The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-05-31
kansas city Star)

point Of starvation. whether in the
streets OF a big CITY, in the jungles OF
South America, in an open boat at
sea, or on the sandy deserts OF Aus
tralia, give strangely divergent ac-
counts of their feelings. Their stories
go to prove that different men feel
starvation in different ways. some
suffer intensely, others hardly at all
Some feel acute physical pain, whlie
the sufferings Of others appear TO De
purely mental.
A sailor whose schooner was wrecked
on a voyage from the Caymap Islands
to Jamaica a few years ago, and VINO
spent nearly two weeks in an open boat
without food, was. asked how he felt in
that time.
7 hardly felt it at all after the first
two days. he said. Il seemed to out
grow the longing for food, and do not
remember suffering any particular
pain. I drifted along in a dreamy sort
OF way, not caring what. happened.
Even when I saw the ship which picked
me up I was not wildly excited 1 was
too faint to worry The only craving
remember distinctly was for glass
Of rum and a smoke Of tobacco, ana
that was very strange. because / am
practically teetotaler and DO hot
greatly care for smoking
A man who is now receiving a Dig
salary in the east had hard time
when he first came TO the city, ana
nearly starved. For days and Weeks
together he did not have a decent meal,
and, by his own account, he suffered
torture
''I could not keep STILL he said. of
ten, when / was frightfully hungry
and hadn't a cent to buy anything,
would go to one of the free libraries
and try to force myself to sit down and
rest. But il was DO use. Some ire
siStible impulse would drive me out
into the streets again, and would pace
them restlessly for hours huhgIly
watching the restaurants and wonder
ing when I would get another square
meal.
Watched the Procession.
1.-THE faces of the people in the
crowded streets got on my nerves.
Faces, faces, nothing but faces. They
streamed by me continually, day ana
night-nOt one Of them familiar; not
one of them kindly. It seemed as If II
was my fate to stand still and see that
awful procession of faces fit by for
ever. They did not strike me as be
longing to real people; they seemed IKE
the faces of ghosts. When I dropped
of to sleep at night I used to see those
faces in my dreams, and for months
after became prosperous they haunt
ed me day and night like a night
mare.
physical torture. Every bone in my
body ached; my head thrObbed VlO-
lently; 1 had terrible pains in my
stomach. and half the time I felt as II
] was just going to faint. As soon as
hunger fairly got hold Of me L IosL
every ounce of energy. i could nor
look for work as 1 had been dong; L
could not even beg Two or three
times asked men for money in
1fmfd feeble way. but when they
eli 4 A
addressed woman gave me dime one
night although I did not ask her. 1
got a good meal with it, but afterward
/ felt hungrier than ever
Meat Markets.
An orchid hunter, who nearly per
isheS in a Venezuelan jungle two years
ago and who lost five of his men by
starvation. night after night When ne
went to bed, famished and exhausted,
would dream of the markets he had
seen in various parts of the world he
would behold Ladenhau market, IN
London. piled high with thousands Of
carcasses and tons OF meat; ana Just
as he put out his hand to grasp leg
of beef or a sirlOin steak, the vision
would fade and in its place would De
the gaily cOlored market of Panama
with bananas. plneappleS and oranges
glistened brightly in the tropical sun
light Those too, would vanish when
he tried TO snatch them, and he would
awake hungrier and more miserable
than ever.
Il could have borne the real horrors
of the days a thousand times better,
he said. IF il had not been for the tan
taIizing miseries Of the nights
This same explorer, during the month
of seni-starvatiOn which he expert
enced, suffered constantly from vlo-
lent headaches, dull gnawing pains IN
the stomach, and lad attacks OF ma
larial fever. And all the time he could
think OF nothing but food which IN
creased his misery tenfOld.
a graduate Of Oxford university gave
up all his prospects IN life some years
ago to become d social worker among
the poor of the east end Of London IN
order TO get an idea Of what II felt Ike
to be really Door, he lived for six days
on j cents, eating nothing more IHan
one tiny 2-ceut loaf each day As d
result ne nearly starved and was i'll for
q week afterwards.
Only to Have the Experience.
1T would not have been very trying, .
he said, II ] had not seen food an
around me-in the bakers shops. IN
the restaurants, in the butchers and IN
the green grOcers. i would walk about
the streets for hours, watching the PEG
pie so into the restaurants for lunch,
and wondering what they were going
10 eat.
by the end Of the third day I was
in a half comatOse state Practically
had lost my identity and my memory.
was always thinking about food. but
in quite a detached sort Of way, as If IL
were nothing 10 do with me. ] thought
OF il as an untraveled man might think
of India Ny reason told me that in
three days 1 co1ld eat as much as /
liked but my mind could not take hold
of that fact. 1t seemed as If should
always be eating one tiny loaf a day
and watching other people go into res
tauTants-
ION the fifth day was utterly
cowed. If a man spoke to me trem-
bled and could not answer, but skunk
away. Every bit of moral fiber and
every ounce Of physical pluck were
gone"
After this experience the graduate in
the school Of starvation took keen in
terest In discovering the sensations Of
other men who had gone hungry de
met many Of them in the course Of mis-
philanthrOpic work, and he discovered
that in no two cases were their emo
tons alike.
starvation" he was fond Of saying
'is a mental rather than a physical
pain. It's principal terrors are con-
nected with the mind and the magma
ton. The educated and refined man.
he who has seen better days, is the
man who suffers most when he goes