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Dedication
TO ALL WHO ARE STRIVING TO FOLLOW THE GOLDENRULE, “TO DO UNTO OTHERS AS THEY WOULDHAVE OTHERS DO UNTO THEM,” AND THUSEXPRESS IN THEIR EVERY-DAY LIFETHE CHRIST IDEAL WRITTENWITHIN, IN THEIR OWNSOULS, THIS BOOKISAffectionately InscribedAnd God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.– Genesis i., 29, 30.
Thou shalt not kill.– Exodus xx., 13.
For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath; so that a man hath no preeminence above a beast: for all is vanity. All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?– Ecclesiastes iii., 19, 20, 21.
He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man.– Isaiah lxvi., 3.
Then said Daniel to Melzar [the steward], whom the prince of the eunuchs had set over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah: Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink. Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king's meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants. So he consented to them in this matter, and proved them ten days. And at the end of ten days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter in flesh than all the children which did eat the portion of the king's meat.– Daniel i., 11 to 17.
Preface
I send this little book out into the world, first, to aid those who, having decided to adopt a bloodless diet, are still asking how they can be nourished without flesh; second, in the hope of gaining something further to protect “the speechless ones” who, having come down through the centuries under “the dominion of man,” have in their eyes the mute, appealing look of the helpless and oppressed. Their eloquent silence should not ask our sympathy and aid in vain; they have a right, as our humble brothers, to our loving care and protection, and to demand justice and pity at our hands; and, as a part of the One Life, to —
“life, which all can take but none can give;
Life, which all creatures love and strive to keep;Wonderful, dear, and pleasant unto each,Even to the meanest; yea, a boon to allWhere pity is, for pity makes the worldSoft to the weak and noble for the strong.Unto the dumb lips of the flock he lentSad, pleading words, showing how man, who praysFor mercy to the gods, is merciless,Being as god to those; albeit all lifeIs linked and kin, and what we slay have givenMeek tribute of their milk and wool, and setFast trust upon the hands which murder them.”If the cruelty and injustice to animals are nothing to us, we have still another argument to offer – the brutalization of the men who slaughter that we may eat flesh. Mrs. Besant, in “Why I Am a Food Reformer,” says:
“Lately I have been in the city of Chicago – one of the greatest slaughter-houses of the world – where the slaughter-men, who are employed from early morn till late at night in the killing of thousands of these hapless creatures, are made a class practically apart from their fellow-men; they are marked out by the police as the most dangerous part of the community; amongst them are committed most crimes of violence, and the most ready use of the knife is found. One day I was speaking to an authority on this subject, and I asked him how it was that he knew so decidedly that most of the murders and the crimes with the knife were perpetrated by that particular class of men, and his answer was suggestive, although horrible. He said: ‘There is a peculiar turn of the knife which men learn to use in the slaughter-house, for, as the living creatures are brought to them by machinery, these men slit their throats as they pass by. That twist of the wrist is the characteristic of most crimes with the knife committed amongst our Chicago population.’ That struck me at once as both a horrible and significant fact. What right have people to condemn other men to a trade that makes them so readily take to the knife in anger; which marks them out as specially brutalized – brutes amongst their fellow-men? Being constantly in the sight and the smell of blood, their whole nature is coarsened; accustomed to kill thousands of creatures, they lose all sense of reverence for sentient life, they grow indifferent to the suffering they continually see around them; accustomed to inflict pain, they grow callous to the sight of pain; accustomed to kill swiftly, and sometimes not even waiting until the creature is dead before the skin is stripped from it, their nerves become coarsened, hardened, and brutalized, and they are less men as men because they are slaughterers of animals. And everyone who eats flesh meat has part in that brutalization; everyone who uses what they provide is guilty of this degradation of his fellow-men.
