, 1902-05-05
WOMEN AS FASTERS,
WRITER SAYS THEIR REPUTATION
is UNOESERVeO.
Man, the Brute Man. Leads In Abstsn-
tion from Food-InsatiabIe Appetite
Not the Invnrlablo and Peculiar
Property of His Sex.

Lenten season, when the air peni-
tent prepares to mortify and melt the
flesh made too. too solid by long de-
votion to the rites of high living, it Is,
perhaps, pertinent to consider the ma
ture and proportions of her self-sacri-
flee. 1t is assumed that il she does not
fast she will at least abstain-not nee
e~ssarily from flesh meat, but from va
rious little qualifications of the palate
more or less connected with the con-
~fectioners' industry. If she does not
forego chops and birds she will GER
tainly eschew caramels and shun the
with the modern accomplishments.
But we will suppose that she really
fasts in the orthodox Lenten meaning
Of the word, taking but n full meal
on fast days and sustaining life
chiefly on light collations. yet with,
oh. what an appetite of a Sunday!
What then? Why. the chances are
that her friends, who never in all their
lives, unless very sick in bed, missed
the customary three meals a day, will
look upon her as little less than a
martyr. Then the family physician
will be consulted. and there will be
grave shakings of the head as to her
physical condition. Is she not the vic
tim of religious enthusiasm? Is she
not trifing with her health?
And rnnr ,,k1rD I@o- h1 1~-n- To- .
Man. the mere brute. Does he ever
fast, be he idler or bread carver? What
a question. to be sure? Who does not
know his ways? Has not tradition as
serted the direct route to his heart Is
through his stomach? Feed the
brute!" e~njoins the mother Of the
young wife who asks for domestic ad-
vice. And the general laughter that
greets the answer shows how the pop
ular mind has long been made up on
the subject Of the most characteristic
masculine failing.
And yet, and yet, dear young lady.
may VI not be doing men an injustice?
Is an Unsuitable appetite the invariable
and peculiar property Of his sex? OF
woman's depressed development we
have heard a thing or two. Sometimes
1t gets into print that through the
ages she has been forcibly detained in
the background; that her Easter hat
would be larger within If not without
had the natural cerebral expansion
been permitted. There are women
who. to prove this. cut off their hair
and wear hats at Easter evidently not
modelled with reference 10 adornment
alone. Could self-sacritice to an idea
go further?
And man. May he not have his
grievance, too? Pursued from b%oyhood
with pies, coddled into old age with
cakes, coaxed and flattered with the eff
Terminate products of the kitchen. bull
dozed with puddings. his higher moral
nature put to sleep with seductive pas
try-may W. not inquire whether his
suppositious cravings for these things
Is not founded on a purely feminine
conception? Who is 1t but man who.
when unrestrained and following his
natural promptings. turns to tobacco
next to food the most efectual de-
stroyer OF hunger?
Who. in fact, are the real fasters
both In practice and in theory?
Why, men.
In DR.. Tanner the sex has perhaps
its most illustrious example of its own
true promptings. Outside the records
Of pathology. did you ever hear Of a
female faster on this scale? Who is
the most conspicuous advocate of the
two meals a day idea? Mark Twain.
What was the sex Of the student at
Phillips Andover who tasted a whole
week because it seemed a good thing
to do? Not female.
A Chicago enthusiast for a long
time lived ON nothing but deep inspi-
rations Of air and a few apples. Need
less to remark he wore trousers. Still
another Western man is widely known
as the author of a book In which he
insists that one meal a day the year
around is ample for anybody, he him.
self joyfully adhering to the practice.
And there is the Rev. John ]. Eberle
of Pottstown. Pa, recently deceased,
who since 1860 had followed a similar
plan to his own satisfaction.-Toledo
Gee.