When you have had some good games of play after school, and have
finished whatever errands you may have to run, or have done the chores
about the barn or the garden or the house, you will begin to feel as
if there were something missing somewhere. It won't take you very long
to discover where that missing feeling is; and when you hear a call
from the house, or a ring of the bell in the hall, you come running in
for supper. If you have worked well in school and played hard and done
your chores well, you will have a splendid appetite. In fact, you will
think there is no other meal in the day that tastes quite so good.
Is your evening meal supper or dinner? If you have had a hot dinner at
noon, you probably do not want anything more than a good supper. But
if you had only luncheon, then you are ready to eat something hot and
hearty about six o'clock.
What are some of the things that you like for dinner? Meat and eggs
and bread and butter and jam and rice and potatoes and onions and
celery and cookies and apples and oranges and oh, so many, many other
things! Mother Nature has given us all these good things, that we may
have not only enough to eat but plenty of different kinds. We soon
grow tired of one kind, and that is how she tells us that we need many
kinds.
When I was little, oranges were not so common as they are now; and I
never but once had as many as I wanted. That once, my father told me
to eat all I liked, and I did; but for weeks afterwards I didn't want
even to see an orange! Did you ever feel that way too, though perhaps
not about oranges? Nature sometimes has to teach us not to eat too
much of one kind at a time.
Some people like one thing, and some another. Do all of you like
onions? I think not; but those who do, like them very much. The same
thing is true of tomatoes and sweet potatoes and red raspberries and
oysters and many other things. But there are some things that almost
everybody likes; and our grandfathers and great-grandfathers and
great-great-grandfathers ate them. One of them is called the "staff of
life" because we lean, or depend, on it so much; we have it for
breakfast, dinner, and supper. That is bread, of course. Meat and eggs
and milk and butter, too, are among the foods that we all like.
These might be called our "main foods," and we should eat one or two
or even three of them at each meal. Meat and milk and eggs and butter,
animals give us. But these are not enough; we need besides some of the
foods that plants give us, because, as I have told you, we need
different kinds of food at one time to keep the body fires going
briskly.
What are some of the foods that plants give us? Bread is made from a
plant--from wheat. Oatmeal comes from the oat plant; and hominy, from
corn. Some of our plant foods, such as potatoes, turnips, onions,
sweet potatoes, parsnips, and radishes, grow under ground. Some, such
as peas and beans, grow on vines. Then there are lettuce and cabbage
and celery. And there are fruits--cherries, apples, peaches, plums,
pears, melons, tomatoes, berries.
Nature has given us all these foods, and many more; and she wants us
to use them all. She wants us to use, every day and every meal, some
foods that come from plants and some that come from animals.
A good dinner would be a slice of roast beef or mutton, a potato, a
helping of some sort of vegetable like peas or beans or onions or
tomatoes or celery; and a dish of milk pudding or apple dumpling, or
stewed fruit with bread and butter, or pie that has only an upper
crust or its under crust very well baked. When you are eating bread,
remember that the crusts are the very best part, because they are well
cooked and really taste the best. They are good for your teeth, too.
[Illustration: ONE OF THE HAPPIEST TIMES OF THE DAY]
Perhaps, while I am talking about a good meal, I ought to talk a
little about the way to eat and how to make mealtime pleasant.
Of course, to make our food soft, we must take little bites, eat
slowly, and chew each mouthful a long time. Be sure to remember this.
So many of the children I know eat so fast that you'd think they had
to catch a train! Did you ever see anyone try to talk and chew at the
same time or forget to shut his mouth while he was chewing? Wasn't it
a very awkward, disagreeable sight? Think a moment, if you are tempted
to talk with your mouth full, or put your knife into your mouth, or
make a noise while you are eating, that these things are not pleasant
for your neighbors.
Do you tell funny stories at the table and talk about happy tramps you
have taken or games you have played, or about your pets or your books?
If you do, your food will do you more good, and you will be helping
the other people at the table, too. Mealtimes should be the happiest
times in the day.