Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-23
BY SALLY MONROE.

Little girls used to be told that II
they wanted to have curly hair they
must eat the crusts of their bread. ana
many a lass with hair as straight as an
Indians faithfully devoured all her
crusts throughout childhood in the fond
hope that she would some day be re-
warded with ringlets.
This false promise would perhaps
have small weight with the little girl of
today, because she would know that
when she grew little bigger she could
get a permanent"-and the inconven-
fence of such an operation would be
nothing compared with the annoyance
of having to eat bread crusts.
But nowadays mothers are FAR less
likely to offer false promises to their
children. because they realize that chill
dren of today usually have ways OF
learning the truth of questions that in
terest them. and in matters of diet the
schoolgirl of today often knows more
than her mother. Schools have really
done wonderful work in presenting the
important truths of dietetics to children
in terms that they can understand and
that are entirely within the range of
truth. To persuade the girl Of today to
eat crusts, the up-to-date teacher or
parent tells her truthfully that a diet
entirely OF soft foods is bad for the
teeth and that If she wants to have
nice looking teeth and doesn't want to
have needless tooothache. she should
take the trouble to chew coarse, rough
foods.
with old-fashioned mothers the idea
of getting children to eat crusts was
not SO much one of benefiting the child
as one of thrift. Besides, old-time
housewives-and to some extent house
wives of today-prize the loaf of bread
that has a light rather soft crust.
Young girls used to be told that II
they drank coffee they would have
muddy, sallow skins. suppose they
actually believed that the brown tinge
of. the coffee was in some way absorbed
by the skin. and that the creamy white
color of milk actually impaired
creamy white aspect to the skin.
Now we know that there is no direct
relationship between coffee and sallow-
ness. In a general way, good complex
ions depend on good health and good
health depends on proper diet-among
several things. II you drink more COT
fee than you should. your digestion and
nervous system may be deranged in
way that will result in pallor. possibly
even salloWpess. but the same pallor and
sallowness might be produced by any
other error or excess In the diet.
1t Is customary in this country among
more enlightened people to withhold
coffee, as well as tea, from children
until they have reached their teens. We
look with amaZement at English chill
dren of or drinking weak tea in the
afternoon. and feel real pity for Ger
man and French children who are al
lowed to drink coffee, even when well
diluted with hot milk. On the other
hand, Europeans would look with
amazement and concern at American
children who are allowed to drink
sweet. sirupy beverages in the way That
Is quite usual with us.
Among this weeks interesting queries
are these:
"a store in our neighborhood sells
bottled milk that is often left standing
in a warm place Off the ice. Crackers.
unwrapped bread and other food are
left uncovered and the place is full OF
flies. Isn't there some law to prevent
this sort Of thing?"
I would suggest reporting this mat
ter to your local board of health. The
food regulations differ in different
states. and means of enforcing these
laws differ in different localities. In the
meantime you might do bit Of good in
your community by suggesting to the
storekeeper that his methods are I'M
satisfactory. If he Is made to feel that
he will lose business unless he mends
his ways, he may make an effort to
do SC.
"Is there danger of cancer Of the
stomach from drinking very hot bev-
erageS?"