The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1901-07-10

marrying age of the average man of
the middle classes is being more and
more postponed, the physical ills of
bachelordom come increasingly under
the notice of the medical man. 1t Is
! not good for man or woman to live
alone. Indeed, II has been well said
| that for solitude to be successful a
| man must be either angel or devil.
This refers. perhaps, mainly to the
moral aspects Of isolation, and with
these we have now no concern.
There are certain physical ills, how.
ever, which are not the least among
the disadvantages of loneliness. OF
these there Is many n clerk In London,
many young bnrrlster. rising. per-
hnps, but not yet far enough risen,
many business man or journalist
who will say that one of the most
trying features of his unmarried life
Is TO have to eat alone. And n prema-
ture dyspepsia is the only thing that
ever takes him to his medical man.
There are some few happily disposed
individuals who can dine alone and
/ not eat too fast, nor too much nor too
little. With the majority II Is differ
ent. The average man puts his novel
or his paper before him and thinks
that he will lengthen out the ipeal
with due deliberatlon with reading
little with, and more between. the
courses. He will Just employ his
mind enough TO help, and too little
to interfere with digestion. In fact,
he will provide that gentle mental ac-
compartment which with happier peo-
pie conversation gives to meal.
This is your solitary's excellent idea.
In reality he becomes engrossed in
what he is reading till suddenly find
Ing his chop cold he demolisnes It in
n few mouthfuls; or else he finds that
he is hungry and paying no attention
to the book, which he filings aside, he
rushes through his food as fast as
possible, to plunge into his armchair
and literature afterward. In either
case the lonely man must digest at
disadvantage. For due and easy nu-
triton food should be slowly taken
and the mind should not be intensely
exercised during the process. Every
one knows that violent bodily exercise
is bad just after meal, and mental
exertion is equally so.
Wise people do not even argue dur
Ing or just after dinner. and observa-
ton of after-dinner speeches will con-
vince any one that most speakers neith-
er endure themselves nor excite in
their hearers any severe intellectual
effort.
In fact, the experience OF countless
generations, from the red Indian of
the woods to the white -shirted diners
of modern party, has perpetuatcd the
lesson that man should not eat
alone, nor think much at this time,
but should talk and be talked to while
he feeds. Most people do not think
much when they talk, and talking is a
natural accompaniment of eating and
drinking.
What does It fare with the mary
solitary women of to-day? No bett ~,
we know, than with the men, but diff
ferently. Alone or not a man may gen.
erars be trusted at any rate to take
rood enough. 1--WE suppose, of course.
that he can get it) With a woman it
Is different. She is more emotional,
more imaginative, and less inclined to
realize the gross necessities of exist
ence. Therefore. the woman doomed
to dine alone as often as not does not
dine at all. She gets dyspepsia be-
cause her digestion has not sufficient
practice, a man gets it because his
functions practice it too often in the
wrong way.
Worst of all, perhaps. is the case of
the solitary cook. In the myriads of
small Hats in London there are thous.
ands of women doing" for their soli.
tary masters or mistresses. These
women, whose main occupation is to
prepare food for others, find it impos.
sible TO enjoy, or even to take, food
themselves. AS confectioners are said
to give their apprentices free run
of the stock of the shop for the first
Few days, knowing that 1t will effectu.
ally cure appetite afterward, so the
women who are always occupied with
buying and preparing food grow un.
able to use It for themselves. These
people suffer from dyspepsia, which is
cured If somebody else manages their
kitchen for a week. allowing them to
take meals without preparing them.
1t needs no morallst to declare the
evils Of solitarlness. Man and woman
is a gregarious animal. Physically and
intellectually we improve with com.
panionship. Certainly it is not good
to eat and to drink alone. 1t is n sad
fact of our big cities that they hold
hundreds of men and women who in
the day are too busy and at night too
lonely to feed with profit, much less
with any pleasure.--The Lancet.