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Taylor, Bayard, 1825-1878

"Beauty and the Beast, and Tales of Home"

But I looked upon these feelings as
unreasonable prejudices, and strove to conquer them, seeing the
admiration which he received from others. He was an oracle on the
subject of `Nature.' Having eaten nothing for two years, except
Graham bread, vegetables without salt, and fruits, fresh or dried,
he considered himself to have attained an antediluvian purity of
health--or that he would attain it, so soon as two pimples on his
left temple should have healed. These pimples he looked upon as
the last feeble stand made by the pernicious juices left from the
meat he had formerly eaten and the coffee he had drunk. His theory
was, that through a body so purged and purified none but true and
natural impulses could find access to the soul. Such, indeed, was
the theory we all held. A Return to Nature was the near
Millennium, the dawn of which we already beheld in the sky. To be
sure there was a difference in our individual views as to how this
should be achieved, but we were all agreed as to what the result
should be.
"I can laugh over those days now, Ned; but they were really happy
while they lasted.


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