-past four or five.

Some of the more important articles of school diet require special
mention; the following extract from Dr. Thompson's Practical
Dietetics may prove helpful:--

_Bread._--"Bread, as a rule, should be made of whole meal, but must
not be too coarse. The advantage of this bread for children consists
in its containing a larger proportion of salts, which they need, than
is found in refined white flour, and butter should be freely served
with it to supply the deficiency of fats which exist in meat. Children
need fat, but they do not digest meat fat well, as a rule, and are
very apt to dislike it. They will often take suet pudding, however,
when hot mutton fat wholly disagrees with them."

_Milk._--"Milk should be freely supplied, not only in the form of
puddings and porridges, but as an occasional beverage, and children
should be made to understand that when hungry, they can obtain a glass
of milk, or a bowl of crackers or bread and milk, for the asking.
Chambers says, 'The best lunch that a growing young man can have is a
dish of roast potatoes, well buttered and peppered, and a draft of
milk.'"

_Meat._--"Meat may be given twice a day, but not oftener. It may
sometimes be advisable to give it but once a day when fish or eggs are
supplied; it should, however, be given at least once daily, to rapidly
growing children."

_Sweets._--"The greater number of children have a natural craving for
sweets."

The energy developed in active childhood necessitates the consumption
of a larger proportion of sugar than is required by adults. The
craving of children for confections, candy, etc., furnishes a true
indication of the actual requirements of nature, and it must be
admitted that a certain amount of wholesome candy not only does most
children no harm, but may serve them as an excellent food. The main
difficulty with such forms of sugar, however, is that children are
not furnished with a proper proportion of sugar with their meals, and
the meals themselves are not so regulated as to prevent their becoming
very hungry between times; consequently, if they can obtain candy,
which satisfies them for the time, they are very apt to eat too much,
with the result of producing more or less dyspepsia and diminishing
the normal appetite. Alcohol in every form should be absolutely
excluded. If given during early youth, it is particularly prone to
develop a taste which may become uncontrollable in later years.
(Childre