The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-11-06
THE BRITISH "LITTLE MARY"
Name the Sly Mr.. Barry Has Given to
the OveryvOrxed Stomach.
Boston Transcript

Boston Transcript.
Mr.. Barrie, the professed and rejoicing
sentimentalist, has turned moralist, and is
gayly pricking his British public on one
of its most sensitive sides. He has laid
Terence's maxim for playwrights to heart
and he is correcting manners with a smile
and pretty touches OF fantasy. BY all ac-
counts his newest comedy, Little Mary
is the talk and the delight of every London
er that has wit enough to appreciate its
satire and fancy. You eat too much and
too often, Mr.. Barrie tells his audiences.
Your day is a succession of meals. Be-
tween them you are talking and thinking OF
your digestion of the last and of what you
will or will not eat at the next. Therefore
you are stagnant, peevish, bored, which
makes life unpleasant. Therefore you have
to go twice or thrice a year to cures Ito be
washed out and scraped out" which is not
nice.
All the world knows tina for the past
three years the Britons have been trying
to discover what is the matter with them.
ReamS OF books, pamphlets and leaders
have been written on their ailments. From
Cabinet ministers downward, whoever has
mounted a platform has been bound to dis
course upon them. Royal commissions have
reported at home. Travelling commissions
have gone searching for remedies abroad.
Blu there has been no agreement upon
either the nature of the disease or the eff
fective remedy. Mr.. Barrie believes he has
found both. His diagnosis we nave just
stated. His remedy is two light meals a
day and plenty of occupation between them.
DE BOOQ 10 Llttie MdTy, VINO OF winch Is
no other than the British stomach, do not
overtax her or think too much about her
and all will go well again. The ~restorep
in the play is a charming Irish girl who
Mary" out of her ~grandsire's folios, and
whom a peer weds as a truly British re-.
ward. Needless to say, Little Mary al
pivot of verbal pleasantries in the patter OF
London drawing rooms.
We in America have long known that the
British ate too much and too often. When
we were among them, we nave tried tc
keep pace with them through breakfast,
luncheon, tea, dinner, a snack here and
a snack there, with resulting surfeit and
discomfort. When they came among us.
we used to disappoint them in at least the
numerical inferiority of our meals. Grad.
ually, however, as we grew In wealth and
luxury and a consequent tendency to imi-
tate English ways, We have eaten the oft
ener and the more. Afternoon tea has be-
come an established custom. We sup duti-
fully after the play or any sort of evenings
amusement. Our breakfasts nave LONG
been VIGOROUSLY heavy, and now our lunch
cons and dinners are becoming so. With
increasing leisure we have discovered that
il is easier to be amused at the table thar
it is anywhere else. Therefore we prolons
our meals. and TO prolong them we must
eat the more, overwork our Little Marys
and profit the multiplying health resorts
In particular, among our new generation
of rich folk does this overeating prevail
Those who have seen Mr.. Schwab, for ex-
ample, at table could only liken his ca
pacity there to that with which he was
absorbing steel and shipbullding companies
Our moralists quickly discovered this
growing evil and set about the correction
of Ii. But. instead OF calling wit anC
fancy to their aid. like Mr.. Barrie, they
wrote dreary treatises advocating no break.
fast in the morning or a cup OF hot water
at night, at which the natural man revolted
Or they substitute strange cereal com.
pounds for the meat and drink that gave
him animal joy. Inevitably the only fol
lowers of these counsels of perfection wer,
those that go about. shifting. to reform
minor manners n eXemplify minol
morals. They had never overeaten. Thos,
that had h~abitually went their way un.
moved, except to gibes. If they are to bs
reformed. they must be pleased and divert
ed by the process and be sure that it Ii
the correct thing. Mr.. Barrie's "Littl,
Mary" has exactly met these requirement.
in London. He Is on the way TO becom,
an English and a notwithstanding Mo
liere. The only pity is that our manager!
will probably make US wait a year befor,
he begins his cures in America.