In the months before the outbreak of the Revolution a short poem began to appear in colonial newspapers supporting the boycott,or"'imported tea The poem took the f r om of a tongue-incheek lament or a lady who preferred liberty to luxury The poem portrays the tea table as the center of a social world

FAREWELL the Tea-board with your gaudy attire,
Ye cups and ye saucers that I did admire
To my cream pot and tongs I now bid adieu,
That pleasure's all fled that I once found in you
Farewell pretty chest that so lately did shine,
With hyson and coneo and best double fine,
Many a sweet moment by you I have sat,
Hearing girk and old maids to tattle and chat,
And the spruce coxcomb laugh at nothing at all,
Only some silly work that...