house, thus losing so much strength to
say nothing of the unevenness of their roasts--part raw, part
roasted, producing an unpleasant taste. An occasional burned roast
at home helped some. They tell of a man who, going out in the back
yard and kicking over a clod by accident, uncovered some burned
coffee. He called to his wife and wanted an explanation. She
acknowledged she had burnt it, and hid it so he would not scold. He
said, "We had better buy it roasted in the future and avoid such
accidents."

We roasted in the cellar. We had an elaborately polished Reed &
Mann engine in one window, two brass hoppered mills in the other,
and our boiler was under the sidewalk. We had a mahogany-top
counter, oil paintings on the wall, and bin fronts of Chinamen,
etc., done by the celebrated artist, Mat Hastings (now dead); so
you see we started right.

The fight we had to introduce roasted coffee was fierce. Our
argument was on the saving of fuel, labor, temper, scorched faces,
and anything we could think of. We talked only three coffees, Rio,
Java, and Mocha. When Santos began to come, it was hard to change
them over from the rank Rio flavor to the more mild Santos. The
latter they claimed did not have the rough taste. They missed it
and longed for the wild tang of the Rio.

We did not import, but bought in New Orleans and from several local
wholesale grocers. No one delivered. Shipments were f.o.b. St.
Louis. Draying and packages were extra. Coffee was not cleaned or
stoned, but was sold as it came from the sack. However, we did not
use any very low grades then. If any one complained of the stones
hurting their mills, we advised them to buy ground coffee, showing
how it kept better ground as it was packed tight, whereas the
roasted was looser and the air could get through it. It was fully a
year or more before we began to sell in quantities to make it
profitable. In roasting for others, we got a cent per pound; and
after awhile, that became so much a business it paid all our
expenses. We were the first to roast coffee by steam power west of
the Mississippi and east of the Rocky Mountains.

The tea department helped us to hold out until coffee got its hold
on the public; for in those days every one used tea and insisted on
having it good. Price