The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1916-03-19

employer might take heed throw the food
to the neighbours cat and live-thus kill
ing two birds with one stone, as it were
the life Of an Oficial faster ought to be
fairly enjoyable.
In these modern days all that the aver
age employer could reasonably ask of his
Oficial faster would be the faithful dis
charge of his duties, the nibbling OF food
and the quafing Of drink. The average
employer would be most likely to consider
him thoroughly efficient if he did that.
On the other hand, the Offcial Tasters
OF Food and Drink in ancient days we're
not so fortunate. A temperamental king
or mandarin-so history records - often
took his spite out on his Oficial faster il
the Official faster happened to be hang
ing around, just as he would often do with
other menials who incurred his disDleas-
ure
Those were the days when ChOpping of
heads was a favorite indoor sport among
personages of royal blood. or otherwise
powerful Slipping weird and wonderful
mixtures made Of poisonous herbs into
rice and other delica cies relished in China
was a widespread evil of the Oriental En-
pire.
SiIk-robed mandarins welded despotic
power through the land and became so
cordially hated that each invariably had
But frequently they we're not content that
the hard-working faster was riskng his
life that theirs might be saved
1t seems the taster's duty was not only
to detect poison in food and drink-by
the simple and illustrative eXpedient Of
curling up and dying in the buffers pam
try-but also TO be a sort Of dietitian to
his employer. II the latter ate generously
or drank copiously Of the nonpoisonous
happened TO develop a harmless case Of
temporary indigestion he was apt to give
way TO a petulant whim and order the
Official faster to offer up his head on the
eXeCutioner's block and make way for a
more efficient faster.
The Official Taster's life in Russia not
so many years ago, We are told, was not
one of roses and sunshine either. Some
times, in guarding the digestive organs OF
the car. they were caught coming and
going. However, it was often their own
fault, for some allowed themselves to be
lured away from loyalty to J..ir sover-
eign and became allied with the gangs OF
prisoners that threatened the cars life
BY surreptiuously failing to taste the
poisoned food and passing it along to His
Imperial Majesty the OfiCial faster cur
ried favor with the COnspiratOrs. But
often he was caught in the dragnet Of the
grand jury investigation that followed His
Imperial Majesty's demise and either lost
his head or went to Siberia to pay the
penalty of betrayal
With such incidents as preCedents en-
ployers of this modern day will doubtless
exact the highest kind of references from
all applicants for jobs as Of7cial Tasters
That will cause trouble For it is not eX-
pected that applicants, even with medi-
OGRE references, and perhaps with no ref
erPnCes at all will be any too numerous.
In ancient days men took jobs like that
because they we're pretty much afraid not
to take them. or out Of loyalty to death TO
their king or emperor. Nowadays the
wage scale will doubtless reach a fairly
high level Employers would be quite at
the mercy of their Official Tasters, for the
latter could demand a raise in pay almost
any time and be fairly sure of getting it,
Thus a new field Of endeavor. industry
and ambition is opened to rising young
men and women. Just as Jean Crones.
the Chicago man who tempered with the
soup at the banquet to Archbishop Nun
delein. took a correspondence school
course in chemistry and read up on pOi
sons in libraries, men and women yearn
ing to make names for themselves in the
world as Official Tasters of Food and
Drink might fit themselves for their life
NOrk OF SAFETY flTSJ ana saving lives by
similar studious habits
Just one drawback impends. Cooks are
hard enough to get-Or keep-nOw. say
housewives and employment agency
heads, without subjecting them to the
scrutiny of Official Tasters who would
stand guard between the kitchen and the
dining-room and dip into every dish and
into every bottle and punChbOwl that
passed, making sure that no deadly poison
slipped unseen into the dining room.