BREAKFAST AND LUNCH DISHES.
whilst buns, shortbread, or hard biscuits represent the
solid food; these are not bad in their way, but by no
means the best things at the time. It would be well
if the authorities would personally investigate at
intervals the condition of the liquids supplied. We
all know the danger of questionable milk and water,
and their purity is not to be lightly left to the dis
cretion of either tradesmen or servants. Buns,
again, though “filling” (to use a schoolboy phrase),
and palatable to most children, are not to be com
mended as a staple daily food, and, indeed, this
kind of diet is really at the bottom of most of the
dyspepsia from which only too many young people,
girls especially, suffer so much nowadays. Let each
child have its home-supplied lunch basket, and vary
the contents of this as much as possible. Sandwiches,
fourrées and otherwise, may be the staple food if liked,
but perhaps the best is good, solid, and generously
buttered bread and butter, with fruit, and a slice of
plain loaf or schoolroom cake. Cream cheese sand
wiches are favourites, so are sandwiches thickly
buttered and dusted with pure cane (brown) sugar
or grated chocolate. Sugar is wholesome if pure
and not inordinately consumed, and the craving for
sweet things and fruit so universal amongst children
points to a natural want of their constitutions. But
please remember rich cake, pastry, or a superfluity
of bonbons does not come into this category. Plain,
light, and appetising food is required, and variety is
an important factor in the diet of children, concerning
which, however, no more need be said here.