“If I may not appeal to you in the name of the animals – if under mistaken views you regard animals as not sharing your kind of life– then I appeal to you in the name of human brotherhood, and remind you of your duty to your fellow-men, your duty to your nation, which must be built up partly of the children of those who slaughter – who physically inherit the very signs of this brutalizing occupation. I ask you to recognize your duty as men and women who should raise the Race, not degrade it; who should try to make it divine, not brutal; who should try to make it pure, not foul; and therefore, in the name of Human Brotherhood, I appeal to you to leave your own tables free from the stain of blood and your consciences free from the degradation of your fellow-men.”
That flesh-eating is not necessary to the perfect health of man is attested by many scientists. The following testimonies from some very prominent physiologists and anatomists may prove interesting:
Sir Charles Bell, F. R. S.: “It is, I think, not going too far to say that every fact connected with the human organization goes to prove that man was originally formed a frugivorous animal. This opinion is principally derived from the formation of his teeth and digestive organs, as well as from the character of his skin and the general structure of his limbs.”
Sylvester Graham, M. D.: “Comparative anatomy proves that man is naturally a frugivorous animal, formed to subsist upon fruits, seeds, and farinaceous vegetables.”
Professor Wm. Lawrence, F. R. S.: “The teeth of man have not the slightest resemblance to those of carnivorous animals; and, whether we consider the teeth, jaws, or digestive organs, the human structure closely resembles that of the frugivorous animals.”
Dr. Jozef Drzewiecki: “There is no doubt that fruit and vegetable food purifies the blood, while meat inflames and is the source of many diseases, which are the punishment for breaking the natural law and command.”
Professor Vogt: “The vegetarian diet is the most beneficial and agreeable to our organs, as it contains the greatest amount of carbon hydrates and the best proportion of albumen.”
Sir Henry Thompson, M. D., F. R. C. S.: “It is a vulgar error to regard meat in any form as necessary to life. All that is necessary to the human body can be supplied by the vegetable kingdom… The vegetarian can extract from his food all the principles necessary for the growth and support of the body, as well as for the production of heat and force. It must be admitted as a fact beyond all question that some persons are stronger and more healthy who live on that food. I know how much of the prevailing meat diet is not merely a wasteful extravagance, but a source of serious evil to the consumer.”
The following special cablegram from London to the New York “Sun,” July 3d, 1898, contains a practical illustration of the superiority of a vegetable diet:
“The vegetarians are making a great ado over the triumph of their theory in the long-distance test of walking endurance, seventy miles, in Germany, this week. The twenty-two starters included eight vegetarians. The distance had to be covered within eighteen hours. The first six to arrive were vegetarians, the first finishing in 14 ¼ hours, the second in 14 ½, the third in 15 ½, the fourth in 16, the fifth in 16 ½, and the sixth in 17 ½. The last two vegetarians missed their way and walked five miles more. All reached the goal in splendid condition. Not till one hour after the last vegetarian did the first meat-eater appear, completely exhausted. He was the only one. Others dropped off after thirty-five miles.”
There is no question of the great economy of vegetarianism. Dr. Alcott, in “Arguments for Vegetarianism,” says:
“Twenty-two acres of land are needed to sustain one man on fresh meat. Under wheat that land will feed forty-two people; under oats, eighty-eight; under potatoes, maize, or rice, one hundred and seventy-six; under the banana, over six thousand. The crowded nations of the future must abandon flesh-eating for a diet that will feed more than tenfold people by the same soil, expense and labor. How rich men will be when they cease to toll for flesh-meat, alcohol, drugs, sickness, and war!”
“Suffer the ox to plough, and impute his death to age and Nature's hand.
Let the sheep continue to yield us sheltering wool, and the goats the produce of their loaded udders.
Banish from among you nets and snares and painful artifices,
Conspire no longer against the birds, nor scare the meek deer, nor hide with fraud the crooked hook;..
But let your mouths be empty of blood, and satisfied with pure and natural repasts.”1
COMPARATIVE TABLES OF VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FOODS
The analyses are those of Fresenius, Letheby, Pavy, Church, and others.
From “The Perfect Way in Diet.”
