Ruth Starbuck
Wentworth's romantic story of the first drawing of tea on Nantucket Island
Nantucket Island, Sept.
20, 1735
My Own Dear Mother:
It seems a very long
time since you and my honored father and my ever beloved sisters and brothers started for
your new home. But I suppose you have not at this writing reached your destination, and I
think of you every day and all day, marching and marching, following the lonely trail
through the interminable forests, and sometimes I am tempted to repine, in that my father
thought it best to remove to that far away settlement. But my grandfather tells me that
the entertaining of that sentiment would be unworthy of the daughter of a pioneer, and
since it was thought best for me to remain behind for a season, I must improve my time to
best advantage. This I try to do with cheerfulness, and Aunt Content is so kind as to say
that I am of service to her in our household duties, and in spinning and weaving.
Peradventure my letter
shall be a puzzle to you, I hasten to say that I indite a paragraph or two at a time upon
leisure, and whenever anything comes to my mind that I desire you to know, I straightaway
go to my uncle's desk and set it down. I do this, dear mother, that you may share in my
pleasureable thoughts, and may know of my daily life. Also that my brothers and sisters
may, in a measure, partake of my enjoyments.
The principal news I
have now to tell is, my cousin, Nathaniel Starbuck, Jr., has returned to Boston from his
late long voyage to China and is now hourly looked for here. There are divers preparations
being made for his coming. My grandfather walks restlessly up and down the yard with his
stout stick, peering anxiously up the roadway by which our traveler must come. Uncle
Nathaniel says with pride, "The boy will have many stories to tell." Aunt
Content flits about the house with a smile upon her face, and anon tears in her eyes,
concocting dishes of which her son used to be fond; while dear old grandmother knits and
knits, because she says, " 'Thaniel never yet wore any stockings but of my make, and
I must have a supply for him to take on his next voyage." I, even I, am to have a new
blue gown, made from aunt's last web, which is the softest piece of flannel ever made on
the island.
My cousin has come. He
is tall and lithe, with handsome hair and eyes, but his complexion is bronzed by ocean
winds and eastern suns. He says it seems to him like a fairy tale that I was the same
little dumpling of a cousin he used to toss in the air when he was last at home. He is
much grieved to find you gone and is planning a shooting expedition, whose objective
point shall be your far-away settlement.
The neighbors all
congregate around our kitchen fire to hear his wonderful stories and adventures, which he
was relating all day and far into the night. For all he has travelled almost all over the
world, he is as pleased as a little boy to be at home on the dear Nantucket plantation
again. We are all happy as we can be with our divided hearts. We all have frequent
thoughts and wish for our wanderers, and grandfather remembers you each morning and
evening at the throne of grace.
My cousin has brought a
great many curiosities and presents for us all: One is a silken creamy shawl for me, woven
and embroidered with beautiful flowers. Another is a gown of foamy Canton crepe, as white
as snow. They are so pretty I am sure I shall never dare to wear them. Grandma says they
shall be kept for my wedding day; but Aunt Esther says it is not seemly for such thoughts
to be put into a maiden's head; yet Aunt Content gave me the other day a whole piece of
linen from the fall bleach, "to be kept," said she, "for a day of
need." At all events, my foreign finery is packed away in a foreign box and is not
likely to turn any silly maiden's head at present.
Cousin has returned to
Boston, and yesterday he sent by a trusty messenger another sea chest, in it a large box
of tea -- the first that was ever on the island -- real Chinese tea, which Nat himself
procured from China. It is of a greenish color, with little shriveled leaves, and when
eaten dry has a pleasant and spicy taste. Perhaps when I have an opportunity to send this
letter I can enclose a sample quantity, that you may see what it is like. He has sent by
the same hand a letter saying when he returns to Nantucket, the owner of the ship in which
he voyaged, Captain Morris, will come with him from Boston to pay us a visit.
We are again making
master preparations for visitors, and if you will believe it, the large parlor, which has
not been used since Aunt Mehitable's wedding, is to be open. The floor has been newly
waxed and polished, and we have spread down here and there beautiful mats and rugs which
Cousin Nat brought from foreign parts. With the many curious and handsome things which are
hung on the wall and spread on the table and mantle-piece, and the huge fire of logs which
the sharp weather now renders necessary in the chimney, you have no conception how finely
the room appears. While I was admiring it this morning, Aunt Esther rebuked me gravely,
saving, "The brightest things of this world are of short duration;" but dear,
gentle grandma observed with a smile that it was natural and right for the young to admire
beauty; at which Aunt Esther seemed displeased. I sometimes thing she dislikes me because
I am young; but that cannot be. Yet I cannot quite understand how, being my own sweet
mother's sister, she can be so unlike her.
We have just had
tidings that Cousin Nat and his friend Captain Morris intend to arrive here on the 31st of
December. Uncle Nathaniel says we will have a tea party, and invite Lieutenant Macey's
family and Uncle Edward Starbuck's family and a few others to meet our distinguished
guests, and to sit the old year out and the new year in.
We cooked a bountiful
dinner and our guests all came. I wore my blue gown, with some lace that grandma gave me
in the neck, and my own dear mother's gold necklace. I tied back my curls (which Cousin
Nat will not allow me to braid) with a blue ribbon which he bought in London. Aunt Esther
said, Men dislike to see girls so brave;" but grandpa kissed me, calling me his
"Bonnie Blue Bell." Aunt Content has been much pestered in her mind because she
knew not how to cook and serve tea, and after our neighbors had assembled she confided to
them her perplexity. They all gathered around the tea chest, smelling and tasting the
fragrant herb.
