Evening star., 1901-07-20
WHAT A MAN MAY EAT.
The Food and Drink Prescribed for
Persons of Sedentary Habits.

From the London Chronicle.
What may sedentary man eat and drink
for his bodily health and the dignity of his
mind? This question presses upon many of
US with growing insistence. There is a mis-
taken idea that we are always trying to
cheat the doctor by smuggling forbidden
dishes into the dietary. The real difficulty
is to know what prescription to follow, and
when to take the prescriber seriously.
There is a story that Sir Andrew Clarke,
on one occasion, laid down a severe regimen
for new patient suffering from indiges-
ton. When the consultation was over,
Clarke discovered that the visitor was the
son of an old friend, and invited him to
dinner.
but what about the regiment" asked the
other, neryously.
"Oh, never mind that" said the genial
physician. You dine with me tonight, and
begin the regimen tomorrow
This apparent lack of scientific precision
may be included in what DR.. Robert Hutch
Dietetics, calls personal peculiarities."
The peculiarities both of doctor and pa
tient, seem to offer a rather extensive mar
gin. When you are told by an eminent sur
geon that the smallest quantity of alcohol,
even at meals, is a slow poison, is this a
warning you cannot afford to disregard, or
is it only the ebullition of a temperament
that wants to make your flesh creep?
The sedentary man is asked to give up
one or two cherished illusions. Lobster
does not stimulate the brain. Oysters do
not breed a metaphySician. In point of
nutriment, says Dr. Hutchison, fourteen
oysters are equal to only one egg. In spite
of that, no man will eat an egg as an
equivalent for fourteen oysters. And what
about the brown bread and butter? Be
sides, the oyster lives in poetry and heroic
tradition. Pistol compared the world to an
oyster, to be opened with sword; he did
not compare it to an egg, to be cracked
with spoon. The egg is great symbol
In science, but in Shakespeare it is term
of contumely, followed by murder. Thus,
in Macbeth villain addresses Macduff s
little boy: Thou egg (stabs him." In
food, the egg is a useful lesson to vegetar
tans, who, with the help Of eggs and milk,
are enabled comfortably to support life.
DR.. Hutchison admits, however, that we
owe debt to vegetarianism. 1t showed us
that we were too great eaters of beef; that
mixed diet Of one part animal food to
three parts vegetable food was essential to
health, and that our meat should be
stricted to a couple of "moderate-SZed
but, to live on it, you would need a daily
supply of twenty-four platefuls. A purely
vegetable diet is too bulky; yet 1t may be
good for the gouty and the obese. 1t Is
true that the Scottish peasantry, their
countrys pride, were nurtured on oatmeal;
but 1t was literally supplemented by milk.
Rational life is a compromise; you want
the happy mean between the tiger pacing
ltS cage anu the COW lying upon the grass.
To the sedentary man, of pacific disposition
but unquailing spirit, the choice Is easy
The French Girl.
From the Ladies' Home Journal
The program of what a French girl may
or may not do is drawn up very precisely
Unless she is poor and has to earn her own
living she never goes out alone. The COM
pany of a friend of her own age would not
be sufficient to chaperon her. 1t is an es-
tablished rule that novel reading is a rare
exception. She is entirely subject to her
If she asks to see anything at the theater
except classical masterpiece or an opera,
they will tell her that such thing is not
considered proper, feeling sure of her ST.
lent submission. After she is fifteen years
old she is generally allowed to be in the
drawing room her mothers reception
days. but must keep to the modest and
secondary place assigned her; pouring the
tea and presenting 1t, courtesying to her
elders. answering when spoken to in
short, undergoing her apprenticeship She
has few jewels, and under no pretext any
diamonds. Custom does not permit her to
wear costly things; nor does it give her the
| right. in general, to have a money allow
ance worth speaking of for her personal
use. She receives a trif1ing sum for char
ity, her books and gloves. A young girl
never takes the lead in conversation, but
always allows the married lady the pre-
cedence. and she finds 1t quite natural to
occupy the background"