Year: 1876

The varieties of food provided by


''the rugged all-nourishing earth" for


the sustenance of man are almost in


Vulnerable. Fish, flesh, fowl, vegeta-


ble-and of this root, stem, leaf, bud,


seed-all are ministers of grace to the


human stomach. 1t might be supposed


that man, with a nature far more CON-
plicate and delicate than that of the


Irute, with wastes of the nervous sys-
tem from ceaseless activity of the mind
as well as of the muscles, should draw
his food from a larger variety of sub
stances than do other members of the


animal creation. The blood and the


whole economy daily consume sub
stances not abundant in nature, and an


appetite specially clamorous for par
ticular food is evidence that some need


in the human body is not met by the


food provided. For the staple articles


of diet, bread and milk and meat, al


most every body seems to have an ap-


petite, but there are others that one


must learn to like, as tomatoes and


okra, to which each reader will doubt


less add a long list of other edibles.


Persons brought up inland look with


horror and disgust on Holsters and 9th
er shell-fsh, while those accus-
toned to sea food in variety
wonder how the inland appetite
can be satisfied with its narrow range
of foods. To some oysters are a poison
in others strawberries produce the most
distressing sickness; the same is true of
cheese, and even of milk; yet thes e
articles rank among the most nutritious
and desirable articles of diet for the |
majority of people. Travellers learn to
eat every thing and to enjoy every |
thing; in so doing they are indeed wise;
and people who stay at home are wise |
if they accustom themselves to q large |
and varied range of food, to eat every |
thing in fact that is edible, every thing
which they have not good reason to
consider unfit for admission to the bu- !
man stomach. The judiciOus mother |
will not ask her little one at meal time |
what he would like, but will give him
of the food provided, and by cOntinu-
Gus and gentle pressure compel him to
like and ultimately take with relish /
what he ought to eat, thus forming in |
him the invaluable habit of "eating |
what is set before him, asking no ques- !
tions for conscience sake"


There are few hOusekeepers who are
not at one time or another perpleXed
beyond measure to provide
acceptable food for guests.
One does not eat butter, another de-
clines potatoes, still another refuses
mutton, fourth cares nothing for fish,
a fifth eschews pastry, and the hostess
can but suffer modification and annoy
ance in seeing one dish after another
that has been prepared refused without
good cause. A very polite principal of
a young ladies' school was in the habit
of frequently saying at meal time: cit
is aristocratic to eat lamb; all my young
ladies eat lamb As a matter of fact,
it was the most healthful and the
most expensive meat he could procure
at certain seasons of the year, and he
considered it an important part of their
education that his pupils should learn
to like all varieties of wholesome food.
These were accordingly provided, and
the best of dietetic habits formed. His
example is certainly a good one for
heads of families to follow in training
their children. Various circumstances |
often restrict diet to half a dozen arti- |
cles of food, and if of these some are !
rejected from mere caprice, serious in-
conveniences often follow, while only |
pleasure and advantage result from q
genuine liking, though it be the Off
spring of cultivation, for all kinds of |
nutritious and wholesome food.