In London, in search of the lowest possible economy, the author has subsisted on about half the cost of the Yale supply; and it is entirely possible to those needing strictest economy.
[INFLUENCE OF SUGGESTION]
A friend of the author, who is an enthusiast in regard to the profitableness of an economic nutrition in assisting the strenuous life, went to lunch with a generous host in New York the other day, when the following conversation about the lunch to be ordered was heard. It partook of Wall-Street brevity, which is thought to be necessary in the rush of a midday snack or meal.
"What will you have? What! only a baked potato and a bottle of ginger ale? All right for a starter; but what are you really going to have? Nothing more! what is the matter with you? Come, now; tell me what you want for lunch? Stocks are badly off, but I haven't reached the starvation point yet. Don't treat me like that when I'm trying to treat you right and white. Brace up, old man, and have something to eat."
The intermediate replies can be imagined as in an overheard telephone conversation.
The host ordered for himself, as usual, a portion of tongue and a generous garniture of side dishes, and watched his guest with amused tolerance. The lunch proceeded, interlarded with talk about topics of mutual interest, and when a final halt was called the host had not taken more than one-quarter of his cold tongue and very sparingly of the accompanying side dishes. The guest had finished one of his baked potatoes, and had sipped his ginger ale enjoyingly, but had not taken more than half of the pint ordered. The appetites of both host and guest were amply satisfied, but without any of the heaviness which follows an unrestrained "hearty" meal. In tones of surprise the one-sided conversation, relative to the strangeness of the proceeding, continued as follows: "Well, I'll be switched! How in Wall Street did that happen! I haven't eaten half my usual lunch, and yet I have killed my appetite deader than the Ship Building Trust. I'm blessed if I can understand it. The blamed thing is uncanny. I don't believe it's true, but I'm satisfied all right even if I am hypnotised. Come and lunch with me every day. You're engaged as a regular companion boarder, and Freddie will pay the freight. You're cheaper than nobody. Come again! Come again!! Come always!!!"
The above is not an unusual case. The personal influence of the author and of his active colleagues has been visibly noted among parties where there was no sympathy with the "starving fad," and where there was even stubborn opposition to the thought of such a thing. But these same groups of non-interested objectors have visibly decreased their accustomed lunches and dinners, and some of them have found that a cup of coffee and a roll, the same as is habitually taken in Europe, outside England, serves as a breakfast better than the full meat affair formerly taken. They persist in declaring that they are not influenced by the chewing suggestion, but they show signs of some restraining influence, and observation reveals that in such groups the common annual and quarterly attacks of illness are less frequently or less severely suffered.