Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-01-11
GRAHAM BREAD.
Butchers and Bakers of Boston
 Mobbed the Inventor.

Mobbed the Inventor.
 Men and women of Connecticut have eaten graham bread for half century or more, but few know US origin, says the Hartford Courant. Many there are to-day who like gran am bread but it does not have quarter of it's popularity of gener- ation ago.
 The interesting thing about graham bread is that it was the pro- duct of the first real vegetarian crank of our times and it was the forerunner of the present tendency towards the eating of cereals ana fruit, instead of meat. Graham 1 bread was brought out so to speak, about 1851 by man named SylVes- ter Graham, who came to the con. clusion that people were eating al- together too much meat. and that they ought to subsist more largely on a cereal diet. The man made him. self famous as an advocate of bread made from 'unbolted" flour and the bread made in this manner was named graham bread.
 The first thing to note about the story of graham bread is the fact that it was the invention of Con- necticut Yankee and therefore ought to be known the world over as a Goa necticut product. That it has been benefit goes without saying. Another thing, and probably the most im- portant, is the fact that graham bread sidetracked the people of tue | United States from being such enor- nous consumers of meat, and taught ] them in scientific way that diet of cereal and fruit was more health 1 ful and more satisfactory.
 The story of Sylvester Graham is interesting. Like many another benefactor. Graham was dubbed ''crank" all his life. He was one or the brightest men of his day and an orator. His life was not in vain,and although he didn't leave much to be remembered by except the bread that was named after him, sketch Of his l life is not uninteresting.
 Graham was born in Sufield, in 1794, and was the son of an English clergyman, who had been carefully educated in England and was gradu- ated with honors from one of the leading English universities. The father paid the utmost attention to his sons education and at the age of 19 young Graham had advanced enough to be capable of teaching the classics. He made a success Of the vocation until his health began 10 l fail and he gave up the work. Ire elder Graham was anxious then that his son study for the ministry, as he could not teach and sent the young man to Amherst college in 1923 with the intention of making a clergyman of him. He entered the college and started in on his study of theology but he was compelled to give up the preaching through peculiar train of circumstances. All his life Graham was a polished speaker and did a good deal of public talking while in i college. The faculty of Amherst be- came impressed with the idea that ! he was too much of stage actor or mad enthusiast" and he left col lege and gave up the idea of preach 1 ing.
 Graham lost his degree at Amherst but he did not lose his courage, for i in 1926 he married and then became minister of the Presbyterian church. He made good deal of success in his work as a preacher but gave it up and was engaged about | 1880 by the Pennsylvania Temper ance society to lecture throughout 1 the state on the evils of drinking. Graham went to Pennsylvania and began his featuring tour. His health at that time was poor and he labored under many adverse circumstances. About the time he started in on his i temperance lectures he decided after good deal of study of the human organism that if a man would fol- low a certain diet he would eliminate alcoholic stimulants. He argued that a purely vegetable diet, with all meat eliminated would put man be- yond the power of alcohol. .. l Graham brought out his theory i with all the eloquence for which he was noted and attracted attention. | He said that he followed his own i theories with patience and good re- 1 suits and told in his lectures of the : improvement that he noted in his 1 own condition. He told hundreds and thousands of people that vege- 1 table diet such as he would suggest would cure their thirst for stimulants and people began to awaken to the i fact that Graham apparently knew what he was talking about.
 He published books and tracts supporting his theories and they at i tracted widespread attention. His 1 principal book was Bread and | Bread Making" in which he set forth the idea of making bread more nutritious and beneficial by using un- 1 bolted flour. This is now rare and a ] recent inquiry for 1t in the largest li- brary in the state failed to find a copy. He also published Lectures on the Science of Human Life" and an Essay on Cholera" He now had wide following and his bread made him famous. Graham bread" came to be the thing in all homes. and Graham gave popular lectures on dietetics.
 Graham met with great opposition. however, from butchers and bakers. They became so angry one day In Boston in 1874 over his series of lec- < lures. in which he advocated people giving up meat eating. that mob of butchers and bakers surrounded the hall in which he was featuring and threatened violence. Some of the followers of Graham. strict vegetar- rians. thought out a scheme to dis perse the crowd even If the Bostcn police couldn't They secured snrne slaked lime and shoveled it out the windows of the hall where Graham was featuring onto the heads of the mob below. Slaked lime was slto- |