Bread, Biscuit, and Rolls
BEATEN BISCUIT. – No. 1
One quart of flour, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder sifted with the flour, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, a large heaping tablespoonful of butter, milk enough to make a stiff dough. Beat with a rolling pin or in a biscuit-beater for ten or fifteen minutes until the dough blisters. Roll out about half an inch thick or less, prick well with a fork and bake in a quick oven.
BEATEN BISCUIT. – No. 2
Two quarts of flour, three ounces of butter, a little salt and enough water to make a stiff dough. Beat with a rolling pin or in a biscuit-beater twenty minutes until the dough blisters or snaps. Roll out about half an inch thick, prick well with a fork and bake in a quick oven. This dough rolled very thin, cut with a large cutter, pricked well and baked in a quick oven makes delicious wafers to serve with tea or chocolate.
BAKING-POWDER BISCUIT
One quart of sifted flour, three-quarters of a cup of butter, two heaping teaspoonfuls of baking powder, one teaspoonful of salt, enough milk to make a soft dough. Do not handle any more than is necessary. Roll thin, cut in small biscuits, prick with a fork and bake in a quick oven.
CREAM BISCUIT
One quart of flour sifted, two rounded teaspoonfuls of Cleveland's baking powder, two cupfuls of cream and a little salt. Mix, roll out about a quarter of an inch thick, cut with a small biscuit-cutter, prick with a fork and bake fifteen or twenty minutes in a quick oven.
FRENCH ROLLS
Two quarts of sifted flour, a pint of warm milk, half a cup of butter melted in the milk, a quarter of a cup of sugar, three or four eggs beaten light, a little salt, a half cake of compressed yeast, dissolved in a little warm milk. Make a batter of the milk and flour, add the eggs and sugar, beat hard for fifteen minutes. Cover the pan and set to rise, over night if for luncheon, in the morning if for tea. Knead well, but do not add any more flour. Make them into shape and let them rise again until light. Bake about fifteen minutes in a quick oven. For buns add cinnamon. Sift the flour before measuring, and measure lightly.
RAISED FINGER-ROLLS
Half a pint of milk, half a pint of water, one-third of a compressed yeast cake, one teaspoonful of sugar, two teaspoonfuls of butter, one teaspoonful of salt. Dissolve the yeast cake in a little tepid water, mix as usual, make into a soft dough at night, bake for breakfast or luncheon.
WINDSOR ROLLS
Melt half a cup of butter in three-quarters of a pint of warm milk, dissolve one cake of compressed yeast in a little tepid milk, stir together and add a teaspoonful of salt and enough flour to make like bread dough, set to rise in a warm place. It will rise in about two hours. Roll out the dough, using as little flour as possible to keep it from sticking, and cut with a biscuit-cutter, or mould with the hands into rolls, put them in pans, and set on the shelf over the range to rise about ten or fifteen minutes. Bake fifteen or twenty minutes.
ELIZABETTI ROLLS
One cup of sweet milk, half a yeast cake, an even tablespoonful of butter, two teaspoonfuls of sugar, and one of salt, and flour enough to make as stiff as bread dough. Scald the milk and melt the butter in it, when lukewarm dissolve the yeast cake, sugar and salt and stir the flour in until as thick as bread dough. Set to rise over night. In the morning roll thin, cut with a biscuit-cutter, put a tiny lump of butter on each biscuit, fold in half, set to rise again, and when light bake about twenty minutes in a moderate oven. This quantity will make twenty-four rolls.
RYE ROLLS
Take in the morning from rye bread dough one cupful, add to it a tablespoonful of Porto Rico molasses, one tablespoonful of sour cream, one even tablespoonful of butter. Bake in cups, half fill them, set in a warm place to rise for three-quarters of an hour, and bake fifteen minutes. This quantity will make eight.
GLUTEN ROLLS
Three cups of kernel flour, two even tablespoonfuls of baking powder, half a teaspoonful of salt, two cups of milk. Mix the flour, salt and baking powder together, then stir in the milk, beat well. If baked in iron roll pans heat them well, brush with butter; if granite ware, only grease them. This quantity will make sixteen rolls. Bake from twenty to twenty-five minutes.
