are emptying tea-caddies or looking on. A child and dog are under the table. Compare Bancroft's United States, vol. vii. p. 282. J. C. B." This is evidently a caricature of the original picture, probably made by some tory of that time. The description of it given above was written fifteen years ago, and I have been unable to find any clue to the writer or the whereabouts of this caricature. It will be remembered that Lord North, referred to in the description, was prime minister of England at that time, and the Stamp Act, which included a great many articles, had been relieved upon everything except tea; this made him especially odious to the ladies of the colonies. A writer in alluding to the activity and zeal of the women of the Revolution says, "In the lives of those high-mettled dames of the olden time, the daughters, wives, and mothers of men, the earnest inquirer might find much to elucidate that befogged question of the present day, what are the rights of women?" And now my task is ended, let history distill in her great alembic whatever is valuable from these pages for posterity. "The torch shall be extinguished which hath lit EDENTON, NORTH CAROLINA. Richard Dillads MASCOUTIN A REMINISCENCE OF THE NATION OF FIRE Mascoutin, or Muscatine as the spelling and pronunciation now are, is the one town of this name in the United States of America. It is situated in the state of Iowa, on the Mississippi river, at the vertex of the great bend into the state which a glance at the map will show that the river makes. High and picturesque bluffs overhang the river, and on these the town of Muscatine is built. Southwest of the town is a low, flat, sandy tract containing nearly forty thousand acres-an island by natural formation, being separated from the Illinois shore on the east by the river, and from the Iowa shore on the west by a narrow, winding slough. The name of this island is also Muscatine; and it is worthy of remark that it bore this name long before the town of Muscatine was founded, and indeed from a period altogether remote and indeterminate. It has ever been a question of interest for local antiquarians, whence the derivation of this name Mascoutin, or Muscatine, and what its meaning? That it is Indian nobody has doubted; but as to what it means, |