rule. A simple diet is best. Most boys eat too much of a mixed nature.
They mix pickles, soda water, frankfurters, and chocolate without fear
or favor. No wonder there is so much stomach ache. In boys' camps the
chief trouble is indigestion caused by this riot of eating. Such boys
are laying up for themselves for the future some beautiful headaches
and bilious attacks, which, when they become chronic later, will cry
out against them and seriously impair their value. Don't eat when very
tired; lie down a while and get rested. Don't eat heavily before
exercising, or, better, put it the other way around, don't exercise
immediately after eating. Never eat when excited or angry and very
lightly when worried or when expecting to study hard. We should learn
to eat slowly and chew the food thoroughly remembering that all food
before it can be taken up in the blood must be as thin as pea soup.
Chewing well will help the digestive organs greatly. Always wash the
hands before eating. Be careful about eating food that has been
exposed to the dust unless it has been washed. Drink freely of clean
water between meals. Never use a public drinking cup without
thoroughly rinsing it. Don't touch your lips to the rim of the cup.

Boys who cook their own meals when in camp should be {226} careful to
have their food well done. Half-baked and soggy food proves
indigestible.

Coffee and Tea

Should a boy drink coffee or tea? This is a question often asked by
boys. Coffee and tea are the greatest stimulants known. But does a
strong boy need a stimulant? What is a stimulant and what does it do?
A stimulant is a whip, making the body do more at a given time than it
ordinarily would. It doesn't add any fibre to the tissues, doesn't add
any strength, isn't a food, but merely gets more out of the tissues or
nervous system than they would ordinarily yield. Of course there is a
reaction, because the tissues have had nothing to feed on. Herbert
Fisher says that Peary's men, who drank lots of tea on their voyage
north, during the most trying time of their trip showed it in their
haggard faces and loss of tissue. Their own tissues had turned
cannibal and fed on their own material. Stimulants are not foods. They
add no strength to the body. They exact of the body what ought not to
be exacted of it. There is always a reaction and one is always worse
off as a result. Growing boys especially should have nothing to do
with tea, coffee, or any stimulant.