PARKER HOUSE ROLLS
Sift two cups of flour with half a teaspoonful of salt and one teaspoonful of sugar, then add a cup of tepid water in which a cake of compressed yeast has been dissolved, two tablespoonfuls of melted butter; when mixed break in one egg and add flour enough to make a soft dough. Knead well, beating the dough upon the board. Set to rise in a warm place, when light knead again, adding only enough flour to keep from sticking to the board, roll out about half an inch thick, cut with a biscuit-cutter, brush with melted butter, fold in half and set to rise again. These rolls can be set at noon if for tea, or in the morning if for luncheon, or they can be made up at night for breakfast, when use only half a yeast cake. This dough can be moulded into small, oblong rolls for afternoon teas.
BOSTON BROWN BREAD
One cup of yellow corn meal, one cup and a half of Graham flour, an even teaspoonful of salt, an even teaspoonful of soda, two cups of sour milk, half a cup of Porto Rico molasses, and butter the size of a large walnut. Sift the corn meal and soda together, add the Graham flour and salt, then the milk and molasses, melt the butter and stir in at the last. Butter a brown bread mould, pour in the mixture, steam for three hours, keep the water steadily boiling, remove the cover of the mould, and bake twenty minutes in the oven to form a crust.
BOSTON BROWN BREAD WITH RAISINS
Follow the preceding recipe, adding a cup of raisins stoned and slightly chopped. Very nice for nut sandwiches and stewed bread.
BOSTON BROWN BREAD STEWED
Cut the bread into dice, and when the milk boils add the bread and stew gently fifteen minutes. The proportion is about a cup of milk to one of bread.
GRAHAM BREAD
Half a pint of milk, half a pint of water, a pint and a half of white flour, an even teaspoonful of salt, half a yeast cake dissolved in tepid water. Scald the milk and add the half pint of boiling water, set away to cool. Put the flour into the bread pan, add milk and water when lukewarm and the dissolved yeast; beat well. In the morning add half a cup of Porto Rico molasses and Graham flour enough to knead well, let it rise for three hours, knead again, make into loaves and set in a warm place to rise. When light bake in a moderate oven nearly an hour.
RYE BREAD
Dissolve half a yeast cake, two heaping teaspoonfuls of sugar and one of salt in a cup and a third of tepid water, then stir into it a pint of white flour, and when smooth add enough rye flour to make a dough rather stiffer than that of white bread. Knead thoroughly about fifteen minutes and set to rise. In the morning make into a loaf and put in a crusty bread pan.
QUICK WHITE BREAD
Three pints of flour, an even teaspoonful of salt, two cakes of compressed yeast dissolved in tepid water and enough milk to make a soft dough. Set in the morning, – it will require about an hour and a half to rise, and, after making into loaves, about ten minutes.
DATE BREAD
Break the dates apart, wash and drain them in a colander, shake them well, set in a warm place to dry. Stone and chop enough to make a cupful, and knead into a loaf of white bread just before setting to rise for the last time.
COFFEE BREAD. – No. 1
One pound of flour, two eggs, six tablespoonfuls of melted butter, six ounces of sugar, a teaspoonful of soda, a teaspoonful of cream of tartar mixed dry in the flour, and one cup and a half of milk. Beat the butter and sugar together, add the eggs well beaten, a few grains of cardamom, half a cupful of raisins seeded, and a tablespoonful of citron cut fine, if liked, then add the milk and flour. Bake in crusty bread pans or shallow pans, as convenient.
COFFEE BREAD. – No. 2
Half a pound of flour, one egg, two teaspoonfuls of sugar, a small pinch of salt, three tablespoonfuls of melted butter, three-quarters of a cup of milk, one even teaspoonful of soda, two scant teaspoonfuls of cream of tartar. Mix and bake in a crusty bread pan in a good oven, not too quick, from twenty to twenty-five minutes.
