New-York tribune., 1921-11-13

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see her looking so charming, so healthy, so
slender He knew all along that his prescrip-
tion would restore her completely.
But it hasn't, doctor, I've gained ter
ribly."
1t is unbelievable. The scales must be wrong
She is not pound too much or a pound too
little. He is really proud OF her when he
thinks how slow some patients are to respond
to treatment. 1t makes the practice of medi-
cine really worth while when such results can
be obtained.
But, DOCTOR she tells him, her eyes wide
and wild, "you don't understand. I've gained
twenty-five pounds
Did she imagine for one moment that he
had any other desire than that she should
gain exactly twenty-five pounds? That was
the precise amount he had prescribed That
was the end toward which all his efforts had
been directed. 1t was impossible that he could
have had any other figure in mind, because
his fee was s25. That was the standard,
ethical fee--a dollar pound. Twenty-Five and
twenty-five. Anybody could remember that.
But
The great man goes into details. Having
normalized her weight, he proposed to keep it
at that particular notch. She must not gain
again. 1t was out of the question that she
should put on another ounce. He would not
permit it. Horseback riding. 1t was true
enough that she had already been doing that,
but there were many different kinds of horse
backing There was the pacing palfrey and
there was the Texas mustang. But extremes
should be avoided. Her particular complaint
required neither. A trotter was what she
needed, a good strong, healthy kind of trotter
Nothing ever devised was SO infalible in keep
ing weights stationary as trotters. Science
had worked the problem out to nicely. The
distance travelled horizontally and that trav-
eled up and down must be the same to bring
about true leanness, and nothing but real
honest -to-goodness trotter was capable of pro-
viding the two directions of movement at
and the same time. The gait of PAGERS was
fatal. 1t produced fat.
Mrs. Overwaite departs. determined to carry
out his instructions to the letter He is so
kind, so thoughtful so wise. She must prove
worthy of him. But outside in her limousine
a great idea comes to her quite suddenly. Why
should she ride horse when she could travel
so much faster in a motor car? She is sure
the thought had not occurred to the doctor.
He knew that riding togs were becoming to
her and was merely trying to please her with
that other prescription. She would surprise
the dear man. She would exercise in her
limousine every day, covering ten times the
distance she had been accustomed to cover on
horseback. Another thing! If she went ten
times fast and far, why shouldn't she
reduce ten times as fast? What could be more
obvious? People always had said she
clever.
Meanwhile, what of that section of the gen.
eral public that finds it necessary to go within
visual range of bridal paths and cannot help
observing the agonies of the reducers? Surely,
they entitled TO some consideration. Their
feelings must not be narrowed by the suffer
ings of their fellow men and women without
a protesting voice being raised.
Of course, some of these enforced observers
feel less poignantly for the tortured than do
others. few there are, particularly of the
younger and ribald generation, who appear to
take delight in seeing physical punishment
meted out to members of their own race Still
others sympathize only with the horses But
fortunately, the great majority still are sensi-
tive to human distress. They may be hard
hearted about many things; their own expert
ences may have been such that they can steel
themselves to look upon the ordinary phe-
nomena of pain with something approaching
equinimty, but there some things
which they eannot bear. Every time they
linger thoughtlessly in the vicinity of briile-
path they realize their weakness. They cam
not gaze at those sufferers without having their
own feelings lacerated and torn and nangsed.
The helpless look on each poor riders faee--a
look so uniform so characteristics sufficient
to pierce any heart. The observer yearns to be
of assistance, yet he knows he can do moth
ing. AS it is, he can only suffer in silence with
the victim. Only by his eountenance can he
show that his very soul bleeds.
And who profits by all this human and
equine punishment? The doctor who preys
upon the fat, the livery stable owner who
preys upon the horse and the sellers of large
size riding outfits who pray for the fat to
grow fatter. On the other hand consider the
misery of the multitude and ask yourself IL
cur present day American civilization isn't
headed straight toward that stage which made