em to learn what these
foods contain for the use of their bodies. Much of this part of the work
can be taught in rooms without special equipment. An earnest teacher,
with a few articles from home, can make the study interesting and
valuable.

A series of lessons will be necessary for this purpose. The amount of
work to be taken at one time is suggested, but this should be judged by
the teacher. As in other lessons on theory, the remaining time of the
lesson period should be used in practical work. Suggestions for such
practical work are given under the lesson on "The Kitchen Fire", page
92.

Practice lessons, to give variety and sustain interest, should be
interspersed between these lessons as desired.

LESSON I

USES OF FOOD

The lesson may be introduced by asking the class to think in what way
the body of a healthy baby, who is fed regularly, will have changed at
the end of six months. It will be larger; it will have more flesh, more
bone, more hair, etc. We want to get a name that will apply to any part
of the body. No matter which part we examine through a microscope we
find the same fine and beautiful texture, and to this we give a name
similar to that given to fine, thin paper. We call it _tissue_--hair
tissue, bone tissue, flesh tissue.

What has food done to the baby's tissues? It has enlarged its tissues;
the child has grown larger. To the enlargement, or growth, of the
tissues, we may apply the term, _build_, suggested by the building of a
house. Then what may we say food does for the tissues of the body? We
may say that _food builds the tissues of the body_.

Think of some persons who have taken food every day, and yet as long as
you have known them they have not increased in size. What has food done
for their tissues? The class must be told that the tissues of our bodies
wear out through use, and that food has furnished the material to
replace the worn-out parts. What do we say we are doing to clothes when
we replace the worn parts? We are mending or repairing them. What does
food do for our worn-out tissues? _Food repairs the tissues of the
body._

Do not think any more about the tissues of the body. Suppose you had not
been able to get any food for several days. In what way would you be
different from what you are now? You would not be as strong. Food gives
strength or energy by being burned inside the body. There is a fire
burning in our bodies all the time we are alive, the fuel being food.