Pleasures of the Table.

1895

Heliogabalus surpassed Vitellius as far as Vitellius surpassed Lucullus in the art of expending vast sums upon the pleasures of the table. According to Lampridius, he cost the government for each of his dinners more than $180,000 in our money! This statement almost transcends belief. At one of his banquets was served an entree consisting of the brains of 600,000 ostriches, quickly followed by another of broiled heels of an incalculable number of tender young camels!

In the days of Shakespeare good digestion probably waited on appetite. Dining was a matter of fact business, and dinners were so lacking in the variety of dishes that an appetite was a necessity. In these days, as in the days of Vitellius, an appetite is a superfluity. Among the high livers it is satiated, dull, dead, worn out. Special dishes are invented to tickle and awaken it.

Lucullus, Vitellius and Heliogabalus are among the great departed, but their memory lives, and even in this day and generation they have their imitators. — New York Press.

An Arapahoe's Meal

1895

The Indian's Appetite Held Out as Long as the Meat Lasted.

"For feats of downright big eating I'll back the North American Indian against the world," said a Colorado man. "I recall in particular an Arapahoe Indian who visited our camp by the Fontaine qui Bouille river one night. We had killed a buffalo calf that day — a good sized fat calf 4 or 5 months old — and having skinned and dressed the carcass had hung it up on a wagon pole. We had carved enough off one shoulder to go along with mountain trout, bacon, bread and coffee for our party of four at supper. The rest of the meat was all there. The Indian came riding up after we had eaten, and he looked pretty tired and empty. He had evidently traveled a long way with little to eat, for he was dusty, haggard and thin as a shoestring, and there was no doubt when he asked by signs for food that he wanted it badly. He pointed to the buffalo calf, and with his knife he cut off some slices of meat, laid them on the embers, and as soon as they were a little scorched ate them ravenously and began again with the calf.

"He was still cutting and cooking meat and eating when we wont off to sleep, and, so far as we could tell, he spent the entire night in that occupation, for whenever one or another of us woke up enough to look around the Indian was either cutting at the calf or eating by the fire. When we turned out in the morning, we found that all that was left of that buffalo calf was its skeleton hanging from the pole. The Indian had not carved away its joints and ribs, as a white man would have done, but had hacked the meat off in small pieces till all was gone.

"The Indian looked like another person. His all night feed had fattened him up so that he looked well filled out, and he moved about with a different air. He greeted our rising with a 'How,' and sat stolidly by the fire until one of us gave him a tin cup of coffee, which he took with another 'How.' While we were at breakfast he mounted his horse and slipped away so silently that we scarcely noticed his going." — Chicago Times.

How to Get Stout

1895

Not very many people want to get stout, but those who do want to be stout very much. Here is what a practical physician says is the best plan to follow: "Avoid excitement and keep your mind as much as possible in a state of repose and free from worry. People of nervous temperament should learn to control themselves. Learn to sit quietly for a long period and don't rush about, consuming muscular tissue by unnecessary movements.

"Eat all you can and as often as you can, avoiding hot things, such as hot bread and that which is made from the finer grades of flour. Stale bread made of flour containing a portion of the chaff is far more nutritious than light, freshly baked bread. The diet should consist of such articles of food as are largely composed of starch and sugar and oil. Meat in large quantities should be avoided. All things should be thoroughly cooked, in order that raw material can undergo the chemical change that otherwise would have to be done by the stomach. Lastly, sleep as long as you possibly can and as much. These rules and suggestions will soon add all the flesh to your frame that you want." — Cincinnati Enquirer.

Little Late Suppers

1895

A Pleasant Way of Ruining One's Digestion Is Here Presented.

Every one, except the dyspeptics, loves a late supper. It is a natural trait. Boarding school boys and girls, with shawls hung over their transoms, consume olives and chocolate cake and truly enjoy life. When they escape the necessity of hanging shawls and outgrow the taste for pickles and cake, they still like late suppers. Like all natural desires, it is one which should be gratified. The only care should be concerning the manner of its gratification. To eat a repast just before going to bed which will keep the digestive organs busy all night is a slow method of suicide.

What the undisciplined taste always desires about midnight is lobster a la Newburg, Welsh rabbit or fried oysters, with coffee. These are particularly detrimental to the health, and the desire for them should be vigorously restrained. The taste should be educated to prefer toasted crackers and chocolate.

