Our Father gives us "signs;" he hangs out "flags of distress,"-- pimples, and blotches, and sores, a red nose, inflamed eyelids, etc.; besides, he gives us rheumatism, gout, and numerous other aches, but he lets us live on for years, apparently in the hope that we may learn something.

Our American system of diet is altogether bad. There is too great variety, the food is too rich, the cooking is often very bad, we eat too frequently, and we eat at the wrong times.

I confess to a deep personal interest in this subject. It is my sad, but most deliberate conviction, that I have wasted a large part of my life-force by taking too much food. I have not made this mistake for some years; but the gray hairs began to make their appearance before I learned about it.

Ah, my dear young friends, how deeply do I yearn to help you in this vital department of your life!

Will you permit me a little of my own experience? I believe that, in this way, I can speak more acceptably and more effectively, than by giving the deductions of physiology.

For nearly thirty years I have been in the habit of visiting one dear woman, in the State of New York, once or twice a year. (She does not seem any older to me now, than she did when, from the front window, she watched me on my way to Sunday-school, on a beautiful Sabbath morning, forty years ago.

On my visits at the old home for these thirty years, I have been tempted by those dishes which no one but a mother can make, and have eaten more than usual; and, although the visit was, otherwise, such as freshens and invigorates the faculties, I constantly observed that, upon my return, my lectures were duller rather than sprightlier as they should have been after such a pleasant rest. At length, I came to suspect that visiting, even with my own mother, did not agree with me. But it occurred to me, a few years ago, to deny myself the custard pie so thick and luscious, to refuse the chicken pie, with its rich crust, to deny myself all the desserts and other t.i.t-bits, and live on a moderate quant.i.ty of plain beef and bread. Since then, my pilgrimages to the home-shrine have greatly refreshed both body and soul, and I return home to resume my duties with new pleasure and new strength. Why will people, (I trust my mother will pardon the question,) why will people prepare such elaborate and tempting dishes for their friends? If one has a keen appet.i.te, and sits at the table in a social spirit, and takes even a little of each article urged upon him, the variety and quant.i.ty must derange his digestion, and then his capacity for enjoyment is at an end.

I was invited, a few months ago, to dine at the house of a lady, who is recognized as standing at the head of the intellectual aristocracy of a most intellectual and refined city. The lady is noted, likewise, as the best of housekeepers, and as a most charming hostess. The plate and crockery were the finest I have ever seen at a private table. We had four courses: 1st, a small gla.s.s of lemonade, 2nd, a bit of melon, 3rd, roast beef and sweet potatoes, 4th, ice-cream.

Our hostess, with her fine conceptions of life, could no more have given us soup, fish, meat, game, puddings, pies, raisins, nuts, fruits and ice-creams, than she could have offered us whiskey, rum, gin, brandy and all the rest of them. All this sort of thing, whether of foods or drinks, belongs to the vulgar and barbarous.

Some time since an august Medical a.s.sociation a.s.sembled for its annual meeting in Boston. The city government voted a large sum of money to the entertainment of the "distinguished visitors." It was a precious opportunity for the h.o.m.oepathic physicians of the city, under whose management the money was to be spent, to show what a generous and refined hospitality could do.

Boston has a peculiar reputation. In some respects it stands alone among American cities. And this was a peculiar occasion. Several hundred representatives of a dominant school of medicine, one which now commands the intelligence of the country, were to convene in Boston. The strangers stopped at hotels and with the brethren, and, it may be fairly presumed, got enough to eat.

What do you suppose our doctors did? I will tell you. The evening before the convention, the delegates were invited to attend a preparatory meeting, at which meeting the _preparation_ consisted in eating, in the evening after supper, sundry salads, cold chickens, cakes, oysters, creams, &c.

The convention adjourned next day at twelve o'clock, for a collation, although it may be supposed that the members had all been to breakfast. After the collation, many of them went to dinner, then came the afternoon session, then another stuffing, then an evening session, then a surfeit, and even when the entertainment was given in Music Hall, which was really fine, the members were invited to another hall to fill up their stomachs before they went to bed.

If this meeting had occurred in some frontier town, where they had nothing but victuals, it would have been tolerable, as a good- natured back-woods hospitality; but in Boston, something better was expected.

