Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-01-31

" Ii'it VI Tess confined TO EellE
1uuS enthusiasts or those who
Il Nearn TO remake their over
rotund forms into fashion Jour
nal figures. But in this commercial
day, when everything must Toe turned
into cash, fasting has been seriously
taken up as profession. Soon there
VIII he agencies 10 which YOU can ap.
ply for man on his fifteenth day of
fast, to employ as feature spectacle
at your dinner party. TheaterS viii
substitute professional fasters in the
glass cases in their foyers. And finally
Will come the great hordeS of society
amateurs. If the craze keeps up who
VIII invite their friends to rotation
guarding parties" To watch the fast
ers keep fast in an attempt to break
each others records. Thus. fasting is
IN a way to lose its dignity and become
merely a popular game.
All Paris watched eagerly the fast
ing of Wolly, the Dutchman. who. in
closed in small glass cage in the of
noes of lie Petit Journal, recently at
tempted TO break all previous records.
| with chair and a table for his com
fort. 90 packages of cigarettes. writing
materials and plenty TO read he was
surrounded night and day by a crowd
OF curiosity seekers anxious to guard
nm from any possibility of being fed
peared completely at ease under The.
close scrutiny of the onlookers.
Ihe first few days he engrossed him
SER IN ardent work with pencil and
paper. his wife expla lining that he was
writing his memoirs and that he could
concentrate much better when he
didn't eat and when under the scru-
tiny OF many eyes. However, his ideas
seemed to run out toward the fifth day
ha fr.at
connnes OF his cage, keeping his ewes
on the floor or the small air holes in
the top of his box. as if to avoid the
hunger-satisfied faces of the crowd.
me neWsboyS banded together. at the
sight OF his nervousness. to eat their
lunches before the eRca ged man. But
their efforts did not succeed in dis
turolnS ms concentration. for after
TWO days of thinking and reflection he
returned once more to his work.
The streams of people who filed be-
fore his cage became thicker and
thicker as the ninth and then the tenth
day or his fast arrived. Hoboes off the
street swarmed into the building TO
warm themselves and try to learn the
secret of how to keep serene and
| happy on an empty stomach The
newspaper reporters would lounge
! around, hoping for some extraordi
nary move on Wolly's part to fill up
| tneir DAILY column. The hours after
the theater would see smart women in
deep 1ur capeS on the way TO the
eayety of Montmartre trying to catch
glimpse of Wolly mapping.
Ana the early hours of dawn would
usher In the struggling end of the
nights jewellers to say an UNSTEADY
greeting to the extraordinary man who
not only refrained from eating, but
also turned away from the offers of
champagne.
Let me shake your hand." SAYS one
drunk, trying to thrust his arm
through the glass. Another calls
f1re. Fire. in an effort to disturb
the tranquil faster. but his nerves
sland proof against excitement as we'll
!, as food.
The night of the tenth day the
gamins from the street prepared a
feast before his eyes. devouring raw
enously all the delicacies that their
hearded centimes could buy. However.
! they dispersed dejectedly toward mid
| night. without having been able to de,
| tect the slightest reaction on the part
! OF the raster to their tantalizing eff
| forts.
| At 1 o'clock in the morning, when
there were but few visitors to witness.
Wolly arose suddenly from a deep
lethargy and wildly bit at his hands
as If to quench his thirst from the
| blood that began to flow. Then he fell
PROSTATE on the floor. and the official
! guards were forced to open the cage
and take him Immediately to the hos
| pital.
| His wife explained that fasting had
/ nothing to do with Wolly's "cries des
nerfs,' but that it came from over
/ concentration on his work
| Nv Oily she said "haS tasted pro-
| fessionally too long in England as
the antics Of the spectators, even if
they held great banquets before him.
| Why, food never interests him, and at
best l can get him to eat only one
light meal a day. His breakdown
came from too great a mental strain.
Although the $4,000 francs that he
] made would keep us we'll for a year,
! Wolly is anxious to show the Parisians
a real record Of fasting as soon as
| he recuperates."
! LIE Petit Journal announces that he
will be back again in his cage shortly,
| in readiness for a long distance fast.
Amiens already boasts of an eatless
| record much greater than that made
in Paris, when Harry Hook stayed for
30 days sealed in a coffin with neither
| food nor drink. Air was pumped in
through a small hole, and he showed
definite signs of life and interest dur
| ing the entire period, which takes
him-aut of the Hindu fakir class. The
public of Amiens witnessed the mailing
down and binding securely with iron
bars Of the coffin, and saw that no
secret provisions were hidden within
for quiet little midnight suppers. a