Of course when one gives a late supper indigestible things are in order. Then such appetizing morsels as stuffed olives, anchovy toast, lobster a la Newburg, caviare on toast, venison steak, broiled grouse, cheese souffles, rum omelet and the like are desirable. A supper which would appeal to any man's taste comprises stuffed oysters, with tartar sauce; brown bread toast; venison steak, with currant jelly; glazed sweet potatoes, velvet biscuit, olives, crackers, cheese, fruit and coffee. Another equally good contains stuffed olives, toasted crackers, fried oysters, celery salad, broiled grouse, bread sauce, rolls, fried potatoes, Welsh rabbit, baked apples and coffee. — New York World.

Eating With A Knife

1895

The Puritans Were Not Up In the Science of Living Well.

I wouldn't have knives supplied with pie, beans or blueberries. As I have before remarked, the table knife is the great American instrument of death, and the American is slowly but surely carving his own tombstone, and until Americans learn to dispense with the table knife in conveying provisions to the bazoo they are a declining race. Ages hence the future man as he stands in some ancient city — one of the cities of today — recently unearthed, as Pompeii and Herculaeneum have been excavated, will view with astonishment the rusty table knives and wonder to what manner of people we belonged.

And who can blame him? I have seen a man of sound standing in the community eat blueberries with a knife, and he succeeded almost beyond belief of any except eyewitnesses. It beats "pigs in clover" all out. The idea seemed to be to get half a dozen blueberries on the knife, and as it was lifted toward the mouth and the berries began to roll toward the handle to get them in line, rolling back again and into the tunnel before any of them fell off. It was a great trick.

To be able to eat skillfully with a knife is a sure sign of Puritan ancestry. The quick lunch restaurant is the preparatory institution to the tomb. Every person must build the abode of his own soul by eating, and most men do it as though they had a contract job on hand.

If you wish to see people eat in an ideal manner, go into an Italian restaurant on North street. There may be dirt on the floor and dust on the windows, but the food is good, and the leisurely subjects of Humbert know how to eat. They appear to derive fully as much satisfaction from looking at their food and fondly regarding it as from eating it. They eat leisurely and enjoy it.

Not so in the average down town restaurant. The man of business or the clerk comes in. He orders from the "time table," he chafes until he gets it, then he swiftly and skillfully arranges each dish around his plate in such a manner as to lose as little time as possible, ties his napkin around his neck so the ends of the knot stick up behind his head like a mule's ears, takes his knife in one hand and the fork in the other, casts a determined look around him, and then knife and fork begin to play back and forth from his plate to his mouth, and the only wonder is that they don't clash on the way. — Boston Courier.

Is a Good Breakfast Necessary? Yes

1901

A good breakfast is the physical basis of a day's work. The American breakfast, regarded with so much horror on the European continent, has contributed largely to make the nation what it is today. It enabled our forefathers to do an amount of work which it appalls foreigners to contemplate.

As a rule there is something wrong with the man or with his habits if he cannot eat a good breakfast. A man who works at high tension all through the morning hours without this substantial foundation is working entirely upon his nerves. That means disordered nutrition and sooner or later bankruptcy and collapse.

If a man gets up in the morning with a bad taste and no inclination for food, it is because his system is full of waste and his circulation of obstructions. Let him make a radical change in his habits and train his digestive organs to accommodate a nourishing morning meal. — Medical Brief.

Golf Ball Kills Big Carp

1916

Man Comes to Town With Remarkable Fish Story.

BEDFORD SPRINGS, Pennsylvania — E. S. Kuhn of the Stanton Heights Golf Club, Pittsburgh, told how when he was playing the third hole, which is across a water hazard, the other day his tee shot landed in the water and killed a four-pound German carp, which was coming up to feed. He said his caddy waded into the water and returned with the fish, which he ate for dinner.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

Prisoner Eats the Evidence

1916

Man Is Said to Have Swallowed Marked $10 Bill.

NEW YORK — Herman Horowitz, who said he was a delegate of the Painters' Union, was arrested by Detective Giery on a charge of extortion. On the way to the station it is alleged that Horowitz seized a marked ten dollar bill, which Giery was holding as evidence, and swallowed it.

The complainant against Horowitz, who is 30 years old and lives in Brooklyn, is Louis Wall, a boss painter. It is charged that Horowitz threatened to call a strike of painters employed by Wall unless Wall paid $10. Wall, it is said, told him to come back later.

Wall complained to the police and Detective Giery was assigned to the case. It is alleged Wall gave a marked $10 bill to Horowitz. Afterward, it is said, Giery arrested Horowitz and says that he found the bill in Horowitz's pocket.

As the detective and his prisoner were on the way to the police station, Horowitz engaged Giery in a fight and wrested the bill from the detective's hand. This done, Horowitz is said to have swallowed the evidence while the detective struggled to save it. Then Horowitz accompanied the detective to jail without further trouble.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 7.