If I had been a member of that convention, I could have said:

"Gentlemen, we can get cold turkey and chicken salad at home, but if you will permit us to a.s.semble in the art gallery of your splendid Atheneum, and your artists who have made this gallery a special study, will give us their bright thoughts in connection with the works of the great masters there collected; if you will allow us to spend a half day in your 'Natural History Building,' and give us Prof. Aga.s.siz to explain things; if you will permit us to a.s.semble in that crowning glory of New England Education--'The Inst.i.tute of Technology,' and give us President Rogers for a brief explanation; yes, gentlemen, if you will show us any of twenty Boston inst.i.tutions with the a.s.sistance of intelligent guides, we shall be most grateful. Gentlemen, don't be afraid of us, we shall not be offended if you happen to appeal to something above our stomachs.

Gentlemen, we have come from the West to Boston, imagining that your two hundred years of uninterrupted growth and acc.u.mulations, have enriched you with something besides chicken salad, but here we find, that nothing is thoroughly organized and placed within our reach, except another dinner, exactly such as we get at home at any of our village taverns. Gentlemen, you think we can't appreciate anything else, and so you kindly condescend to our condition and feed us, but really we could appreciate your finest music, and best dramas, your great pictures, und your matchless educational inst.i.tutions. At any rate you should have given us a chance at some of these things, under the guidance of your eminent specialists, and if we had shown that lack of appreciation which Red-Cloud and Spotted-Tail--the Indian chiefs--exhibited when taken through the Patent Buildings in Washington, then you could have fallen back on victuals again; but until we had shown that utter lack of sense seen in R. Cloud, Esq., and S. Tail, Esq., it was hardly fair to deny us all opportunity to examine the treasures of your city.

Two or three years ago, while visiting a dear friend in the country, in a neighborhood where I knew many of the people, my friend proposed to invite in my acquaintances for an evening's chat. I replied that I should be most happy, should feel myself honored, but could not consent to such a gathering on my account if there was to be any eating. Mrs. L. was already overwhelmed with cares; if these were to be increased by the re-union, I should be obliged to decline; besides, on principle I was opposed to evening suppers.

Mrs. L. couldn't think of such an omission for a moment, it would be the talk of the town for months; but I insisted, and finally she consented if I would take the responsibility, and explain it to the company. I did explain it, and gave my reasons for it. Most of them thought it was the right thing to do, several wished with all their hearts that the practice could become general, but one embryotic clergyman said he thought it well enough, perhaps, but it was pleasant, and he did not think it hurtful, to take refreshments in the evening; since that time, however, under the lash of dyspepsia, he has changed his opinion.

If people have beautiful homes and wealth, and desire to make the party a _recherche_ affair, are there not professional players, singers, actors, readers, florists etc., etc.? Something grand could be given for half the expense of an elaborate supper.

I need hardly hint to bright people of a less pretentious cla.s.s, that social singing, dancing, charades, and a hundred beautiful games are all open to them. These are ten-fold more enjoyable than the more stately methods of the rich.

The time will soon come when people of really fine culture will not think of giving their guests a late supper; indeed, of the twenty most intellectual and refined homes to which I have been invited in America and Europe, not one gave any refreshments at an evening party, with perhaps the exception of wine in France, and lemonade in this country.

If people have no brains, but have good stomachs, then I advise eating on all occasions; in fact it is the only thing left. Such people may have already eaten three meals, but when they a.s.semble in the evening at a sociable, they had better feed again, and feed hearty; what else is there to do? They can't sit and stare at each other by the hour, and it wouldn't be good manners to lie down on the floor and go to sleep. After they finish the more substantial meats and things, they can fill up the rest of the evening with nuts, doughnuts, apples, cider, and other trifling things.

But if people happen to have a love of music, paintings, conversation, (the finest of the fine arts,) bright games, charades, dramatics, or any other of twenty amus.e.m.e.nts; if they happen to have a love for anything above cold pork, then I advise them, when a.s.sembled in a social way, to give their brains a chance, and not stuff their stomachs; the former is human, the latter is piggish.

Few changes in our social life have afforded me such genuine satisfaction as the recent changes, among a few of our best people, in the forms and methods of hospitality. Only a few years ago, even among the intelligent cla.s.s, the first question was:

"Will you have something to eat?"

