thout the least inability to perform it. I saw him
several months later, and found his physical condition seemingly
perfect. He had found out that for the best working conditions a nap at
noon was better than even a light luncheon, and that one meal a day
taken after his business was over was the best practice. This fast was
not in the right locality to excite the attention it deserved.

The second voluntary fast was destined to reach the ends of the earth
through the public prints. The following appeared in the _New York
Press_ of June 6, 1899:

"Twenty-eight days without nourishment and without letting up
for a moment on the daily routine of his business is the
unequalled record of Milton Rathbun, a hay and grain dealer at
No. 453 Fourth Avenue, and living in Mount Vernon. He is a man
of wealth, has many employes, and has been in the same business
in this city for thirty-nine years.

"He fasted because he wanted to reduce his weight, fearing that
its gradual increase might bring on apoplexy. He succeeded in
his efforts. He weighed two hundred and ten pounds when he
stopped eating; when he resumed he tipped the scales at one
hundred and sixty-eight pounds, a loss of forty-two pounds of
flesh.

"Mr. Rathbun's description of how he felt as the days and weeks
wore along and the pounds of avoirdupois slipped away one by one
is interesting. The remarkable point about it is that he
continued his work and kept well. He gave his account of it
yesterday to a reporter for _The Press_. Mr. Rathbun is known by
the business men for blocks around his own place of business,
and they all know of his fast.

"Every day his friends would come in and talk to him about it.
At first they told him he was foolish; that nobody could fast
that length of time, much less continue his work without
interruption. Then as the days went on and he kept up without a
break they began to be frightened.

"A crowd would gather about him every night at 6.30 o'clock,
when he would leave his office, for that was his hour for
weighing. Some days he would lose two or three pounds from the
weight of the day before; some days only one, but always
something. And as the record was scored up on the book each
night his friends would shake their heads and warn him to
beware.

"Finally, on the fifteenth day, his friends and employes g