The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1896-09-30
a PLEA FOR PLAIN FOOD.
Hi,ts That May Save Many Doctors biiis
and -luable Lives.

and eluable Lives
If is not a generally understood fact,
Int n fact nevertheless, that some OF the
wealthiest and most luxurious appear
ing people live on the plalnest food.
There are children in the families OF
miIliauaires who would no more be
permitted to partake of such meals as
IRE given to the children of many Ia
boring man than they would be allowed
10 use articles that were known to be
poisonous. Many a mechanic httle
nnes live ON meat. warm bread, all the
butter they want, and that of an lnferl-
ar quality, coffee as much as they
choose. and cheap bakers cake, which
is in itself enough to ruin the digestion
of an ostrich.
The children Of one family make
their breakfast of oatmeal G. some 9th
er cereal and milk, with bread at least
81 hours old, little, very little, butter,
sometimes none at all The breakfast Is
varied bv corn bread, well done, little
zyyjeback and sometimes stale bread dip
ned in egg and cracker crumbs and
drowned with butter. A fresh egg is
often the only article outside of farlna-
ceous food that they are allowed For
dinner. which is the middle of the day,
they have some well cooked meat, one
or two vegetables, cup Of milk II they
like it. or weak COCOA, with plenty OF
bread and butter and a simple dessert.
Supper. which is a very light meal, fire.
ouently consists of graham crackers or
brown bread and milk or the pudding,
eaten with a little molasses or maple
! sIrup.
A few DAYS ago, in a call at the house
of a yorkingman, there were five chill
dren seated at table, on which was
large dish of meat swimming with
gravy. in which potatoes had been cook
| ed. These potatoes were saturated with
| fat and almost impossible OF digestion
by any person Of ordinary constitution.
| There were hot rolls, soggy looking
and smoking from the oven; parsnlps
| fried in lard and reeklng with the
grease. A pile of cheap cakes, sufficient
TO fill a good sized four quart measure,
stood on one corner of the table; also
| two pies, with crust containing so much
lard that they looked absolutely greasy.
There was coffee, dark and rank look
ing and worse smelling, and this the
children were indulging in quite as
much as they pleased. They ate like lit
| tie wolves, with an unnatural and fero-
cious appetite. Two of them had pasty.
unhealthy looking complications; one
was evidently suffering from some skin
disease; the elder of the group had an
ugly looking eruption ON his face and
ears, and the entire lot were living ex-
amples of the results of a mistaken sys-
TEN of feeding. Ii was no surprise to
the visitor TO hear, few days later,
that two of them were very III, one
hopelessly so, with cholera morbus.
That the death rate among such peo-
pie does not increase with frightful ra-
pidity is the one thing that the thought
ful persons and philanthropists never
cease 20 wonder at
The parents of these children would
undoubtedly have said that they gave
the little ones the best they could af-
ford, but this was just exactly the
cause of all the troubles They gave
them too much and too expensive food.
4 proper diet would have cost a third
of the money and would have saved
health and doctors bills, TO say nothing
of their lives. New York Ledger.