Mrs. Lieutenant Macey
said she had heard that it ought to be well cooked to be palatable; and Aunt Edward
Starbuck said a lady in Boston, who had drunk tea, told her that it needed a good quantity
for a steeping, which was the reason it was so expensive.
So Aunt Content hung
the bright five-gallon bell-metal kettle on the crane, and putting a two quart bowl full
of tea in it with plenty of water, swung it over the fire and Aunt Esther and Lydia Ann
Macey stayed in the kitchen to keep it boiling.
While I was laying the
table I heard Lydia Ann say, "I have heard that when tea is drank it gives a
brilliancy to the eyes, and a youthful freshness to the complexion. I am afraid that thy
sister-in-law failed to put in a sufficient quantity of the leaves." So Aunt Esther
put another bowl full of the tea into the bell-metal kettle. When the tea had boiled about
an hour, my cousin and Capt. Morris arrived. The tea, which boiled down to about a gallon,
was poured into grandma's large silver tankard and carried to the table, and each guest
was provided with one of her silver porringers, also with cream and lumps of sugar.
The Captain talked with
me before dinner, and I told him, before I knew that I was getting confidential, how you
were all off in the wilds. He said enterprise was what the new country needs, and that it
was not best to have Nantucket peopled with Starbucks. That I was one of the old stock it
was plain to be seen, if my name was Wentworth; and he looked pleasantly around the circle
of Starbucks. I suppose I do resemble them all. I saw Aunt Esther looking at me so sharply
that I remembered she had often told me that it was not seemly for me to talk with men,
and I presently became discreetly silent. But when dinner was announced the Captain took
me out and made me sit by him. After grandpa had asked a blessing on the food, Aunt
Content said to her son and his friend, "I have made a dish of tea for you, but am
fearful that I have not prepared it as hath need, and would like to have your own
opinion." Whereupon my cousin and the Captain looked and sniffed at the tea, and my
cousin made answer, "As my loved mother desires my opinion, I must needs tell her
that a spoonful of this beverage she has with such hospitable intent prepared for me would
nearly kill any one of us here at the table." The Captain then said laughingly that
aunt could keep the decoction for a dye to color the woolens, He further said he would, if
she desired, instruct her how to draw the tea herself; "and this young lady," he
continued, turning to me, "shall make the first dish of the beverage used in
Nantucket."
Dinner being over, they
all remained at the table except Captain Morris and myself (for Aunt Content bade me
assist him as he should direct), and we searched for a suitable vessel wherein to draw the
tea. At last I saw Uncle Nathaniel's gray stone pitcher, into which our guest instructed
me to put as much of the tea as I could hold between my thumb and fore-finger for each
person, and an additional pinch for the pitcher. Then he told me to pour upon it boiling
water sufficient for us all, and set the pitcher on the coals, and let it remain until it
came to a gentle boil. The tea was then poured into the tankard which Aunt Content had
made ready, and the Captain carried it to the table for me, and helped me to pour it into
the porringers for the guests. He was so kind as to say it was the best dish of tea he
ever drank.
We had a wholesome
dinner and an enjoyable one withal. Cousin Nat told stories and sang songs, in which
latter recreation Captain Morris joined, and the happy New Year's greetings took the place
of good-byes, when our neighbors left for their respective homes.
My cousin's friend
still lingers for the shooting, and there is not much spinning or weaving done, it takes
so much time for the cooking and the eating and the visiting. He is very agreeable, and
calls grandfather the "Miles Standish" of Nantucket. I heard him tell Uncle
Nathaniel that we had good blood, and that ever since he became acquainted with Cousin Nat
he had conceived a great admiration for the Nathaniel Starbucks; and he said something
about a wife. Perhaps he remains here so long on Aunt Esther's account. But, dear me, she
is so prim (I write with all respect, dear mother) and he is such a jovial gentleman, I do
not understand how such a union could be harmonious. If he has regard for her it must be
on account of the Starbuck blood.
Oh! My mother, how can
I tell you! It is not for the love of Aunt Esther that Captain Morris remains; but me,
your own little daughter. And all the Starbucks indeed, saving Aunt Esther (who declares
with quiet wrath that I ought to be put back into pinafores), have given their consent
that I shall be married and sail away with my husband in my husband's ship to foreign
parts, to see for myself all the beautiful and wonderful things of which I have heard so
much of late.
But I will not give my
consent until I have that of my father and mother first. So there is a company being made
up to go with Cousin Nathaniel and the Captain through the winter snows to your far-away
home. And so, after all, it will be this new friend, of whom I have written so much, who
will take this long letter to you. I am sure, dear Mother, that you, who know my heart so
well, will not think it unseemly for me; that the Lord will guide your heart and that of
my honored father, to feel kindly disposed towards the gentleman, for indeed he is of good
repute, and is so good as to be very fond of me; and I feel that if I have your consent
and that of my honored father, together with your blessing, I shall be very happy, and
take an honest pride in being his honored wife.
The Captain declares
laughingly that I am sending him off on a quest, like a knight of old, to prove his love.
I cannot help thinking it strange his wanting to marry me, and when I said so one day, he
replied gravely, that it was all on account of the tea that had got into his head.
And indeed it may be so
for I was flighty and hardly closed my eyes to sleep at all that night after partaking of
it, and even dear old grandmother says she would not answer for the consequences of what
she might be led to do were she to make use of it every day. I send along with other small
things a quantity of this famous tea and a bit of the white crepe which I shall, if so
seemeth best, in the judgment of my honored father and mother, wear in good time as a
wedding gown.
The household all join
with me in sending loving greetings to you.
I remain now and ever
your dutiful daughter,
antucket's First Tea
