Mary Miccati, Age 12, Of Utica, N.Y., For her question:

Who were the first people to drink coffee?

The coffee bush grew for ages upon the iron rich slopes on both sides of the red sea. In the 3rd century A.D.. a group of persecuted monks fled to this lonely region and survived by farming. One of them tended goats among the hills and noticed that sometimes his flock spent the night in frolicsome antics instead of sleep.

He reported the matter to his prior who went to so1ve the odd problem for himself. He noticed that the goats became peppy after eating the cherry type berries of the native come bushes. The prior sampled a few berries and found that they made him extra alert and wakeful. This news spread, and soon the local arabs were brewing come to keep them awake during their lengthy services. And the use of come soon spread to Constantinople and Italy, France and England.