Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1855-01-27
From Nicholss Monthly.
THE GREAT DEFECT OF OUR LrTERA-
TURE-NOT ENOUGH VEGETABLE MAT
TFR IN 1T.



Father Me.calfe: 1t seems TO me that halo Of
! purity shines abound the modest pages Of
a. American Vegetarian" is it not n sweet and
7 beautiful thought that blood stains its pagesf
No halfhuman brother Of ours has had his throat
cut to furnish the nutrimcnt. the strength Uf
which its columns have leen written. And they
reek not trust, with the fumes Of alcohol, or the
odors Of tobacco.
Not much Of our literature is purely written
Some books are full Of beef; some stuffed with
sansages some greasy volumes seem TO drip with
lard others indicate that the author has fed on
goose. Those who drink beer" said DR.. johnson,
think beer" Why should not those who eat
| pork think pork, write pork and act pork. In eat
ing beef we swallow the matter which was in pro-
cess of elaboration, and was destined to become n
part Of the brain and nervous system of the Ok
In eating pork, we in like manner intercept and
appropriate what would have been the cerebral
organ of some swinish natpre.
| You may be sure that when matter has gone
far towards being converted into the proper essence
of the hog the OK, it is easily turned out Of
its course. 1t seems much better to take the pure
l nutrition furnished us in the vegetable Kingdom,
and do for ourselves this whole process Of clabOra-
ton.
Any man who has studied comparative anatomy
and physiology understands that these animals are
not very distant relations of There is,
was, class OF sayages who ate their nearest kins-
men when they became old and helpless. The
calf, whose meals we have shared; the honest,
faithful COW, who has SO freely yielded TO us the
rich treasures Of her acteal store the OK, who has
borne for us the bur,hen and heat of the day;
these friends. companions and helpers Of ours,
:, why should we knock them on the head, cut their
throats, and then swallow down their flesh and
a entrails? Nothing hut stern and terrible neces-
!, s, sity could excuse so foul deed IL is one from
which man who had never heard of such thing
= would shrink with horror and disgust-horror at
sIlI,rItpr al 1ispu st nj n1tr bp yipt
4 hat, Kill my Innocent lJn! iul pet lamb, and
then eat him Z? Murder my calf, that looks up at
me with such confidence from his great beautiful
! eyes, and swallow his reeking flesh? Butcher this
1 noble ox,who has worked for summer and win
ter so many years. and then swallow his body p
An undepra, ed humanity would turn with loath-
! ing from such an idea. 1t is use and habit alone
that reconcile us 10 it. For when we consider the
formation, and disposition, and endowments of
these creatures, we must admit that they are not
/ FAR removed from US in the scale of being. They
have bones much like ours muscles Of n similar
organization, vscera alike fearfully and wonder
fully made, hearts beating, lungs breath
ing, blood flowing out through thousand arteries,
and returning through thousand veins, and q
brain and system of nerves presiding over all,
Have they not organs, senses dimensions? Do
hey not think, and feel, and remember, and lovet
When you reflect upon it, there is more difference,
betweenan an apple and an OK than between an OK and
a man. And tl a Vegetarian to turn fesh-eater
is more than for Aesh-eatcr to turn cannibal.-
Men eat oxen, and hogs, and asses, and owls, and
sometimes monkeys-it is but short step from
any OF these to some of the human species.
speak OF bodies now, not of souls, as l presume
souls are never eaten. Yes, fesh,eater, it must
be admitted, starting from the Vegetarian ground.
has gone long way towards being rnbal.
Men who eat human flesh are accounted ieroci-
Gus sayages though they do not all hold this opin-
ion of themselves ] am afraid that
ages IN proportion rs they feed on flesh. There
are two kinds of savageism this diet seems calcu>
lated to mduce-the active ferocity Of the tiger,
and the sluggish stupidity of the swine, which,
though 1t will eat flesh, is much more decent
imal when kept on vegetable diet. For human
examples might select sume tribes of the North
American Indians and the Esquimaux.
But | am not disposed to follow out this argu-
mcnt God has seen fit to create carniverous ani-
mails but there is no good reason to believe that he
intended man to be one of them. But when men
are like tigers and wolves and hyenas in their dis
positions it is but natural that they should be like
: : them in their fuod All ierocious animals
y destined to be extermnated change their natures
and terocious man is among the number.
/, Flesh is not the food of high and pure natures.
OF noble purpose and earnest thought. OF the high
est art and the protoundest science. Flesh is not
the alment OF ofintoectua Developments; for though
nations eating flesh have made considerable intel
lectual progress, the most intellectual men Of
those nations have not een such have eaten
most flesh. 1t will be found. tho contrary.
think that all men of striking intellectual deyel.
opment and exercise have been srarns in the uss
of animal fo1d, especially 'hem they have wished
to have the full use of their faculties
Sir Isaac Newton, in the exercise of his highest
powers, was Vegetarian, Byron, when he wrote
his purest and nobest poem, was Vegetarian.
DR.. Franklin built up the stamina Of his strong
common sense and emnently practical philosophy
4 on a vegetable diet. From Pythagoras. tho hrst
name of antiquity, to the finest inteects of tho
present many great and pure, and admirable men.
and not few Of the greatest, have been yegetar.
aDs.
81 There are pursuits to which flesh diet may he
better suited than of vegetables alone. Men
who have been in the habit Of killing and eating
animals ought to make better soldiers. go far as
GOODNESS and feroclty in killing is concerned. than
Vegetarians. A like training ought to make bet.
ter hunters, and rappers. and whalers. and batchs
ers am not sure that flesh diet may not aid
man in the practice of operative surgery especial.
! ly if he has had practice in but"hering and oa-y.
| ing. The same kind of experience should make q
man pugilist IL duellist possibly it might help
the combatyeness and destructiveness of a lawyer,
and it would go far to blunt the sensibilites Of q
hangman. But think it will be fou d that Aesh
diet is not necessary to any profession that the
: world cannot adyantageously dispense with.