No wonder the " heathen " call us " inconsistent " and "a nation of Christian cannibals," when such entertain- ments are possible in the closing years of the nineteenth century enlightened, Christian civilization 1 Humane civ- ilization seems to be the crying need of the hour. On the editorial page of the paper containing the above report appeared the following item : " * The birds were a splendid lot. Over 1,600 were killed.' These are the humane sentiments expressed in one of the press dispatches about the trap-shooting tour- nament at Chicago. It may be sportsman-like to force a pigeon into a box and then to murder him with a shotgua when he tries to fly away, but we fail to see it." Does the flesh-eater fail to perceive that it is just as cruel to drive innocent oxen, sheep and pigs where they become defenceless, having no means of even trying to- escape, while thousands of men are educated to kill them by the millions for food, when it is not necessary^ but only customary to use such food .•* The "barbecue," the slaughter, the kitchen dissections; are the very best educators to produce the quality of youth 16 234 THE FAT OF THE LAND. and men demanded for pigeon shooting, fox chasing and all similar " sports," and a thousand other things for which such barbarities are directly or indirectly responsible. Another branch of this subject now comes into view — the unrest developed among the farmers' sons and daugh- ters and their anxiety in devising ways and means to induce them to remain at home. ** He is only a farmer '* formerly meant that he occupied an inferior position. Happily that idea is out of date, and if the farmer does not stand at the head of the list — an agriculturist — then it is his own fault. This position is rightfully his, and the world could not exist without him and the products of his labor. That there is a great amount of " drudgery " connected v/ith farm life as it is, no one will deny. That the work never seems done ; that hours are earlier and later in the farm- house than elsewhere is only too true. The laborious, exacting labor inseparably connected with farm, kitchen and dairy work taxes unduly many a youth, and closes the door upon the gratification of aspiring ambition in many directions. But when the farmer turns his attention to the cultivation of the earth and causes it to produce the fat of the land ^ and grows our meat and milk upon trees ^ this branch of agriculture will become so attractive our chil- dren will have no desire to leave the farm. Their occu- pat ion will be so ennobling, so productive of beauty and grace in waving grains, fruit laden boughs and stately forests of meat bearing trees that soul longings will be fed and beauty loving hearts no longer starved and shocked into unconscious rebellion. Flowers, the ever ready inspiration to a purer life, denied in many a home because of the ravages of domestic animals, will decorate the FARMYARD SLAUGHTER AND KITCHEN DISSECTION. 235 grounds, and every one will have time to enjoy life, and opportunity for mental growth and culture. A purer table means a purer, whiter life for us all. Make flesh eating unpopular and the idea that we must " kill something " that we may live would soon die out. This wide spreading root dead, its injurious accesso- ries, including liquor, opium, tobacco and all their kindred, would slowly disappear. Gilded palaces and dram shops would close for lack of victims. Acute illness and chronic ailments would no more require the services of "physicians, and as surgical diseases and accidents would diminish, the scientific surgeon would find his occupation more than half gone. . This is no fanciful sketch, but an advance chapter upon a progressive subject that had its beginning in vegetarian homes.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

No wonder the " heathen " call us " inconsistent " and "a nation of Christian cannibals," when such entertainments are possible in the closing years of the nineteenth century enlightened, Christian civilization 1 Humane civilization seems to be the crying need of the hour. On the editorial page of the paper containing the above report appeared the following item : " * The birds were a splendid lot. Over 1,600 were killed.' These are the humane sentiments expressed in one of the press dispatches about the trap-shooting tournament at Chicago. It may be sportsman-like to force a pigeon into a box and then to murder him with a shotgua when he tries to fly away, but we fail to see it." Does the flesh-eater fail to perceive that it is just as cruel to drive innocent oxen, sheep and pigs where they become defenceless, having no means of even trying to escape, while thousands of men are educated to kill them by the millions for food, when it is not necessary but only customary to use such food.•* The "barbecue," the slaughter, the kitchen dissections; are the very best educators to produce the quality of youth and men demanded for pigeon shooting, fox chasing and all similar " sports," and a thousand other things for which such barbarities are directly or indirectly responsible. Another branch of this subject now comes into view — the unrest developed among the farmers' sons and daughters and their anxiety in devising ways and means to induce them to remain at home. ** He is only a farmer '* formerly meant that he occupied an inferior position. Happily that idea is out of date, and if the farmer does not stand at the head of the list — an agriculturist — then it is his own fault. This position is rightfully his, and the world could not exist without him and the products of his labor. That there is a great amount of "drudgery" connected with farm life as it is, no one will deny. That the work never seems done ; that hours are earlier and later in the farmhouse than elsewhere is only too true. The laborious, exacting labor inseparably connected with farm, kitchen and dairy work taxes unduly many a youth, and closes the door upon the gratification of aspiring ambition in many directions. But when the farmer turns his attention to the cultivation of the earth and causes it to produce the fat of the land ^ and grows our meat and milk upon trees, this branch of agriculture will become so attractive our children will have no desire to leave the farm. Their occupat ion will be so ennobling, so productive of beauty and grace in waving grains, fruit laden boughs and stately forests of meat bearing trees that soul longings will be fed and beauty loving hearts no longer starved and shocked into unconscious rebellion. Flowers, the ever ready inspiration to a purer life, denied in many a home because of the ravages of domestic animals, will decorate the grounds, and every one will have time to enjoy life, and opportunity for mental growth and culture. A purer table means a purer, whiter life for us all. Make flesh eating unpopular and the idea that we must " kill something " that we may live would soon die out. This wide spreading root dead, its injurious accessories, including liquor, opium, tobacco and all their kindred, would slowly disappear. Gilded palaces and dram shops would close for lack of victims. Acute illness and chronic ailments would no more require the services of "physicians, and as surgical diseases and accidents would diminish, the scientific surgeon would find his occupation more than half gone. . This is no fanciful sketch, but an advance chapter upon a progressive subject that had its beginning in vegetarian homes.

A practical cook and text book for general use