The Virginia enterprise., 1909-04-23
TWO SQUARE MEALS
copyright, by Joseph B. Bowie

copyright. by Joseph B. Bowles.)
TWO SQUARE MEALS
cessive eating, or with the habit of
making eating the chief object of
thought. How much progress, in
business, in professional work or in
social life would person make who
should spend as much attention on
eating as a COW, with her four stom-
achs, a mere machine for making
milk and beef from grass
Mr.. Squeers of Dotheboy's hall was
certainly not model educator, but
one of his injuncions to his boys ex-
presses a piece of moral philosophy
worthy of a nobler character: Con
troll your appetites, boys, and then
you will learn to control your pas
sions' Every great moral teacher
has recognized this, the fundamental
principle of morality. Indulgence is
the mother of evil. Every moral lead
er from the Man of Galilee, who
tasted 40 days as preparation for
a supreme spiritual test, down to
the leader of the latest cult, has set
the example of fasting. Intuitively,
fasting is associated with prayer as
means of spiritual elevation. Self
control is the cornerstone of virtue,
and the man who can control his ap-
petite is master of himself. Yet self
Is never to be suppressed, but always
directed by wise suggestion.
The time ;required for the digestion
Of various articles of food given in
the tables in the books, refers to stom-
II eat three square meals day,
Is the chief reason assigned by many
for the abounding health they enjoy,
for season, in spite of that practice.
The Greeks at the time of their
highest intellectual development ate
but once day and the Persians, dur
ing the period of their ascendancy,
once, in the evening. The Romans,
also, in the days of the republic, their
best days, followed the practice OF
the Greeks, in this respect, as In
others.
Lycurgus, the Spartan law giver
carefully prescribed the diet of his
ideal citizens, with view to extreme
simplicity. do you know" asked
Cyrus, the great king of Persia, OF
the ambassador of luxurious sover
eign, how invincible men are who
can live on herbs and acorns?' Wheat
bread, dried figs and honey consti
tuted the menu at those meetings OF
the Lyceum where Plato and Aristotle
breathed philosophy.
One who has thorough interest in
any work knows that at times the
appetite seems to leave one for hours
while he is doing intensive work.
This tends to show, not that great
creative work and good nutrition are
antagonistic, for the contrary is true
but that high-c]ass mental work
is inconsistent with frequent or ex-
ach digestion, under normal condi'
tfons. But conditions are seldom nor.
NAL, and digestion is not completed
In the stomach. Two dogs were fed
an ordinary meal. One was imme
diately taken for a three-hours' run
following a carriage; then it's stom
ach was opened and the food was
found to have undergone no change
while the other, which had lain in its
kennel, had completely digested the
meal
When I. fresh meal is added to one
only partly digested, perhaps ferment
ing, normal digestion is impossible
Such a condition is often the begin
ming of chronic indigestion. The nat
ural thing to do when the digestion
of meal is interrupted by unusually
severe mental or physical work or by
nervous excitement, is to omit meal
but the habit of eating at meal time
whether We are hungry or not, seems
to make this natural safeguard i'm
possible. If we do not eat we are al
once assumed to be sick.
An essential requirement for the
maintenance of any organism is, rest
Sleep is a means of resting the brair
and nervous system, but the digestive
and eliminative organs are so over
taxed by our unnatural system of eat
ing, that more than the period of sleel
is necessary to avoid exhaustion, soon
er or later
II the necessary nutriment can b<
obtained by eating two meals, it is 6
bad system that requires the eatin.
OF three or even more; and thousand!
have proved by actual test that bet
ter health can be maintained by eat
ing only twice day. Superfluous eat
ing Is bad, because, in a word, i
wastes vitality, upon which health ant
happiness depend.
Now ii one is to eat only two regu
lar meals in "a hours, the questio,
comes. which should be omitted?
This cannot be answered in a word
Some argue that the chief meal shout,
be taken in the evening, not less thai
three hours before sleeping; becaus
1t is best to rest after a full meal,
few minutes in any case, and if tn
principal meal is eaten at noon, ther
will be more or less hurry in mos
cases, on account of business cond
tions, and nothing is so detrimental t
good digestion and health in genera
as hurry-except its twin sister, tn
maker of most of our troubles, worry
1t is well-established fact that me,
riment conduces to good digestion, an,
If there Is any time in the day whel
one can feel Nght-hearted,. it is surei
In the evening. The chief reason fo
having the principal meal in the eve
ming is that digestion is the principa
business of physical life and the eve
ming is the best time to attend to IL