hat has only an upper
crust or its under crust very well baked. When you are eating bread,
remember that the crusts are the very best part, because they are well
cooked and really taste the best. They are good for your teeth, too.

[Illustration: ONE OF THE HAPPIEST TIMES OF THE DAY]

Perhaps, while I am talking about a good meal, I ought to talk a
little about the way to eat and how to make mealtime pleasant.

Of course, to make our food soft, we must take little bites, eat
slowly, and chew each mouthful a long time. Be sure to remember this.
So many of the children I know eat so fast that you'd think they had
to catch a train! Did you ever see anyone try to talk and chew at the
same time or forget to shut his mouth while he was chewing? Wasn't it
a very awkward, disagreeable sight? Think a moment, if you are tempted
to talk with your mouth full, or put your knife into your mouth, or
make a noise while you are eating, that these things are not pleasant
for your neighbors.

Do you tell funny stories at the table and talk about happy tramps you
have taken or games you have played, or about your pets or your books?
If you do, your food will do you more good, and you will be helping
the other people at the table, too. Mealtimes should be the happiest
times in the day.

A PLEASANT EVENING

When the supper things have been cleared away, you have two hours or
so before going to bed, and I dare say you look forward to these as
one of the pleasantest parts of the day.

It is always best for you to take things rather easily and quietly and
pleasantly for at least fifteen or twenty minutes after every meal;
and after the heaviest meal of the day, whether this comes at noon or
in the evening, it is better to stretch the time to half or three
quarters of an hour. If you try to work or play hard right after a
hearty meal, you will be drawing away to your brain or to your
muscles, the blood that the stomach is trying to get for the digesting
and melting of your food. I suppose that you have all found this out
for yourselves; for, if you run and play too hard right after dinner,
you are very soon out of breath, and if you keep up the exercise, you
are quite likely to have an attack of indigestion or stomach ache. If
you sit down to study directly after a meal, you soon feel heavy and
lazy, and what you read doesn't seem clear to you, and in a little
while you probably have a headache and an unpleasant taste in your