Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1894 — French Anecdote. [ARTICLE]

French Anecdote.

M. de la Reynie, traveling one day incognito, met a man of enormous obesity at the inn where they change the horses on the road to Paris. He was a farmer, and he had with him two letters of recommendation from the Governor of his province—one to the King’s physician and the other to a celebrated lawyer. When they arrived in Paris, La Reynie took the man to his hotel, and assured him that he was in a position to help him in his quest. He at once led him to a dungeon where there were a jug of water and a piece of bread suspended by a string from the ceiling. Rage, screams, and cries of the despairing prisoner were in vain. In the nature of things, the man was presently compelled to attempt to get the only food he had, and after numerous jumps and as many tumbles, he succeeded at length in gaining possession of the bread. After two months of this diet and these gymnastics, La Reynie gave him his liberty. But his protege, beside himself with rage, threatened to lodge a complaint with the prefect of police. “Nothing coult} be more simple,” said La Reynie to him; “you are at this very moment before him. But let Us think a moment. You came to Paris to cure your obesity. You now stand before me as thin and slender .as a young man. What have you,: therefore, to gain? Besides that, here are documents to show that you have won the lawsuit you catae about and which you told me on the journey you were so anxious to win.” Amazed and stupefied, and with his breath taken away, the poor man was only able to stammer: “Oh! monseigneur!” “Depart,” said La Reynie to him; “return to the country and propagate my treatment for obesity. *