Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999Bird, Arthur
Science
Looking forward : $b a dream of the United States of the Americas in 1999
Bird, Arthur
Twentieth century -- Forecasts; United States -- Civilization
About the period of 1925 a radical change was effected. Upon meeting
in public places, it was no longer customary for the gentleman to
uncover, or for the lady to cast a glance in acknowledgment of his
salutation. The mode was simplified. Ladies and gentlemen saluted
one another in precisely the same manner. Each one, upon approach,
raised their right hand in military salute, touching the hat, and by
a quick movement, letting the hand drop to the side. This new custom
placed both sexes upon equal and exact terms.
Whenever, in the twentieth century, a gentleman addressed a lady, after
the usual military salutation, it was his duty to uncover and hold his
hat in his right hand, regardless of the weather. Failure to do this
would result in non-recognition on the part of the lady. The respect
due to the fair sex perceptibly increased in the twentieth century
and so must it ever increase as the world's civilization advances.
Man may be classed as being a carniverous animal. Vegetarians hold a
different theory. They banish from their tables the flesh of beasts
or birds that have been killed, eschewing meats of all kinds. It is
the privilege of the vegetarian to live up to the dietary standard
which he has adopted. Two-thirds of the human family take issue with
the vegetarian on this subject. The vast majority are in favor of
meats of all kinds as an article of food. In the nineteenth, and,
in fact, in all the preceding centuries, the delicacies of the table
most highly esteemed were those in which rare viands of every variety
were included.
A model nineteenth century table reveled in such dishes as turbot à
la cardinal, mutton [A Standard of Food.] chops, pork cutlets, lamb,
spring chicken, selle-de mouton, ham, tongue, roast partridge, roast
duck with sage dressing, turkey and cranberry sauce, braized mutton,
deviled crabs, meat fritters, sausage, cold boiled ham. These savory
meat dishes invariably played leading rôles at the tables of rich and
poor. Vegetables and desserts were regarded as adjuncts to the feast.
Vegetarians regard such food as alien to the human system and
unnecessary to its sustenance. Added to this the vegetarians entertain
a sentimental view of the meat-food question. They claim that man has
no right to kill beast, fish, bird or fowl, to secure food supplies,
and that all flesh food should be eliminated from the human system. A
vegetarian's table was garnished with delightful dishes, such as sliced
oranges, buttered toast, baked quinces, quaking omelet, shredded wheat
biscuits, dates with quaker oats, fried hominy, stewed prunes, macaroni
and cheese, stewed fig with whipped cream, French-fried potatoes,
oyster plant and rice muffins. These dishes are clean and wholesome,
although decidedly tame from certain points of view.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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