Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-07-04
NO NEED OF MEAT
CONFESSIONS OF A VEGETARIAN
AND HIS FoNDNEss FOR HERBS.
Maintains Mind and Body In Health by
Use of Nuts, Fruits and
Garden Sass.
From the Independent.


mittee report Hence 1 am not to be class
ed with those who have been scared into
good habit. l have acquired mine after a
deliberate. purposefuI and cheerful study
of my own dietary needs and pract cal ex-
perfmentation which has amounted to a
demonstration satisfactory to myself as to
what is good for me to eat or not to cat,
no matter what may be good for some one
else
1t may be stated as general fact that
most people eat too much. In the year
2oOd, when the saloon will be q thing of
the past and drunkenness from drink no
longer known, societies will arise to arouse
a nation drunk with the intemperance or
too much food. The ordinary bill of fare
In hotel Is a monstrosity. 1t is. however,
no less so in nearly every farmhouse. L re-
call with a feeling of shame the immense
amount of work 1t put upon my mother and
sisters, the bill OF fare we men demanded
on our farm for breakfast We thought
we must have and did have, beefsteak ard
potatoes, eggs, hot biscuit, coffee, griddie
cakes, molasses, apple sauce and very Of
ten some kind of pie. Dinner was. in the
language of the card table, several better
than this, and supper was resounding
echo of breakfast We had meat three
times day, and thought we could net live
without it. 1t is marvel to me now that
we have any of us lived so long with It.
Six years ago l tried the experiment or
going an entlre year without any break
fast drank two coffee cups of hot wa
ter, and on the strength of that bill of fare
L did healthy mans regular forcnoon's
work At the time / preached or lectured,
on an average, once a day for six months,
and did not miss a single engagement
have headache or pain. And 1 date from
that experiment the experience which has
led to these confessions
Near the close of that breakfast ass year
1 had the good fortune to meet A Scotch
family in Dundee. They were all vegetarl-
ans-father. mother, grandmother and
seven children. None of the children had
ever tasted either meat or fish. A healthier
or happier family group l have never seen.
The good housewife did confess that there
were certain seasons of the year when II
was difficult to provide a varied and inter-
esting bill of fare without meat, but there
was no lack on the table during any of the
meals 1 was privileged to take with them.
and the dishes were without exception pal
atable and nourishing.
Scotch Example.
l may be said to date from that visit in
Dundee my own conversion to a meatess
diet. Since that time l have eaten meat
more or less, but increasingly less until at
last have entirely ceased to eat meat and
do not see why shall ever again pay my
toll to the beef barons. 1t would not con-
Germ me in the least, indeed, IL all flesh of
beasts and birds should perish off the face
of the earth except cows and hens. Milk
and eggs are part of the daily fare Pota-
toes. beans. peas, all green and succulent
herbs, radishes, lettuce, beets, corn celery
and onions. The vegetarian q. e., the one
whose definition of the word is the same as
mine) also adds to his bill of fare two other
worlds of supply, namely, fruits and nuts
All fruits, so far as l have tried them, are
healthful. especially apples and oranges
The most ideal way of getting fruits upon
the vegetarian's table is for him to go out
or vines. When that cannot be done one
r " I'M hat
must fall back on or into the cold storage
plant. But judicious marketing can be re-
sorted to at different seasons of the year
with success Nuts are not understood by
one person in thousand. They (that Is,
the nuts) contain vast nutriment packed
away In little compass The idea of put
ting nuts and raisins in the dessert on
the hotel bill of fare is to make the vegeta-
rian smile. Nuts should be eaten as part
of the main bill of fare, not the finishing
touch. There is great nourishment in pea
nuts, walnuts, pecaDs, butternuts. almonds
and Brazil nuts They are distinct in flavor
and in properties, and eaten with liberal
sprinklfng of salt are harmless to the most
delicate digestion.
There was a man once who, when the
dew was on his strawberry vines and the
wren that had her nest in the box elder
near his bed room window had begun her
morning thanks, arose and dressed himself
leisurely and strobe out into his little gar
den at the back of his lot, and, without los
" a
bunch of radishes cut a liberal supply of
heads Of tender lettuce. picked a pan or
strawberries and while in the garden took
out of the soil several handfuls of young
beets with their tops and also picked q dish
of green peas. Going back to the house he
picked over and washed the vegetables and
berries. laying the peas and beets aside to
be cooked for dinner. The radishes. lettuce
berries. together with q pitcher of milk
and plate of crackers or bread go IN the
table. Breakfast is ready. There has been
no banging of stove lids. No frantic stirring
of the hot fire on a hot summer morning.
No greasy odor of bacon or beefsteak per-
vading the house. No toilsome and lengthy
preparation on the part of fiushed-faced
hired girl to get ready coffee, steak and
hot biscuit for reluctant stomachs of people
who are going to leave half the breakfast
on their plates to be wasted or served I'D
again IN hash. The time this man uses to
get breakfast ready is the time spent by the
wren in her morning devotions but II is
enough. 1 could tell the name Of this man
and of this wren, but these confessions are
already too personal.
Not only do civilized people eat too much
but they spend twice the time necessary IN
getting food ready to eat. do not see why
my wife should be expected to spend more
than half her lifetime planning meals and
getting them on the table, or why another
three-fourths of her time in washing null
titude of dirty dishes and putting them
back on the table to be dirtied again. Tie
VeSetdDie naDlt slInpilfleS lie. 1t helps US
do other things besides get our meals Ten
minutes Is time enough to get breakfast
Then we have leisure to eat slowly the lit
tie we have. The general American plan is
to spend half an hour getting twice as
much food on the table as the family needs
and then omit family prayers and hurry
through breakfast in fifteen minutes
Substitutes.
If the Independent prints this article L
see trouble for myself People are going to
write to ask what the vegetarian does when
he is invited out; when he is one of the
victims at a banquet; when apples are two
for quarter In New York; when the frost
has taken the peaches in Delaware and the
potato bug has eaten all the invisible sup
ply in Nebraska. These things do not trol-
BILE me. Most of my friends have enough
on their tables besides meat to keep me
from starving until get home If apples
fall, fall back on prunes. At most BAN
quets there are radishes, celery ana olives
If potatoes are high. l can thrive On rice
Meanwhile | have the satisfaction of un-
usually good health and the consciousness
every day that so far / am concerned.
no man need work in abattoir, and the
double satisfaction of the consciousness