Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 August 1896 — How to Live to Great Age. [ARTICLE]

How to Live to Great Age.

The latest fad In England Is to Insure longevity through the use of a special diet. The promise is held out to those who Implicitly follow out the prescribed regiment that they may attain to the age of 110 years. This, among the most melancholy people of the globe, and to whom one would fancy that life were the less worth living, has aroused considerable enthusiasm. Cooks and kitchens are to abolished, meat, bread, and vegetables are forbidden; existence is to maintained exclusively upon nuts and bananas. If we compare this with the dietary system of Dickens, which represents that of his period, his comparatively early decease will excite no surprise. According to English standards, he was an accomplished gastronome. Beefsteak pudding was his ideal, a horrible concoction only fit for a crude or debased palate. His highest conception of a dinner was a baked leg of mutton with tlie bone removed and the cavity filled with a stuffing of oysters and veal. This was accompanied with gin punch, in the making of which Dickens took especial pride. It was made ns follows: A brass kettle of water was heated over a spirit lamp. When the water came to a boil it was poured into a jug, with a bottle of old gin, lumps of sugar, and chips of lemon peel. The mouth of the jug was then closed with a napkin, and the mixture allowed to brew for a certain number of minutes