When the tea came round there were no nice young ladies to ask us if we
took sugar and milk, and how many pieces of sugar; to our great
amusement the tea was poured into our cups from large tin kettles
carried by men who from their solemn countenances appeared fitting
representatives of "Caledonia stern and wild." We thought this method a
good one from the labour-saving point of view, and it was certainly one
we had never seen adopted before. The weak point about it was that it
left no opportunity for individual taste in the matter of milk and
sugar, which had already been added, but as we did not hear any
complaints and all appeared satisfied, we concluded that the happy
medium had been reached, and that all had enjoyed themselves as we did
ourselves.
Our friend the schoolmaster was very communicative, and added to our
pleasure considerably by his intelligent conversation, in the course of
which he told us that the I.O.G.T. was a temperance organisation
introduced from America, and he thought it was engaged in a good work.
The members wore a very smart regalia, much finer than would have suited
us under the climatic conditions we had to pass through.
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