The Jockey's Bogy

1901

"The bogy of a jockey's life is taking on flesh," says Ainslee's. "He dreads this as a beauty dreads to lose her charms, and his whole thought from the age of 16 to 25 is to avoid the catastrophe. This is the pernicious feature of the life and distinguishes as a healthful sport from boxing or from football, in which the physical being is developed according to the laws of nature and is not outraged or balked. In order to reduce his weight nine pounds Monk Overton once remained in a Turkish bath from 10 p.m. one day until 2 p.m. the next, with no nourishment except a cup of tea and some toast.

"Again, Mike Bergen, mounted on a favorite, rode such a poor race that the stewards came to the paddock to investigate and punish him for fraudulent riding. They forgave the performance, however, when they found him collapsed and unable to speak. Knowing that he had to ride at a certain weight, Bergen had spent 48 hours in a Turkish bath, eating nothing whatever. When he reached the track, he was so weak that a stimulant was necessary. The one drink of whisky he took so demoralized his faculties that he could scarcely keep his seat in the saddle.

"Such a violation of physical development at the age when a boy should be most rapidly maturing makes it difficult for a jockey ever to become robust. Moreover, the mere riding of a race is a terrible drain on the nerve force of a jockey. A boy may lose a pound of weight in a hard race."

Would Rather Smoke Than Eat

1901

"One day," writes an American in Havana, "I came across an old Cuban woman sitting disconsolately on a rock near Morro castle. She told me in Spanish that for three days she had had nothing to eat but a loaf of bread and coffee. She looked it. I gave her a Spanish dollar and followed in her wake. She entered the first cafe she came to and bought a drink and a cigar. I couldn't help laughing to see her as she walked along the street puffing away at the weed purchased with my money. She seemed perfectly contented. The Cubans, even the women, would rather smoke than eat. They take only two meals a day, breakfast about 10 o'clock and dinner at 4 in the afternoon."

Jazz Steps Rule

1919

They'd Rather Dance Than Eat, Parisians Decide.

PARIS, France — Paris has definitely decided she would rather dance than eat.

What's more, she has forced the prefect of police to recognize her preference, and as a consequence, an order closing thirty dance halls, recently issued, has been modified.

The dance halls now may remain open until 11 o'clock and, in recognition of the demands of the dancers, no favorites are being played; cafes, bars, restaurants, theaters and the "movie" houses must close at the same time. These latter establishments had been permitted to remain open until 1 a.m.

Setting the Pace

1910

"Pacemaker at a banquet is what I should call the unique job," said the city salesman. "I met a man the other day who holds that title among the artistic eaters of the town.

"He doesn't make any money by it directly, but it pays for most of his meals. He got the job through his ability to chew at just the right tempo.

"He doesn't lag, he doesn't bolt. At all big dinners where persons of different habits are brought together some one with an even jaw movement who can set the pace in eating facilitates the progress of the meal.

"This man is not labeled pacemaker at those affairs, yet his air of knowing the polite tempo in mastication impresses the other diners and they try to imitate him. Laggards hurry, the swift delay. Waiters keep an eye on him, because they have been told to, and when he finishes a course they clear the table."

And They Didn't Exercise

1910

William M. Evarts, who lived until he was nearly ninety, said he kept his health by never taking exercise. The celebrated Dr. William George Mead, who lived to the surprising age of 148 years, spent nearly all of his time in the open air and played a little golf. Dr. Mead used to drink two or three quarts of water every day, and perhaps there is a suggestion in that. Old Dubois, who lived in Canada for the better part of 119 years on the north shore of Lake Erie, never worked and never took exercise. He spent seventy-five years of his life fishing with hook and line and ate nothing but baked apples and milk and brown bread and unsalted butter. Perhaps you can live that long if you do nothing but fish and eat what old Dubois did. But take notice that these long livers never exercised. — New York Telegraph.

Rules For Right Living

1902

For the man or woman, whether young or old, who wishes health, which means happiness, the following simple rules were gathered:

Pin them up where you will see them. But do not let that be all you do. Read them again and again, and, best of all, act upon them.

Eight hours' sleep.
Sleep on your right side.
Keep your bedroom window open all night.
Have a mat to your bedroom door.
Do not have your bedstead against the wall.
No cold water in the morning, but a bath at the temperature of the body.
Exercise before breakfast.
Eat little meat, and see that it is well cooked.
For adults, drink no milk.
Eat plenty of fat to feed the cells which destroy disease germs.
Avoid intoxicants, which destroy those cells.
Daily exercise in the open air.
Allow no pet animals in your living rooms; they are likely to carry about disease germs.
Live in the country if you can.
Watch the three D's — drinking water, damp, drains.
Take frequent and short holidays.
Limit your ambition.
Keep your temper. — New York American.