NORWEGIAN ROLLS
Two pounds and a half of flour, a pint and a half of milk, half a pound of butter, six ounces of sugar, one even teaspoonful of cardamom seeds pounded fine, and one cake of compressed yeast. Melt the butter in the milk, mix the sugar, flour and cardamom together and stir the butter and milk into it with the yeast cake dissolved in a little milk, mix thoroughly and set to rise. When it is nicely raised, roll out the dough and cut with a biscuit-cutter, put in pans to rise again, – if they can be raised over steam it is better. When light bake in a quick oven. If zwieback are wanted, cut the biscuit in half when cold and set them in the oven to brown. If wanted very nice, brush each half over with white of egg and sprinkle with sugar and chopped almonds. The cardamom seed may be omitted if not liked.
RICE MUFFINS
Boil a scant half cup of rice in salted water half an hour, drain well, and measure out four heaping tablespoonfuls of it into a mixing bowl. Stir into it while hot a heaping tablespoonful of butter. Beat one egg light, add to the rice and butter with a little salt, sift half a pint of flour with half a teaspoonful of baking powder, and stir in alternately with half a pint of milk. Pour the mixture into muffin rings or gem pans, which must be heated thoroughly and well buttered. Bake about twenty minutes.
LAPLANDS
Half a pint of flour, half a pint of rich milk, a quarter of a teaspoonful of salt, three eggs beaten separately and very light. Mix the flour, salt and milk together, then the yolks of eggs, and lastly the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Have a gem pan very hot, butter well and fill with the batter and bake in a quick oven twelve to fifteen minutes. This quantity will make fourteen gems.
ENGLISH MUFFINS
Half a pint of hot milk, half a pint of hot water, half a yeast cake, an even teaspoonful of salt and one of sugar, and about a pound and a half of white flour. Dissolve the yeast cake in a little tepid water and add to the batter when lukewarm. The milk and water mixed must be stirred into the flour while hot. Beat the batter very hard, ten or fifteen minutes; it should be a soft dough. Set to rise over night. Flour the board well, drop the dough in large spoonfuls in the flour, flatten with the hands and form into shape. Let them rise on the board in a warm place, and when light bake on a griddle, heated only half as hot as for griddle cakes. Flour the muffins and bake slowly on one side six minutes; then turn and bake the same on the other side. They are very nice split and toasted and buttered immediately and put together again.
GRAHAM POPOVERS
Beat three eggs very light, and add to them one tablespoonful of sugar, one pint of milk, a saltspoonful of salt. Put in a mixing bowl half a pint each of Graham and white flour, stir the eggs and milk gradually into this and beat until perfectly smooth. Then add one tablespoonful of melted butter and beat again for some minutes. Brush the cups over with melted butter; if they are of iron heat them, half fill with the batter and bake in a quick oven fifty minutes at least.
GRAHAM GEMS
To one quart of sweet milk, four cups of Graham flour, a teaspoonful of salt. Stir together and beat well, the longer the better. Have the gem pans very hot, brush well with butter, half fill them with the batter and bake thirty-five minutes.
GEMS OF KERNEL (Middlings) AND WHITE FLOUR
Two cups of kernel flour, two cups of white flour, four cups of milk or two of milk and two of water, one egg; a little salt, a heaping teaspoonful of sugar, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, two large tablespoonfuls of melted butter. Beat the egg very light in a bowl, add the sugar and salt, the milk and butter, sift the flour together and beat the batter hard for a few minutes. Have the iron gem pans very hot, butter and fill, and bake them in a good, quick oven not less than thirty-five minutes.
GEMS OF RYE MEAL
Mix together three-quarters of a cup of rye meal and a quarter of a cup of white flour and a saltspoonful of salt. Beat two egg yolks and stir into it a cup of sweet milk and one tablespoonful of granulated sugar, add this to the rye meal and flour, beat hard, then add the whites of two eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Heat the iron gem pans, brush with butter and bake thirty-five to forty minutes.