The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-25

Die WIN tQelT udint.
Alice Beauchampe, whose courage had
led to the determination Of the avenging
band, became the heroine of the day, and,
after the termination OF hostilities, welded
Lieutenant of Marions men. Her hero
ism is venerated, and her gallant exploit
narrated daily by hundreds of her de-
scendants in the Palmetto State.
Influence of Food Upon the Intellect.
THE influence OF diet upon the mental
health is subject of far deeper import
ance than it would usually appear to be
considered by people in general. Judg-
ing from appearances, we are inclined to
say that there is widely spread and pro.
found indifference prevailing respect
ing the matter. There can be but little
doubt but that what people eat and drink
affects their character. Physiology tells
us that the brain and stomach are too init
mately connected for there to be any ques-
ton as to the correctness of the assertion.
Indeed, the brain is the slave of the stom-
W
dictates.
That such is the design of an all wise
Creator is very evident. Referring to the
Mosaic record of the fall of man, we read
that when the serpent tempted Eve
through her palate, he also appealed to
the benefits her understanding would de-
rive from eating the forbidden fruit. 1t
was "a tree to be desired to make one
wise" How fatally true the story was
we know from its result. Ancient class
ical writers give us very minute accounts
of the barbaric magniticence of the ban
quets of ancient Greece and Rome. The
incongruous ingredients OF the plats are
strangely typical of eccentric atrocities
perpetrated by the partakers of such dish
es. Thousands of nightingales' tongues
entered into the composition of an es-
pecially favorite dish of the Roman En-
peror who caused the streets of his CAPT.
tai to be illuminated by the burning
bodies of the Christian slaves. Looking
at matters from the stand point which we
have erected, the diet of monarchs il the
days of despotic power must have been
matter of no slight importance. What
hasty decisions, what bewildering politi
cal complications may not have been
caused by fit of indigestion on the part
of the powers that were? 1t is a well-es-
tablished fact that leg of mutton caused
revolution in the affairs of Europe.
Napoleon the Great, just before the battle
of Leipzig, insisted upon dining upon
boiled mutton, contrary to the advice of
his chet-de-cutsine, who seems to have
properly understood his business, and to
have been somewhat of a physician as
well as cook. The Emperor's brain re-
sented the liberty taken with his colleague
the stomach-the monarch equilibrium
was overturned, tie battle lost, and a new
page OPENED in history "Who drinks
beer, thinks beer" says the time-honored
proverb, and its truth is well exemplitied
in the literature OF the Tudor period, when
beer was the customary drink. 1t was the
ordinary beverage drunk by the virgin
Queen herself. The literature of the era
is like the strong fluids and solids which
nourished the brains of the writers. 1t is
coarse, pungcnt and vigorous, full of the
sensuality of thought and expression
which gross manner of living tends to
foster. Yet, withal, what glorious
literature! There were no diettanh
writers in those days, no second serving up
of the thoughts of others in an adllterated
form. All was fresh and original, per
fectly coinciding with the modes of living
in those medieval times.
Pursuing this train of thought we nat
urally glancesat the great writers of the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Here we find notable difference in the
style of living; difference which has had
a most remarkable influence upon the lit
erary productions of the age. The French
| Queen of Charles l., Henrietta Maria, in
roduced more refined system of dietary
| amongst the upper classes. This, taken in
connection with the more habitual use of
wine-particularly Port-had its influence
upon the minds of The greater thinkers of
the time. The style of writing had be-
come more refined and polished; lacking
in the coarseness of the Elizabethan era,
whilst preserving its vigor and freshness.
With the Introduction OF tea commenced
the age of ephemeral literature. Tile Tat
tier and The Spectator were the offsprings
Of cofee-house chat. They are remem-
| 0ered and quoted now because they are
| almost the chief records of the everyday
life of the period at which they were writ
ten. With the mixture of foods comes a
mixture of literature most curious
% note. Dean Swift was fond of
lea, but he was also a lover of
stronger fluids and solids, and here
We find key to that strangely constituted
mind which could pen such grossness as
his Directions TO Servants" ard yet
produced that inimitable journal TO
Stella" than which purer and tenderer
piece of writing does not exist in the En-
glish language. DR.. Johnson was much
addicted to the pleasure of the table. He
was a huge eater and drinker he liked
port and did it ample justice, but tea was
his favorite beverage. His literary pro-
AUCTIONS form a curious and remarkable
confederation of the fact that food has a
material influence upon character. He
labored necessarily at literary work; yet
Of all his productions not one is left to
sustain his reputation, save his dictionary.
Such book must be, necessarily, and to
very considerable extent, a.compilation;
out he invested the dry details with so
much interest that his work soo2 super
seeded the then current dictionary for
the explanation of hard words" He
gathered from all sources, comparing
things new and old, the result being
composition which could only have been
attempted--nuch less successfully &C
complished-by man of such general
and generous diet as the great Photograph
cr notably was.
The foregoing is merely resume of
few facts selected at random from null
tiplicity of others. If, then, we take it
for granted that diet has hitherto exerted
so great an influence on character, is it
not an absolute duty upon the part of So
cial reformers to try and remedy the ex-
isting abuses in the modes of preparing
food, and especially in the proper COM
bination of viands? It's the middle and
lower classes that suffer most from ig-
norance in these respects. 1t is a common
mistake, made by most people, that only
the wealthy can have good cookery. There