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235
The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft
·
George Gissing
199
IX.
There
is
to
me
an
odd
pathos
in
the
literature
of
vegetarianism.
I
remember
the
day
when
I
read
these
periodicals
and
pamphlets
with
all
the
zest
of
hunger
and
poverty,
vigorously
seeking
to
persuade
myself
that
flesh
was
an
altogether
superfluous,
and
even
a
repulsive,
food.
If
ever
such
things
fall
under
my
eyes
nowadays,
I
am
touched
with
a
half
humorous
compassion
for
the
people
whose
necessity,
not
their
will,
consents
to
this
chemical
view
of
diet.
There
comes
before
me
a
vision
of
certain
vegetarian
restaurants,
where,
at
a
minim
outlay,
I
have
often
enough
made
believe
to
satisfy
my
craving
stomach;
where
I
have
swallowed
"savoury
cutlet,"
"vegetable
steak,"
and
I
know
not
what
windy
insufficiencies
tricked
up
under
specious
names.
One
place
do
I
recall
where
you
had
a
complete
dinner
for
sixpence--I
dare
not
try
to
remember
the
items.
But
well
indeed
do
I
see
the
faces
of
the
guests--poor
clerks
and
shopboys,
bloodless
girls
and
women
of
many
sorts--all
endeavouring
to
find
a
relish
in
lentil
soup
and
haricot
something-or-other.
It
was
a
grotesquely
heart-breaking
sight.
I
hate
with
a
bitter
hatred
the
names
of
lentils
and
haricots--those
pretentious
cheats
of
the
appetite,
those
tabulated
humbugs,
those
certificated
aridities
calling
themselves
human
food!
An
ounce
of
either,
we
are
told,
is
equivalent
to--how
many
pounds?--of
the
best
rump-
steak.
There
are
not
many
ounces
of
common
sense
in
the
brain
of
him
who
proves
it,
or
of
him
who
believes
it.
In
some
countries,
this
stuff
is
eaten
by
choice;
in
England
only
dire
need
can
compel
to
its
consumption.
Lentils
and
haricots
are
not
merely
insipid;
frequent
use
of
them
causes
something
like
nausea.
Preach
and
tabulate
as
you
will,
the
English
palate--which
is
the
supreme
judge--rejects
this
farinaceous
makeshift.
Even
as
it
rejects
vegetables
without
the
natural
concomitant
of
meat;
as
it
rejects
oatmeal-porridge
and
griddle-cakes
for
a
mid-day
meal;
as
it
rejects
lemonade
and
ginger-ale
offered
as
substitutes
for
honest
beer.
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