VIEWS ON QUESTIONS OF THE DAY 239 



altogether from intoxicating liquors. As to the 

 principle of never tasting wine or ale because some 

 persons drink them in excess, this argument, if 

 carried to its legitimate extent, is no more sound 

 than to say that because some persons lie in bed 

 too long, others must never go to bed at all. 



On temperance in eating he frequently spoke and 

 wrote almost as decidedly as on temperance in drink- 

 ing, and his views, while not satisfying altogether 

 the strict vegetarian, went a long way towards it. 



When a person lives so far beyond the allotted 

 days of man in good health of mind and body, and 

 gets through such a vast amount of work as was 

 the case with Mr. Morris,- it is interesting to know 

 what his dietetic rules were, if he had any. He 

 was at all times a very small eater, especially of 

 meat ; indeed, occasionally he became practically 

 a vegetarian, and maintained stoutly that a vege- 

 tarian diet was more wholesome than a carnivorous 

 one. He seldom ate meat more than once a day, 

 and then only in small quantities, and at times he 

 would give it up altogether, though not for long 

 periods. Though not an abstainer from alcoholic 

 drinks, in late years he took less in that way than 

 he did in middle life. In short, he made no hard- 

 and-fast rules of any kind with regard to diet, but 

 took exactly that which seemed to conduce most 

 to his health and enjoyment. His only rule was 

 the general one of being " temperate in all things." 

 He maintained that the vegetarian had a splendid 

 choice of diet, although it was commonly supposed 



