ch should be
supervised by the teacher and hap-hazard methods of eating the lunch
should be prohibited. Those schools that are fortunate enough to possess
a large table can approximate somewhat to the best home conditions, and
have the table set in the proper manner, as shown in Lesson VI, page 18.
The pupils should sit round the table, at the head of which is the
teacher, and the lunch may be made to partake of the nature of a family
party. If rightly managed, the meal, even under the unusual difficulties
presented in the rural school, may offer the most favourable
opportunities to inculcate habits of cleanliness and neatness and to
cultivate good manners. The pupils will learn something about the proper
selection of food and the importance of thorough mastication. Clean
hands and faces and tidy hair should be insisted upon, and individual
drinking cups should be encouraged. As a manual training exercise, each
pupil may be taught to make his own drinking cup from heavy waxed paper.
Grace may be said by the older pupils in turn.

The table should be made to look as attractive as possible. The pupils,
in turn, might undertake to have the table-cloth washed at home or, in
place of a linen cloth, a covering of white oil-cloth may be used. In
some cases the school garden will be able to supply flowers or a growing
plant for a centrepiece. Three or four of the larger pupils, either boys
or girls, may set the table in ten minutes, while the others are washing
their hands and faces and tidying their hair. Some such plan as this
will add palatability and cheer to the monotony of the everyday cold and
often unattractive lunch and will create a spirit of true and healthy
sociability among the pupils.

In schools that do not possess tables large enough to be used as
suggested above, each pupil should be required to set one place at his
own desk, as shown in the illustration on page 20. A paper napkin may be
used for a table-cloth, if a small piece of white oil-cloth is not
procurable. Each pupil retains his place until all have finished; he
should then dispose of the crumbs and leave his desk tidy. From twenty
minutes to half an hour is generally found sufficient for the meal.
There should be cheerful conversation and restrained laughter throughout
the meal, and acts of courtesy and generosity should be encouraged. At
seasons when there are no flies, and on days when the weather is
favourable, it is a pleasant change to serve lun