THE CALL OF THE LAND 



as good as the beef for food ; which does not 

 follow, inasmuch as the nuts may require 

 for digestion many times the nerve force 

 which the beef would call for. It is my im- 

 pression that these, and similar insights, will 

 keep vegetarianism from becoming at all 

 general. 



Doubtless many vegetarians receive meat 

 food, knowingly or otherwise, through such 

 devices as Mrs. Dodd used with her third 

 husband in Myrtle Reed's story, "At the 

 sign of the Jack o'Lantern." 



"I knowed what his poor cranky system 

 needed, and I knowed how to get it into 

 him. He never saw no meat on our table, 

 but all day while he was gone, I was busy 

 with my soup pot, a-makin' condensed ex- 

 tracts of meat for flavorin' vegetables an' 

 sauces an' so on. 



"He took mightily to my cookin' an' fre- 

 quently said he'd never et such exquisite 

 victuals. I'd make cream soups for him, 

 an' in every one there'd be over a cupful of 

 solid meat jelly, as rich as the juice you find 

 in the pan when you cook a first-class roast 



170 