Note: This article and its advice is from 1902. Please check with your physician or neighborhood scientist before screwing up your life too much.

Use Chopsticks in Japan

1917

Old Custom Prevails Among Poorer Classes, While the Rich Have European Knives and Forks

The use of chopsticks is general in Japan, except among the richer classes, who have adopted European knives and forks, and, to some extent, the European cuisine, London Tit-Bits says.

5mall bowls of china or lacquered wood are the usual table equipment. After the various solid portions of the food have been lifted to the mouth with chopsticks the liquor remaining is sipped from the bowl. In the case of rice, which would be tedious to pick up grain by grain, the bowl is often raised to the mouth and the rice shoveled or pushed in with the chopsticks. It is also customary to pour a little tea into the rice bowl after it has been nearly emptied, and in this way the few remaining grains of rice are washed down as the tea is drunk.

At public places the chopsticks at each meal must be new; this is indicated by the fact that the chopsticks are made from one piece of wood and are left joined together, as were matches at one time. These new chopsticks are incased in a thin paper envelope, sealed at the end, and bearing Japanese characters advertising either the hotel or some firm that has furnished them free to the proprietor for the sake of the publicity thus gained.

People Who Eat Arsenic

1901

White arsenic is the form in which arsenic is eaten by the peasants of Styria and the Tyrol. Prof. Schallgrueber, of Gratz, was the first to call attention to this practice in a report, which he made in 1822 to the Austrian government on the cause of the numerous deaths from arsenic poisoning in those districts. He found that arsenic was kept in most of the houses in Upper Styria under the name of "hydrach," evidently a corruption of "muttorauch," or furnace smoke. His statements were subsequently confirmed from personal observation by a Dr. Maclagan, of Edinburgh, but for many years afterward the arsenic eaters were generally disbelieved in, and it was not till 1860 that C. Heisch published convincing evidence.

Arsenic is principally eaten by hunters and woodcutters with the object of warding off fatigue and improving their staying powers. Owing to the fact that the sale of arsenic is illegal in Austria without a doctor's certificate, it is difficult to obtain definite information of a habit which is kept as secret as possible. According to a Dr. Lorenzo, in that district the arsenic is taken fasting, usually in a cup of coffee, the first dose being minute, but increased day by day until it sometimes amounts to the enormous dose of twelve or fifteen grains. He found that the arsenic eaters were usually long lived, though liable to sudden death. They have a very fresh, youthful appearance, and are seldom attacked by infectious diseases. After the first dose the usual symptoms of slight arsenic poisoning are evident, but these soon disappear on continuing the treatment.

In the arsenic factories in Salzburg it is stated that workmen who are not arsenic eaters soon succumb to the fumes. The manager of one of these works informed Mr. Heisch that he had been medically advised to eat arsenic before taking up his position. He considered that no one should begin the practice before 12 years old nor after 30, and that in any case after 50 years of age the daily dose should be gradually reduced, since otherwise sudden death would ensue. If a confirmed arsenic eater suddenly attempts to do altogether without the drug he immediately succumbs to the effects of arsenic poisoning. The only way to obviate this is gradually to acclimatize the system by reducing the dose from day to day.

As further evidence of the cumulative properties of arsenic it is interesting to note that when the graveyards in Upper Styria are opened the bodies of the arsenic eaters can be distinguished by their almost perfect state of preservation, due to the gradually accumulated arsenic. — Science Gossip.

One Policeman Who Couldn't Get Fat

1910

ST. LOUIS. — Dismissed from the police force because he was too thin to present a formidable appearance to offending humanity, John Higgins, although not one whit larger in circumference and just as tall as he ever was, has been restored to his job.

It was merely a question of the police board coming around to Higgins' viewpoint.

In the Dayton street district Higgins had a record which his superior officers declared any policeman should be proud of. He never shirked; was always on his beat; was a terror to evildoers, and loved police work as few patrolmen of St. Louis love it.

But the police surgeons didn't see it that way when Higgins came before them for examination. They cast a withering eye upon him, looked at each other and shook their heads.

Higgins was fired.

Not enough weight to so great an altitude was the verdict of the surgeons.

Encouraged by the plaudits of his superior police officers, Higgins went away to get fat. He ate often and abundantly, planning in a short time to return to the exacting doctor, and present a girth which any St. Louis patrolman might carry with pride.

