River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-07-30
Meals and Meallimes.


kept by our forefathers, especially for
meals, were more reasonable, season.
able, and healthful than those which
obtain nowadays. Without attempt
ing to dispute the truth of this, it be-
comes a question after all whether we
have not drifted back to pretty much
the old custom, at least as far as meal
times 90, the only difference being that
we have changed the names of our re-
pasts. Considering that in nearly all
families a solid, substantial, and gener-
aily hot meal is served soon after mid
day, and that there are few healthy
appetites not prepared to do justice to
it, it may surely claim to be looked up
on as in all respects equivalent to the
dinner of former days, although we
now call it luncheon. Indeed it is
doubtful, should comparison be in
sisted on, whether the custom of this,
the latter end of the nineteenth century,
in regard to mealtimes. is not really
more healthy than that in vogue with
our ancestors. When they spoke of
their midday repast as dinner, the
supper which followed in the evening,
besides being a heavy meal, was as a
rule seldom partaken of before 9
0 clock, and people went to bed immedi-
ately after it, practice condemned
universally by the increased enlight-
eminent of the present day. BY adopt
ing the word luncheon, as signifying a
lighter repast than dinner, and post
poning the latter till evening, we have Of
course abolished suppers, and thereby
gained point in hygiene, supper being
now unjustly regarded as a receipt for
Indigestion and sleepless nights. EX-
cept in ultra-fashionable circles, it is
seldom that our late dinner is served
later than Z o'clock. Nevertheless
there are some conflicting facts on
this point, for the Greeks and
Romans not bad guides on dietet-
ics-had their principal meal about
shutdown Primitive men-the red
Indians alike with all Eastern tribes
adopt the same habit, so that we find
the past and present controlled by
one and the same instinct-viZ: the in
clination to postpone until the day S
work is over the chief act of nourish-
ing the body. The Greeks and Romans
partook of luncheon, but both it and
their breakfast were very light meals.
Even if the latter consisted of hot
dishes, as they generally did, they were
not of a very substantial character.
The coma, or dinner-supper of classical
times. was for the few, not for the
many. 1t was the banquet sacred to
hospitality and pleasure. Those who
partook of it reclined at length on
touches, in the spirit of festal enjoy
ment and social pleasure. One can
hardly venture to speak of dining
twice in one day; virtually many people
do so, and always have done so. Din
ing and supping come really to the
same thing in the end as luncheon and
dining do. The Frenchman calls his
midday meal, always a substantial one,
breakfast, and that between and s
D. m. dinner. People who breakfast
late, leisurely, and plentifully, may be
able to work steadily until the hour
for the evening meal, but thousands of
men and women at the head of estab-
tishmentS are at work as early as any of
their employees, hurrying from their
beds to their counting-roomS with no
more substantial nonrishment than a
than cup of coffee and a roll. The
meal that follows consists frequently
of sandwich or piece of pie and the
person who thus cheats his or her
system is apt, sooner or later, to seek
assistance from stimulants Once
upon a time, Montesquieu declared that
supper kills one-half Paris; dinner the
other'' but we are assured that this
state of things has happily
or unhappily. according to our views
of life, passed away, for the simple
reason that the French kitchen, both in
private houses and in restaurants, has
sadly degenCrat Whatever the
obligations of our lives are-however
varied or variable they may be-the
more we manage to breakfast, lunch,
dine, or sup at the same time every
day, the more likely are we to main
tain our health, especially if we never
forget that "a little in the morning is
enough: enough at dinner is but little
and that little at night is too much. :