Now you frequently hear such questions as:

"Have you seen those new stereoscopic views of the Yosemite?"

"No!"

"Please come this way and I will show you one of the most beautiful series you ever saw!"

Or: "Do let me read you, or you read to me, three of the funniest anecdotes I have seen for months!" Or: "Have you seen that remarkable statement in the papers this morning, in the circular letter from Bismark? He affirms that in twenty wars between Prussia and France, France has been the aggressor every time! If this be true, our sympathy for the French would seem to be thrown away; for after such a history, Prussia can hardly be blamed for wishing to so cripple France that she shall be unable for half a century, at least, to trouble her neighbors."

The change from "Will you have a gla.s.s of whiskey?" which was addressed to callers fifty years ago, to the question, "Will you have something to eat?" which was addressed to them twenty-five years ago, was, on the whole, a great improvement. The change which has now been inaugurated of addressing your hospitality to something above the stomach, is a still greater improvement.

When this has been fairly established, housekeepers can entertain company, in the evening, with real pleasure and profit to all concerned. When an evening sociable means a "big feed," it involves a great sacrifice; there is roasting, baking and fussing for two or three days, and the expense is such as only a few can well afford.

And what is it all for? Why, I can't think of anything, unless it is to make the company sick. Does anyone doubt that eating late in the evening is injurious? And does any one doubt that the preparation and cost of the supper involve a sacrifice to the housekeeper? If these are admitted, I can't imagine any decent apology for the custom.

What shall be done? Every important movement must be inaugurated by individual action. Let those who have the idea, and the moral courage, excuse themselves from all evening refreshments, and the fashion will soon become general. It is a real pleasure to say, that already thousands have determined upon this course, so that now it is quite safe to entertain company without refreshments.

Well, after all this about what and how you should _not_ eat, now I will tell you what and how you _should_ eat.

To secure a clear, fresh skin, bright eye, active limbs, a quick brain, and a cheerful, pleasant temper, and if you would enjoy a long life, you should live about as follows:--

BREAKFAST.

Oatmeal porridge with milk and sugar. Or, Graham mush with a little good syrup. Or, cracked wheat, with milk and sugar. Or, baked potatoes with bread and b.u.t.ter. Or, beef-steak or mutton-chop with baked potatoes, and bread and b.u.t.ter.

If you are thin, and need fat, use the first three, if you are too fat, use the last named two. Drink cold water or a little weak coffee.

DINNER.

Beef or mutton, roasted, or stewed, with any vegetables you may like, (though tomatoes should be used very sparingly,) good bread and b.u.t.ter, and, close the meal with a gla.s.s of weak lemonade. Eat no dessert, unless it be a little fruit, and eat nothing more till the next morning.

There is no rule in regard to diet about which I am so fixed in my convictions as, that nothing should be eaten after dinner, and I think that the dinner should be taken early in the day; not later, if it can be so managed, than two o'clock. In regard to the precise hour for the dinner, I am not so clear, though for myself one o'clock is the best hour; but in reference to the omission of the third meal, I have, after long observation, _no doubt whatever_.

Hundreds of persons have come to me with indigestion in some of its many forms, and have experienced such relief in a single week from omitting the supper, that I have, for a number of years, depended upon this point in the diet as the best item in my prescriptions for indigestion. I have never met one person suffering from indigestion, who was not greatly relieved at once, by omitting the third meal.

Eat nothing between meals, not even an apple or peach. If you eat fruit, let it be with the breakfast and dinner. Cooked fruit is best for persons of weak digestion. I have met hundreds of people who could digest a large beefsteak without a pang, but who could not manage a single uncooked apple. I think certain dietetic reformers have somewhat overrated the value of fruit.

_Avoid cake, pie, all sweetmeats, nuts, raisins and candies_.

Manage your stomach as above, and at the end of ten years you will look back upon these table habits as the source of great advantages, and happiness.

For thirty years I have been a constant and careful observer, (I have no hobbies about diet,) and in the light of my own experience and these long observations, I a.s.sure you that the table habits I have advised, are vital to your health and happiness.

Pimples, blotches, yellow spots, nasal catarrh, biliousness, liver torpidity, constipation, sleepiness, dullness, low-spirits, and many other common affections would generally disappear with the adoption of these rules.