After weeks of experiment, Higgins, feeling puffy, weighed himself. The scales registered the same number of pounds the surgeons had frowned upon. There was nothing to do but eat more, and Higgins ate.

But Higgins couldn't get fat. He told the Dayton street officers he just couldn't. They shared his sorrows, but shook their heads ominously. The same doctors who fired him for being too thin and too tall for such thinness would, they declared, keep him off the force now that it seemed he would never get fatter.

Determined to make A last deliberate effort to regain his position and resume his beloved work, Higgins knocked again at the door of the police department, The door didn't have to open wide for him to get in, he was so thin. All he wanted was just a little crack to squeeze through.

The board took cognizance of Higgins' thinness and of his inability to get fat. They said they thought he had been punished enough for being lean, particularly as he couldn't help it. There was evidently no malice aforethought in his attitude, they said.

Higgins was restored to his job. They said any man who worked that hard eating to get fat, would work hard at his duties as a police officer.

Child Is Wiser Than Man

1910

His Instinct Often Is More Reliable Than the Wisdom of His Parents

The imposition of any form of restraint on the appetite of a child is a relic of barbarism, a blunder on the part of the parents and a sign of ignorance of the laws of nature. Not only is it true that the child is father to the man, but in certain directions he is man's superior in wisdom. The prevailing parental notions on the rearing of children are crude, archaic and altogether unworthy of enlightened twentieth century civilization.

"Children have bottled-up intelligence inside of them," to quote the language of Dr. Woods Hutchinson, and this tells them what is best for them to eat. It is an admirable provision of nature. One cannot overfeed them despite all the old superstitions to the contrary. A child who wishes to eat between meals should be permitted to do so, for his system requires the food. If he displays a craving for sweets, the craving should be gratified, because his appetite is guided by an infallible instinct.

The wisdom exhibited by nature in this matter, as explained by Dr. Hutchinson, leads one to wonder what function parents are intended to perform. If the child's instinct is to be relied upon in everything, then parental guidance becomes superfluous, and parents are of much less importance than they have imagined. — Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Most Men Write Poor English

1905

An observant student of daily history as recorded in the newspapers takes now a kindlier view of errors in "newspaper English" than before the recent excitement concerning the vice crusade had arisen.

"I have heard all sorts of excuses about the occasional bad English one sees in newspapers, the hurry with which it is written, and that kind of thing," he says; "but I never gave the arguments much thought until I read the correspondence brought forth from men not hurried and of undoubted education, by the recent discussion. Some of the notes which have thus passed have been practically unintelligible in just these spots where a clear and ambiguous meaning was most vital to the point involved. These epistles must certainly have been studied by their writers — at least there must have been time for such study — but they read as though they were dashed off in a moment. In addition to actual errors, some of them fail utterly to establish their arguments because of the forceful way in which they are expressed."


Eat Meatless Meals

A prosperous physician was lunching at his club the other day at a table adjoining that at which sat one of his patients, says the Chicago Inter Ocean. He ordered English plum pudding as a finish to his meal, and remarked as he attacked it, that he would not eat it except at a noon meal, when he knew he would get no bad results from its richness.

The lady thought it a good time to secure information without the customary fee, and asked a few questions on food. "The habit of placing the heaviest meal of the day at its close is responsible for a deal of digestive trouble, with its train of disease," he said. "It may be old fashioned to dine at noon, but it is healthful, and that counts for everything. It is a practice among many physicians to have a midday dinner and a supper in which no meat figures, but stewed fruit is a feature."

General Grant Proved Poor Prophet

1915

General Grant showed himself a poor prophet in an autograph letter which was sold recently. He wrote the letter to his father from Camp Yates, near Springfield, Ill., where in May, 1861, he was drilling recruits.

"My opinion is that this war will be of short duration," he wrote. "A few decisive victories in some of the Southern ports will send the secession army howling and the leaders in the rebellion will flee the country."

The letter sold for $92.50.


Eating to Grow

A certain Columbus, Ohio, newspaper man is proud of the precocity of his 5-year-old niece. As typical of her mental agility as well as her capacity for humor, he tells the following:

"We were visiting recently at my brother's home. When dinner was called the child politely but firmly announced that she had no idea of dining and would remain away from the table.

" 'Why, Mildred, you must eat three full meals a day if you are ever to grow up and be a lady,' remarked my wife, who happens to be a woman of substantial proportions.

"Carefully surveying her gratuitous adviser, the little miss said: 'Auntie, do you eat four meals a day?' "