Evening star., 1901-09-14

to their afternoon tasks with digestive
apparatus in bad condition, their minds
sluggish. their tempers irritable and their
attention wandering. Every school teacher
has at some time or other sroaned over the
impossibility of attaining for afternoon
the ideal conditions OF the morning Inis
has often been mistakenly attributed to
the fact that when the children came to
school they We're fresh from restful sleep
and were tired by noon. OF course the
long nights repose had something to do
with the early morning Condition of the
youngsters, but each had also eaten
hearty and wholesome Breakfast which
was supplemented by exercise in the fresh
air. IA
Children who carry their luncheons to
school labor under a great disadvantage
they eat their heartiest meal at night.
Children should dine at midday and par
take of a simple meal In the evening. The
heavy evening meal Is followed by impaired
digestion with all it's attendant evils
Little ones who are wakeful or are troubled
with nightmare may often be relieved by
regulating the diet. Nearly all children
who indulge in heavy evening meals will
at some time or other be afflicted with
these misfortunes. The chief meal of the
day for young people, be 1t emphasized,
should be served at noon.
Children sent to a school with a midday
lunch of the cold sort from home should
breakfast heartily This breakfast should
include fruit, fresh or stewed; porridge,
bread and butter or rolls, eggs or meat.
such as fish, chops or meat cakes or steak
Milk should be the only drink.
What is Required.
Good food and plenty of it helps build
up the child's brain as well as his body.
While attention to diet will not make a
boy or girl whom nature cast in a dimnu-
tive mold a giant, it will help him or her
to acquire every available inch and will
develop robust constitution.
1t has been computed that a healthy
child from nine to fourteen years of age re-
quires in week about 81 ounces of starchy
food. OF this about 80 ounces are to be
in the form Of a cereal eaten with
sugar and cream or with salt. Chill
dren's taste for sweet things is
natural one, for they require in their
systems sixteen ounces of sugar each
week. Ten ounces of butter and 90 ounces
Of miscellaneous fats are needed by the
young body in seven days. OF the nitroge-
nous foods, including milk, soup, meat,
fish and greens, the following quantities
are required for the week: Ten pints of
the first, pint of the second. four pounds
of the third about ten ounces of the fourth
and only two ounces OF the last. Fish may
be served twice a week and soup three
times a week. Cheese three times a week
at dinner is sufficient.
Potatoes Named First
In regard to vegetables, potatoes are
most nourishing when steamed. Thirty
seven ounces a week are sufficient Green
vegetables, including salads, may be reck-
oned at about nineteen ounces. OF pud-
dings and pastries about eighteen ounces
week are enough. Cakes and buns may
be counted at ten ounces and fresh fruit
at another ten ounces. Chis will suffice
for desserts. Ten ounces of preserved
fruits and spreads for the bread complete
the list.
This gives an idea of the requirements Of
the child's body between the ages of nine
and fourteen. The proportions should be
slightly under the given figures for the
children and little over them for
the older ones. The estimate Is for the
mean age. Simple foods are preferred.
For Lunch Baskets.
Eggs, dried fish, potted meats and fish,
cake, jam, marmalades, honey, radishes
and lettuce are excellent lunch foods
Fresh fruit is good. but little stewed fruit
should never be omitted. A nat stone bot
tie, If filled in the morning with boiling
soup and slipped into neat case in whose
several thicknesses of cloth
have been used, will keep warm an aston
ishingly long time The case should be
packed in the snuggest corner OF the lunch
bcx or basket, and even If it is impossible
to add to its warmth by means of the
school radiator In winter, at noon it will be
A tin lunch box is best, for 1t keeps the
FOOD fresher than wicker basket or paste
board box. Never send a child's lunch in
any empty shoe box: the food will taste
ofensively of leather, the odor of which
clings to the pasteboard so long as a bit
of it is in existence.
Teach Table Manners.
When the teacher lunches at school she
has an excellent chance to teach the chill
dren good manners as well as promote
good fellowship between herself and them
by inviting them to lunch with her at a
long table made as neat and attractive as
will permit. She should
tactfully direct the childs attention to
lapses OF good manners, suggesting imper-
sonally an Improvement when the other
children nave forgotten the little ones
lapse. Chlldren are very sensitive to per-
sonal criticism and parents themselves
might resent reflections on their offspring's
lack of refinement
The experiment of providing a nourish-
Ing, warm luncheon for public school chill
dren has been tried with success in some
towns. 1t would be blessing IL it could
be adopted everywhere, for many Door chill
dren work at DISADVANTAGE owing to i'm
perfectly satisfied appetites and lack Of n1,-
tritious food. II. all the children lunched
at school the recess might be profitabIy
applied to learning improving games or
exercising In the gymnasium. Children re-
quire to be taught how to play quite as
much as they need to be shown how to
work. EDITH JAWpENCE