The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1892-01-28
nsution The National TnbunA

western Europe and North America owe their
success partly 20 a curious mistake. As q rule,
vegetable articles Of food are most wholesome
in the state we derive them from the hands OF
Nature; but canned so-called fresh fruits
and vegetables are often specially ind!gcs.
bic, having been preserved by the addition Of
chemicals that delay the 'Ocess Of digestion
as eIectually as they delay the progress Of de-
cay. Nay, il might be doubted il peaches and
apples sun dried on the old home plan, cannot
be cooked into something far less uncongenlal
10 the human stomach than the same fruits
treated by certain patent Cannery methods.
1t IS much the same with such vegetables as
peas and beans. Both the brown Mexican
bean and the white ("nayy y variety contain
a large amount of nutritious elements, and can
be made out and out more digestible than
strong cheese, for instance, or hard boiled eggs
and fried pork. The dietetc refOrmer, Rum
ford, proved both by analysis and practical ex
peTiments that man can subsiit on bean-s0up
favored with a bit Of butter and a pinch OF
salt, quite as we'll, at least, as upon meat and
bread, and that dyspeptics may now and then
have reasons 10 dissent from that verdict may
be explained by the frequency Of mistakes ia
the preparation Of leguminOu5 vegetables.
Beans. peas, and lentils contain a large per-
centage Of albumen, which remains partly I'M
solved by nasty process Of cookery. For beans,
having been kep6 dried for year or more,
hygienic hOusekeeper gives the following di-
rectiOns: Soak two quarts OF white beans IN
four quarts Of cold water for AZ hours; then
drain of the water and soak in the same guam
tity of fresh soft water for 81 hours; drain of
again, and cook in soft water for three hours.
Dextrin, albumen, and saccharIne elements,
thus solved by an incipent germinative pro-
cess, will largely add to the nutritiVe value of
the dish, and, with the addition of the above
named favors, make it acceptable even to weak
stOmachs
The distracting street noises Of our large
cities give many hOUsekeepeF5 a pTetext for
making q bedroom more "hOmelike by closing
windows and window shutters and drawing
the curtains in a way TO exclude every breath
of fresh air much more effectively than noise
Try stuffed nightcaps. The CalIfOFnians tell
good story of piOus elder who bought q lot on
a retired sea beach. and had just finished a
cottage when a rather superhuOus sounding
buoy" or automatic fOg-signal, was put up
few hundred yards from Shore exactly oppo-
site his hermitage. All night the believing
gFOan woke the echoes Of the sea-clltts, and
the conscientious elder had TO 90 down on his
knees in wrestling with the temptation to bug
a boat and go out some dark night and sup
press the absurd cOntrivanCe. At last he was
inspired 10 construct q night hood, lined three
inches thick with pressed cotton, and was thus
enabled to preserve the peace both of his soul
and of his slumbers.
Habit however will make even brainwork-
ers noise proof the alternative being nowadays
really nothing short OF absolute solitude. In
rather distant suburb of st. Louis, Mo-, vic
tim Of insomnia counted 81 different sorts VI
disturbing noises in a single hour 10 IL p. IN. b
and had no doubt that little nearer the levee
be could have got his list up to an even hun
bred. London, Of course, carries all prizes for
variety and continuity Of its street-Tacket, but
it would be mistake to suppose that silence
"a Ind No ponpnunifqnFa Ma-
plies, with no steam whistle industries to meu-
tion, is a most uproariOus city, and DIR. Brehm,
in his African travels, describes the almost in
cessaut yelping of starved ours that infest the
Bedouin villages after dark.
The Improvement Of Illuminating cOntriv-
ances has turned night into day in q manner
not ALWAYS commendable from a sanitary point
of view. Evening schools, gymnastie exercises
and business conferences are carried on ut later
and later hours, and too often directly after
suppers that would require protracted rest for
their proper digestion.
"My relapses Of dyspepsia greatly puzzled me
for weeks" writes q friend, o chairman Of q
committee, whose business meetings often de-
generated into regular debatng-elub rows.
" After such precautions too! for / had abol-
ished both pckle.jars and frying-pans, and
hardly ever touched bakers bread for fear Of
alum But for all that, / could not sleep at
night and woke after short morning nap
with the well-knOWn feeling OF an undigeSted
supper / tried this and that, but hit the right
thing only by sheer accident. On conference
nights 10 happened TO me moro than once that
/ felt like dropping asleep in the midst Of a
savage debate and having no chance 60 get NY
work done by proxy, / concluded TO postpone
my supper-hour. There were evenings when
could not manage to get back home before
O'Clock, but they kept me lunch warm, aud
under the circumstances had not more than
a few minutes between supper and bedtime.
On such occasions had TO eat alone, too; but /
could sleep now. and all symptoms of dyspepsia
so promptly vanished that / took vow never
to work again after supper if it could possibly
be helped"
1t would, indeed, be great mistake 10 sup
pose that sleep necessarily intcrferes with di-
RestiOn In Midsummer full meal of greasy
made dishes may tend TO aggravate the misery
of sultry heat but in a cool, airy bedroom even
a hearty supper can be digestod without risk
Of nightmares.
Ito Be continHedO