Some were so fat they could not walk,
while others were too lean to stand. A great many of them used either
canes or crutches as an aid to hobble along or vehicles to convey them
from place to place. Nearly all were cripples, more or less; rheumatism,
gout, paralysis and numerous other ailments being the cause of their
helplessness. Few of them seemed able to understand that all these
infirmities were directly caused by the want of proper exercise and from
the gluttonous habit of overloading their stomachs with foods of many
kinds and meat especially. Apparently it was beyond their comprehension
that nature commanded them to improve their physiques for the benefit of
coming generations. Men who professed to be athletes when they were past
the age of thirty were considered childish, while the exponents of
physical culture were generally looked upon as cranks. Eating, drinking
and smoking were adapted as the best modes of recreation, while fishing
and shooting pigeons, quail, squirrels and other harmless living things
were regarded as good, healthy amusements. Of all the brutal methods of
diversion ever adopted by man, fishing is perhaps the most cruel. If the
reader does not think so, just stop for a moment and imagine yourself
being hooked to a great line by the mouth and your body being drawn far
up into space and into another atmosphere, there to strangle slowly to
death. You would not like it, would you? Then why should the fish be
treated so? Do you not suppose that the fish have feelings like
yourself? Oh, if all my fellowmen could only have taken that trip around
the world with Arletta and seen things as I saw them, cruelty in all its
various forms would be a thing of the past.
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