A VEGETARIAN ON A JOURNEY

Article V.

By J, George Heid, St. Louis, Mo.

I returned to Germany and from there went to Austria. In Vienna, the capitol of Austria, I found two Vegetarian restaur- ants, and both were a credit to Veget-

I have before me the menu of the "Thalysia," which is printed on four pages. The first page is tastefully illustrated, and in the borders surrounding the illustrations are little mottoes, etc., such as :

"To the TcgcUrlui* belong the future. — PKoi'. A. "It <■ entlnly ui

■ndpolnt or hygiene one must ipprove of

"All cultnre proceed* from theMomech."— Pshdbhick n. The prourietor of the "Thalytla" calli his mlaunnl "the

Hrxlen^c Vcgetsrisn Reotaursot and school for the hygienic

pUniiby thesyaieni ofthe Medical Direcror, K. Lahmann.''

The second and third pages of this bill of fare are devoted to an immense variety of dishes to select from, such as fruits, veget- ables, soups, salads, bread, rolls, pastry and non- intoxicating beverages of many de- scriptions.

The borders are surrounded by many mottoes, such as :

enlertaiu here with innoccnl food Ihe hongry guest." of cannibaliam."— A. von Hcjiboldt.

These, and many others, form part of the border. As I translate these from the Ger- man, the phraseology may be slightly

altered, but I can vouch for the exact meaning being preser\-ed. The fourth page is devoted to addresses of Vegetarian Res- taurants all over Austria. Hungary, Ger- many and Switzerland.

Austria was the only country in which I iniiinl ears of green corn Ker\-ed in the res- taurants : they may have been in restanr-

ants in France and England in season. In Austria they call roast corn on the ear "Kukumtz," so I was soon able to order it. Com per ear costs lo kreuzers (not quite 4 cents), the tenth part of a florin. A florin is 39 cents.

In Austria, bread in Vegetarian restaur- ants was charged for extra. A basket of bread and rolls is placed on the table, and the guest is asked how many rolls, or slices of bread he has eaten, and his word being taken for it, a kreuzer (a little over one- third of a cent) per large thick slice of bread, or per small roll is added to the bill.

In France, I did not find any Vegetarian restaurants, not even in Paris. I lived principally on oranges, and occasionally potatoes, poached or boiled eggs and rolls or bread. I found living there very expen- sive ; fruits at that time of the year (De- cember) scarce ; oranges, such as were fit to eat, cost 25 centimes (5 cents) a piece, and other articles in proportion.

In Paris and Versailles, breakfast, con- sisting of a cup of coffee, bread and butter or rolls, costs one franc (70 cents) to which must be added 10 centimes, being the gratuity one is expected to give the waiter. This last, however, is expected by servants in all European countries.

England seems the country for Vegetar- ians, for, not only are there so many Veget- arian restaurants everywhere, but other restaurants offer such varieties of fruits and vegetables, and at such reasonable prices that one may live cheaply there. In Lon- don, the directory places a * for Vegetarian restaurants, to distinguish them from the non- Vegetarian ones. A German guide- book of London gave the names of several Vegetarian restaurants, not in the I,ondon director^.', which I found to be very good.

In London, non- Vegetarian restaurants are open on Sunday, but none dare to October

Digitized byGoOgle

serve intoxicants on that day. Vegetarian restaurants all close on Sunday, but Veg- etarians can make out very well, as non- Vegetarian restaurants make special efforts to serve them on Sundays. In one of these I had two poached eggs, stewed tomatoes, stewed mushrooms and green peas, includ- ing bread, all for two shillings and one penny (25 cents), to this add three pence to the waiter, though on week daj-s, one penny to each shilling is the customary gratuity.

Fruits were very cheap and plentiful in London. A good orange can be had for one penny (2 cents) or a shilling per dozen (24 cents), and bananas, which are so scarce and high on the continent, can be bought at a shilling a dozen for fine ones, while in Frankford-on-the-Main, Germany, I had to pay twice that amount for inferior bananas, Eveu in January they have, in London, grapes, prunes and other fruits at reason- able prifces.

On my return I took the Steamer "St. Paul" to America; we made the trip in seven days and I found it very pleasant on this streamer. The fare was excellent, and Vegetarians could fare sumptuously, the treatment generally was good, and there were no oiEcers on board the steamer to insult passengers whose views differed from their own. I take pleasure in recommend- ing the American line of steamers to all tourists.

ADMITTED TENDENCY TO V. DIET.

Prof. Goldwin Smith, of Cornell Univer- sity, writing in the Toronto Weekly Sun :

"In a seventy miles walking race in Germany, the Vegetarians have shown a remarkable superiority in endurance over the eaters of meat. There is notliing new in this ; extraordinary journeys are made by the Hindoo palanquin -bearer, whose 1898

only food is rice. There is probably a gradual tendency on the whole to Veget- arian diet. It does not appear that animal food is absolutely essential to any function of the human body or brain. No man did a better day's bodily work than the British farm laborer when he had no meat but a taste of bacon. No man ever did a greater amount of brain work than a monastic saint, who was forbidden meat by the rules of his order. No man ever produced higher fruits of his imagination than Shelley, who was a devout Vegetarian. A much greater amount of vegetable than of animal food can be produced on a given area. The inclina- tion of taste as human nature grows more refined points the same way. Homeric heroes eat masses of meat, apparently with- out vegetables ; and to the bard of that day the picture of the shambles is not less con- genial than that of the harvest or the vintage'. To us, the details of the shambles are abhorrent. We require vegetables with our meat, while there is a tendency to dis- guise the meat itself by elaborate cookery. On the whole, it seems probable that pro- gressive Vegetarianism is the rule, though there will be no sudden leap, nor will the Vegetarian think it his duty to enforce this habit onus by law."