for the reheating of foods, a soup, or grain,
macaroni with tomato sauce, or with egg or cream sauce, or some similar
article which can be cooked at home, transported in sealed fruit cans,
and reheated in a few moments on the grounds, is a desirable addition to
the picnic bill of fare.

Recipes for suitable beverages for such occasions will be found in the
chapter on Beverages.

SCHOOL LUNCHES.

Mothers whose children are obliged to go long distances to school, are
often greatly perplexed to know what to put up for the noonday lunch
which shall be both appetizing and wholesome. The conventional school
lunch of white bread and butter, sandwiches, pickles, mince or other
rich pie, with a variety of cake and cookies, is scarcely better than
none at all; since on the one hand there is a deficiency of food
material which can be used for the upbuilding of brains, muscles, and
nerves; while on the other hand it contains an abundance of material
calculated to induce dyspepsia, headache, dullness of intellect, and
other morbid conditions. Left in an ante-room, during the school
session, until, in cold weather, it becomes nearly frozen, and then
partaken of hurriedly, that there may be more time for play, is it to be
wondered at that the after-dinner session drags so wearily, and that the
pupils feel sleepy, dull, and uninterested? Our brains are nourished by
blood made from the food we eat; and if it be formed of improper or
unwholesome food, the result will be a disordered organ, incapable of
first-class work.

Again, the extra work imposed upon the digestive organs and the liver in
getting rid of the excess of fats and sugar in rich, unwholesome foods,
continually overtaxes these organs.

It can hardly be doubted that a large majority of the cases of so-called
overwork from which school children suffer, are caused by violation of
hygienic laws regarding food and diet rather than by an excess of brain
work; or in other words, had the brain been properly nourished by an
abundance of good, wholesome food, the same amount of work could have
been easily accomplished with no detriment whatever.

Whenever practicable, children should return to their homes for the
midday lunch, since under the oversight of a wise mother there will be
fewer violations of hygienic laws, and the walk back to the school room
will be far more conducive to good digestion than the violent exercise
or the sports so often indulged in directly after ea