The Fasting Man.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 1418, 24 January 1891, Page 2

The Fasting Man.

After Forty Says and 2Ti?ats. Breakfast time ! Lying in bed with wide open bloodshot eyes, dry compressed lips, sunken cheeks with very little color in them, anda lean white hand under his hea3j Felix Tanner awaited the half-four. At i.'SO he would once more be enrolled among the countless commonplace mortals who feed regularly—if they can.

Throughout Saturday afternoon the crowd of visitors to the Waxworks increased considerably, and before 4 o'clock the hall was uncomfortably prowded by all sorts, conditions and ages of people. The temperature was ono in which abstinence from ice cream and lqnipn squash was an impossibility to anyone riot case-hardened by thb of uhauce of a geusatjou, But

there were hundreds such there, and they thronged, and pushed, and surged round the platform, as near to the man's hed as they could get. The vitiated atmosphere of that hour must have been Tanner's worst trial. The women seemed to have the front row to themselves. Their faces betokened an interesting blend of curiosity and commiseration.

At 4.82 Mr Phil Stuart, the manager of the Waxworks, pushed his way through the crowd—who now filled the entire hall, and some of whom stood up among the wax figures, to which they clang for support—and mounted the platfcrm. Standing beside Tanner's bed, the occupant having turned on his back and listening eagerly, Mr Stuart said that Mr Tanner was now about to take his first meal for forty days (applause). Mr Tanner had particularly requested him not to say much about this fast (SDine laughter with a derisive note in it) but to refer people to the newspaper accounts. Dr Felix Meyer had been to see Mr Tanner that morning, and had ordered that a cup of chicken broth be given him when the time of his fast should have elapsed. The front row beamed in delighted sympathy. Mr Stewart then proceeded to mix the broth and finally took it m a covered silver cup to Tanner, whose head he raised on one arm while he put the cup to his mouth.

Tanner took about a dozen sups, and refused any more for the time being. Thus the fast ended. Mr Stuart then announced that, whereas the doctor had prescribed a cupful, Tanner had only taken a few ounces, bu 1 ; would he given another " dose " later on. The hero of the 40 days lay back placidly, and looked indifferently at the crowd. After 40 days' fast a man's feelings don't show much on his face. At least apparently not —we have no practical experience. There.was nothing to linger for. The variety performance, which had broken oft short during the chicken broth, resumed the mingled tenor and soprano of its way, and the orchestrine, a sort of cabinet brass band, burst into an uproarious sonata or nocturne, and the crowd sought the street.

Many of them thought the end rather tame. They had looked forward te seeing a ravenous man bound out of bed when the word was given, and rushing wildly into the street, begin tearing down the shutters ot T. K. Bennett and Wcolcock, after whicli he would sit in their windows devouring raw joints and suet until the church bells rang. It wasn't a bit like that.— Herald.