Kentucky: Lincoln Bicentennial

Springfield residents remembering Lincoln’s years in their town recalled that his sons were sometimes sent to his law office to bring him home for tea. Having tea with the family was one of the customs the Lincolns may have observed to affirm their middle-class status. Mary Todd Lincoln owned two of the most popular housekeeping manuals of the times: Miss Leslie’s House Book and Miss Leslie’s Complete Cookery. These directions for a family tea are based on the Leslie books.

Paper supplies
• Hot drink cups
• Small white paper plates
• Plastic silverware
• White paper napkins

Food supplies
• Sugar cubes
• Cream or Half-and-half
• Tea bags
• Fruit (strawberries, raspberries, or grapes)
• Powdered sugar
• Cake cut into slices
• Cake server

Equipment
• Dark-colored tablecloth
• Tray for tea things
• Bowl for sugar cubes
• Pitcher for cream
• Teapot
• Serving dishes for fruit, powdered sugar, and cake
• Bell

Directions for setting the table
1. Spread the tablecloth on the table.
2. Arrange the cups in the middle of the tray. Place a bowl of sugar cubes on one side of the cups and a pitcher of cream on the other side of the cups. Make a place in the center of the tray for the teapot.
3. Place a plate, silverware, and a napkin around the table for each person.
4. Place a dish of fruit on the table, along with the bowl of powdered sugar for sprinkling.

Directions for serving tea
1. Make tea and pour into teapot. Cool slightly for younger children.
2. Ring the bell to call everyone to tea.
3. Seat the “lady of the house” by the tea tray, so she can pour tea and hand cups around the table. The sugar and cream may be passed or added by the hostess.
4. Appoint a “servant” to carry the cake plate(s) from person to person and lift slices onto their plates. Abraham Lincoln is said to have been especially fond of gingerbread and an almond cake that was one of his wife’s signature dishes.
5. Pass fruit and powdered sugar around the table.

Tea Time with the Lincolns