St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1895-08-23
VEGETABLE EXCESS.

In" dangerous (some would say dead
w effect of vegetable diet is well illus.
trated by a story which comes from
Balnbrldge this state. The tale in ques-
ton was written, so we are told, by a
strict vegetarian to show the horrors of
meat-eating, but, as recently observed by
Chicago orator in the course of some
remarks on another subject, ut has, like
the murderous boomerang, come home
to roost."
The name of the vegetable feeding au-
thor OF this story seems to be lost the
less important name of the Aesh-devour-
ing hero is eXtant. 1t is Thomas Foote.
and the unfortunate young man bearing
1t has just been cut off in an interesting
prime, OF course by meat, though indi-
rectly. In the first place it must be un-
derstood that he was an extremely sus-
ceptible youth, not perhaps, to the ZEN
dearing elegance of female friendship"
(though no statistics are obtainable on
this point), but in other ways 1t is fair
to presume that one glance of the porce-
lain eye Of Svengali would have trans
formed him into something quite differ
ent from what he was-say, for instance
into a eridiron for broiling meat For
the examples given OF his transformation
without Svengali are almost as ex-
traordinary as this.
Young Foote, as we said before, was q
confirmed meat guzzler, but instead of
simply being rendered obtuse to the finer
things of life, as the vegetarian tells us is
the usual action OF meat, he was highly
excited by it, and in different way by
each kind. Thus when he INDUCED in
beet" 1--WE quote from the official ac
count prepared by the vegetable pen of
the unknown writer he would become
restless, wander out and below like an
OK, going down on his hands and knees
to eat grass. The reader will observe
that he was peculiar youth. If he
"partook of mutton" he would bleat
like lamb. 1t would seem that if he ate
the ordinary mutton he would have
butted his head against a stone wall in
stead of bleating like lamb yet this is
neither here nor there; the point is to
call the readers attention to the fact
that he was not as other young men.
But to proceed: When he 'regaled him
self with chicken" he would rush out ex-
citedly to the garden and scratch fever
ishly for worms, we suppose throwing
back his LETT foot once and his right foot |
three times, after the manner practised |
by the hen when scratching, ever since |
she lacerated the surface of the Garden
OF Eden. But though these peculiarities
made young Foote the object OF more or
less remark in the neighborhood (espe-
pecialy when he got into somebody
elses garden), they never brought him
any serious trouble until his father, in a
thouShtless hour, fetched home fine
mess of squirrels" on which young
Thomas did not hesitate to satisfy his |
liking for meat" The result was disas-
trous, as might have been foreseen. He
scampered up the nearest tree and began
jumping from limb to limb all the
time barking like a squirrel. His
father called to HIM, but this, OF course,
"only seemed to make the boy want to
escape the more" He attempted to
jump from one tree to another, missed
his footing, fell to the ground, and alas,
was killed.
As we intimated by our quotation
from the Chicago speaker, this story be-
comes striking for reasons other than
those intended by the author. 1t shows
the intiaming and Supplying effect OF
vegetable diet, inhaming as to the mag
nation and Supplying as to conscience
No one whose mind is not dismantled, so
to say, by the exciting potato and the
ear of green corn can for
a moment believe that any such youth
as Thomas Foote ever existed, at Balm
bridge or elsewhere. He was born of the
fumes OF boiled vegetables in the brain
of the unknown writer Heated by the
Graham gem, with hisnerves unstrung
over-lndulgence in oatmeal, his
shattered mind coniured IN the nict IRE
OF Thomas Foote believing, beating,
and jumping from limb to
limb. 1t ought to serve as a terrible
warning to those who indulge in these
foods. 1t should, in fact, as
our Chicago friend would say, stand like
the lighthouse upon the rockbound
shore, warning the hardy navigator
with its honest BARK New York Trib-
une.