The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-08

feast. 1t is sailed too much. but there
Is paper Of salt and another of RED
pepper for seasoning, and three cakes
OF slightly sweetened chocolate The
chocolate is all right. Pr es1rrna bIv ire
material Of the meal is dried and com
pressed meat and bread. It has an t1r
pleasant DOOR like that of meat that
mas not been sent 20 the refrigerator
soon enough, or handkerchief Der-
ruined with little more fish oil than is
quite genteel. One other sufferer in the
Eagle office said it was old liver.
This ration can be eaten dry. If the
emergency is emergent, or it can be
soaked IN cold water, or it can be bOiled
In hot water, or it can be thinned into
soup. Each way it is a little worse than
the other. Hot water causes it to lose
somewhat Of its evil smell but does NOT
improve its taste. There is little doubt
as to its high concentration. Each sue
ceed1ng moutnful is harder to swallow
than the preceding, and found it i'm
POSSIBLE to finish one Of the meal allow
ances at sitting. In fact, l subsisted
for thtrty-four hours as an experiment.
on third of the ration-the amount al
lowed for one meal in twenty-four hours.
The first meal was taken dry In the
hollow of the hand, but few sDooufuls
OF the mixture were also attempted after
IT had been swollen with water. This
was at noon on Saturday. On SATURDAY.
night the supper consisted of about six
spoonfulS of the compound which had
been boiled for five minutes in water
For while this was enough, and there
walk that evening which unconsciousIy
led me past various restaurants. where
people We're sitting in the windows
vauntfngly and irritatingIy eating pie
and drinking red ink. there was reused
within me feeling of envy. I went to a
roof garden to forget 1t.
On Sunday morning at I brea kfastea
on another four or five spoonfuls-it made
that much after being swollen with wa
ter-and a sad time had getting il down
The taste became more and more dis
quieting. 1t was barely possible to finish
the allowance, and rather than eat an.
more of it, 1 tasted till $50 that night
The chocolate was eaten with the frs
meal, but converted into drink for the
second and third. Il tasted good and
probably braced more than the food. Ex-
cept part of glass of water on SATURDAY.
night, this was the only material taken
into my stomach in the thirty-fOur hours
During that time did the usual amour!
of work at the desk. walked twelve miles
lounged about a park, read Balzac. spent
a couple of hours in museum, welt TO
church to pray that l would not have TO
eat any more emergency rations. bathed
several times for GOODNESS sake. and
went to the variety show. This was not
like rough campaigning in a rough coun-
try, but ii was possibly enough To teSf
the sustaining power Of the ration. esps-
cially as l consumed only a third of it.
And about nightfau 7 went to a place
where they sell rations not emergent, ans
for something like two hours I was 4 joy
to the landlord ard a source of wonder
to the waiter
Opinions differed among the members o.
the staff whom 7 forced to sample the
mixture-forced them to, that I nigh
have company II I died. A few thought
It tolerable; most took only a pinch an
found that quite enough The deadly
monotony and cloying quality OF 1t were
developed only after two CT three trials
I am convinced while hungry men would
eat it, they never would welcome 1t. II
is food reduced to the lowest terms. Ono
man who took some of Il home TO prac-
tice with reported no amount OF cooking
seasoning or faith could make IL pala-
table. There is a slight stimulating eff
feet from it, followed by a faint nausea
after several samplings, and there is
question that the entire ration would
81 pport an active man in strength pro
vided he could get It down. But by the
end of the third day there would be ;nD-
tiny and the soldiers would look around
for rattiesnakes to boil"