The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1898-04-05
A THIRD FAST.
From the Detroit Free Press.)

White haired and SiXty-ive years Old
DIR. Henry ). Tanner, the famous fas-
ter, IS paying his first visit TO Detroit.
The doctor is, however, in full poces-
sion of mental and physical health. and
says he would be ready n willing TO
make THE attempt to Dea or eQual his
record at any time.
The fact is" he said in a semi-ioCu-
lar woy, L have my back up over the
boast Of that woman in New York that
She can beat me. She seems to think
l am nobody, but n has yet to prove
by something better than talk that she
is ahead of me-"
Ihe doctor, it Will be remembered,
tasted forty days and nights in New
York City. In the first fourteen days
he aoSta4ned from using wen water,
But he felt that he could not continue
longer on that lime, and began TO walk
every day 10 Central Park 70 drink
from a spring.
No." he continued, L felt not the
slightest i'll ffeectS from the fast. ON
the other hand, l think 1t rather re-
freshed me, NICE l had begun 10 eat
and sleep in normal allo / first
tasted in Minneapolis a few years be
fore 1880, the year of the celebrated
fast. i was a sufferer from cardiac
rheumatism, and attempted .-e fast as
means of relief. For eleven days l
kept it UP, and the action of the heart
ACTUALLY resume its healthy tone and
all pain passed from that region. / did
not break the fast after l felt this eff
feet, however, and determined TO con-
tinue it as long As / could. AT the end
Of forty two days / felt THAI. l had
enough. However, this is not accepted
as a record, as only my friends knew
of it.
THE New York fast was held under
the eyes of several physicians. During
the forty days I lost only thir1ty-eigh
pounds. When l started, Everybody
predicted that l could not last more
THAN twelve days. AT the end of my
fast / received a cable message from
the queens physician, advi1.ng me to
take not more than five drops OF milk
as my first meal. One doctor i'm New
York advised me to take as a square
meal a lick at a postage stamp. Still
another Thought his would overtax my
stomach, and advised a GOO, long smell
at some we'll done toast. One and all
predicted that my stomach would
prove to be a wreck. My digestive APP
parTatus, they claimed, was irretrie-
| trTeVably ru1reu. i might consider thar
my days We're numbered Few.
"On the morning of the lasy DAY OF
he fast a small boy came 10 to me
nibbling a ripe peach. L asked him TO
let me hold it. l put it to my lips. L
wanted TO taste of it, but THAI would
glVe everybody a chance TO say | had
weakened, and l wanted to fast out the
forty days, as / had promised. You can
imagine tint it required some exertion
of the Will to hand it back to him.; but
| did it. / asked him to come back at
noon, when my time oul be up. He
did SO, a matronly woman with him. l
suppose she was his mother. Then the
little fellow, trOtted over to where ! sat.
n an immense crowd looked on as I
grabbed it from his hand and took one
bug, long, juicy bite from il. The mem
DRY of that flavor fingers with L-.e yet.
L devoured every bit of the fruit.
The general supposftion is thai my
nrSt eatalble Otter the fast was a wa
termelon. n arose from the fact
that 1 had always declared that l
would begin on d melon. Not long az
ter the peach incident they brought me
three pints OF milk, which ! drank, and
an immense Georgia watermelon.
weighing about forty pounds. Between
that time and midnight 1 had devoured
all of it, and felt much refreshed.
4 not care to put more solid
food into my stomach. In due
time l came to eat meat and vegeta-
oleS, n became, to all intents and
purposes. a rational human being.
' Yes the practice Of medicine derived
some good from my achievement. The
physicians learned that the use of al
coholic stimulants was not necessary
TO arrest the wasting of tissue. I used
none in my fast, and ever since then
the use Of the stuff in the sickroorn
has been greatly decreased"
whe miners are imInured in a mine
and ShipwTecked sailors are marooned
on a barren island-nothang to ca IN
esther c2se-they usually last aboI;
twelve days. The doctor says his Is
because they have been accustomed to
hear of that being the limit OF life
Wtthout ~sustenance, 50 they give I'D and
allow death to take possession OF them.
whereas, had they the Will power. they
could stave 1t off as long as he lid. n
perhaps longer. n give orher a
chance to save them.