B}^ seven some going to school has begun ; and from
this time on the diet, while of the same general character,
may vary more from day to day. Habits of life are fixed
during this time ; and even if parents dislike certain arti-
cles of food themselves, it is well to give no sign, but as
far as possible, accustom the child to eat any wholesome
food. We are a wandering people, and sooner or later are
very likely to have circumnavigated the globe, at least in
part. Our baby must have no antipathies, but every good
thing given by Nature shall at least be tolerated. " I never
eat this," or ''I never eat that," is a formula that no
educated person has a right to use save when some food
actually hurtful or to which he has a natural repulsion is
presented to him. Certain articles of diet are often
strangel}^ and unaccountably harmful to some. Oysters
are an almost deadly poison to certain constitutions ;
milk to others. Cheese has produced the same effect,
and even strawberries; yet all these are luxuries to the
ordinary stomach.
Usually the thing to guard against most carefully is
gluttony, so far as boys are concerned. With girls the
tendency often is to eat far too little. A false delicacy,
a feeling that paleness and fragility are beautiful and
feminine, inclines the young girl often to eat less than she
desires ; and the stomach accustoms itself to the insuffi-
cient supply, till the reception of a reasonable meal is an
impossibility. Or if they eat improper food (hot breads
and much fat and sweets), the same result follows.
Digestion, or rather assimilation, is impossible : and
pasty face and lusterless eyes become the rule. A greedy
86 THE RELATIONS OF FOOD TO HEALTH.
woman is the exception ; and yet all schoolgirls know the
temptation to over-eating produced by a box of goodies
from home, or the stronger temptation, after a school-
term has ended, to ravage all cake-boxes and preserve-
jars. Then comes the pill or powder, and the habit of
going to them for a relief which if no excess had been
committed, would have been unnecessary. Patent medi-
cines are the natural sequence of unwholesome food, and
both are outrages on common-sense.
We will take it for granted, then, that our baby has
come to boyhood and youth in blissful ignorance of their
names or natures. But as we are not in the least certain
what personal tastes he may have developed, or what form
his life-work is to take, — whether professional or mercan-
tile or artisan in one of the many trdes, — we can now
only give the regimen best adapted for each.
Page 42
Presented as published in 1881. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
B}^ seven some going to school has begun ; and from this time on the diet, while of the same general character, may vary more from day to day. Habits of life are fixed during this time ; and even if parents dislike certain articles of food themselves, it is well to give no sign, but as far as possible, accustom the child to eat any wholesome food. We are a wandering people, and sooner or later are very likely to have circumnavigated the globe, at least in part. Our baby must have no antipathies, but every good thing given by Nature shall at least be tolerated. " I never eat this," or ''I never eat that," is a formula that no educated person has a right to use save when some food actually hurtful or to which he has a natural repulsion is presented to him. Certain articles of diet are often strangel}^ and unaccountably harmful to some. Oysters are an almost deadly poison to certain constitutions ; milk to others. Cheese has produced the same effect, and even strawberries; yet all these are luxuries to the ordinary stomach.
Usually the thing to guard against most carefully is gluttony, so far as boys are concerned. With girls the tendency often is to eat far too little. A false delicacy, a feeling that paleness and fragility are beautiful and feminine, inclines the young girl often to eat less than she desires ; and the stomach accustoms itself to the insufficient supply, till the reception of a reasonable meal is an impossibility. Or if they eat improper food (hot breads and much fat and sweets), the same result follows. Digestion, or rather assimilation, is impossible : and pasty face and lusterless eyes become the rule. A greedy
woman is the exception ; and yet all schoolgirls know the temptation to over-eating produced by a box of goodies from home, or the stronger temptation, after a schoolterm has ended, to ravage all cake-boxes and preservejars. Then comes the pill or powder, and the habit of going to them for a relief which if no excess had been committed, would have been unnecessary. Patent medicines are the natural sequence of unwholesome food, and both are outrages on common-sense.
We will take it for granted, then, that our baby has come to boyhood and youth in blissful ignorance of their names or natures. But as we are not in the least certain what personal tastes he may have developed, or what form his life-work is to take, — whether professional or mercantile or artisan in one of the many trdes, — we can now only give the regimen best adapted for each.