Whether it's just an old wives' tale or a joke from a bar, it's still funny….

During the Colonial Days in the US, men met at the taverns for several rounds of brew while the ladies met for evening tea. Remembering that these were the days of the Stamp Act where tea was a luxury, women frequently found ways to sip tea in secret, in spite of the fact that men were mostly willing to deny themselves.

The coffee pot from the Bell Tavern in Danvers, Massachusetts was a perfect disguise for tea, and the pot would find its way to the house of the evening. The ladies were known to pour the coffee out, saving it for later replacement, and brew a pot of the delicious, forbidden tea.

One evening a large party of ladies gathered at the home of a quilter whose husband was known to stay at the tavern until the wee hours. In his absence, the ladies enjoyed tea and quilting, secure in knowing that the master would be much delayed in arriving home.

The tea was carefully poured into the big coffee pot from the Bell Tavern, and left to simmer on the hearth during the evening of quilting and talking.

The evening drew to a close and the ladies prepared to pour the remaining tea out of the pot as they paid their compliments to the local "Tory who sold tea." The lid to the coffee pot was removed and the pot tipped up.

Along with the tea leaves, out poured the body of a big toad -- speckled and bloated -- and flopped on the hearth. The shrieking ladies quickly forgot their earlier enjoyment of the tea, and it is said, that tea consumption in the town dropped off for a time.

Happy Quilting!

Penny Halgren

TheQuiltingCoach