this feeling was thrown away upon a tattered piece of blind, so torn as to resemble, to the eye of fancy, the body, arms, and legs of an ape!—Edwin J. Houston, "The Wonder Book of Light."
(1066)
Fashion, Absurd—See Absurd Notions.
FAST LIVING
The railroad has compelled us all to live
fast. The pace of the locomotive kills.
Everywhere we see among our people an
alarming increase of serious diseases. People
become anxious, irritable, nervous and hurried.
Something snaps, and the end comes
quickly. As an evidence that this intensity
of experience is harmful, we may notice the
rapidly shortening hours of labor, the increase
of holidays, the lengthening of vacations,
and the disposition among the city
people to spend more and more time in the
country during the summer. All these are
defenses against the wear and tear of city
life—why? Because people and things can
be moved so fast that all business moves
faster and faster, and for such a killing pace
we must have the relief of more rest and
longer vacations. The railroad has in all
these directions changed our social and business
life so that we lead wholly different lives
from all the men who have gone before.
On the other hand, it has been of very great
mental benefit. It is said that insanity was
at one time very common among farmers.
The dulness and stupidity of their lives
drove them into mental collapse. The railroad
now brings the town to the farm, the
city paper comes to the rural fireside, and
trips to town are cheap and easy. The appalling
monotony of country life is quickened
by the rush of the train through the
quiet valleys and life seems more worth
living, because more interesting. Balancing
one thing against another we must conclude
that there is a gain in all this.—Charles
Barnard, The Chautauquan.
(1067)
Fastidiousness—See Coolness in Danger.
FASTING
The month of fasting was probably borrowed by Mohammed from the Christian Lent. There are many traditions that tell how important fasting is. Let one suffice:
Every good act that a man does shall receive
from ten to seven hundred rewards,
but the rewards of fasting are beyond
bounds, for fasting is for God alone and He
will give its rewards. The chief Moslem
fast is that of the month of Ramazan. The
fast is extremely hard upon the laboring
classes when, by the changes of the lunar
calendar, it falls in the heat of summer,
when the days are long. Even then it is forbidden
to drink a drop of water or take a
morsel of food. Yet it is a fact that Mohammedans,
rich and poor, spend more on food
in that month than in any other month of
the year; and it is also true that physicians
have a run of patients with troubles from indigestion
at the close of this religious fast!
The explanation is simple. Altho the fast
extends over one lunar month, it only begins
at dawn and ends at sunset each day.
During the whole night it is usual to indulge
in pleasure, feasting and dinner parties.
This makes clear what Mohammed meant
when he said that "God would make the
fast an ease and not a difficulty."
The hours during which fasting is prescribed are to be sacredly observed. Not only is there total abstinence from food and drink, but bathing, smoking, taking snuff, smelling a flower, and the use of medicine are prohibited. I have even heard Moslem jurists discuss whether hypodermic medication was allowed during the fast period. In eastern Arabia the use of an eye-lotion even is considered as equivalent to breaking the fast. The law provides, however, that infants, idiots, the sick, and the aged are exempted from observing this fast.—Samuel M. Zwemer, "The Moslem World."
(1068)
In a remarkable case, recorded by Dr. Wilan, of a young gentleman who starved himself under the influence of a religious delusion, life was prolonged for sixty days, during the whole of which time nothing but a little orange-juice was taken. Somewhat analogous are those in which all food is abstained from while the person is in a state of trance or partially suspended animation. This state may be prolonged for many days or even for weeks, provided that the body be kept sufficiently warm. The most remarkable instances of this character have been furnished by certain Indian fakirs, who are able to reduce themselves to a state resembling profound collapse, in which all vital operations are brought almost to a standstill. In one case, the man was buried in an underground cell for six weeks, and carefully watched; in another, the man
