Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1874-12-31
The Contents OF dlsiidren's Dinn er
BasKeta


When was twelve years old, says a
lady in the American Agrieulturist was
a pupil in select school more than half
a mile from home and carried my dinner
in small tin pail | was allowed to put
this up for myself, without any supervis-
ion from others. A little white milk
emptyings" bread, we'll spread with but
ter went in for decency's sake; all the
rest was pie, cake, and pickles The cake
and pickles we're my chief dependence.
| used to feel secretly sure that | should
soon die of heart diseased Ny little Eve
year old Dot knows more of physiology
and hygiene to day than did then,
though was getting on well with my al
zebra and grammar and history, and ha6
Just taken prize for the best compost
ton. thought it was my heart that
panied me so under my ribs after l had
eaten the cake and pickles. One after.
noon l had to 90 out of school crying
with the pain, and the teachers wife al
lowed me to lie on her bed until school
was over. Then, instead of walking
home, / went to stay all night with my
seat mate, who lived nearer the school.
Her mother said that it was dyspepsia
that troubled me, and that she had
it herself. had heard the name before,
and felt hattered at having such a
respectable disease, and drank the hot
tea she prescribed and prepared with an
uuraual feeling of being in the fashion.
not long after | took my dinner with me
and went home with my seat.mate at
noon. | sat nibbling my lunch in the
kitchen, where Anna's eldest sister, a
young married woman, home on visit,
was ironing. / always liked her. She
looked into my pail face, saying merrily:
wonder what you carry for your din
nerY' Il don't wonder that you have a
pain in your side so much" she ex-
claimed. Don't you know that it is
the pickies?" explained that had the
erysipelas, but she laughed, and told me
| always would have, and worse so long
as l ate such lunches. She counseled
me kindly to make the bulk of my din
ner Of bread and butter or other plain
fare. This advice was acted upon in
some degree, and soon found such
connection between pickles and sick
headaches and dyspeptic pains, and later
between mince pie and rich cake and the
same aches and pains, that prudence led
me to avoid them.
This experience, like others of the
same stripe, has enabled me to realize
better the wisdom Of the good God in
giving us pain and sickness and death
as results Of disobedience of physical
laws. 1t seems strange that individuals
learn the wisdom Of obedience so slowly;
and very strange that the human race
parts with its stupidity in this respect so
tardily. The dinners OF the school
children tell steadily upon their growth
and welfare and future usefulness in the
world. Like gsown-up people, they use up
daily, or waste, by exercise OF all sorts,
by mere bodily combustion, too, in keep
ing the body warm with blood, large
portion Of the nourishment they get from
food. This daily wastage must be maae
good. Children have not only TO repair
the daily waste, bnt TO 10 building up
new bone, new muscle, new brain, IS they
grow from day TO day. Their food should
contain nourishment for all parts Of
the system, and they should have
plenty, but they should be accustomed to
such plain fare that they can readily stop
eating when their hunger is satisfied,
and not 90 on nibbling merely to crafty
the palate, thus forming habits OF glut-
tony. Cake and pastry have but little,
and pickles have scarcely particle. Of
nourishment in them, and they almost
invariably 90 the system positive harm,
ia greater or less degree, when taken IN
] TO the stomach. The harm may be 80