g, it assists digestion, and it possesses in a
high degree the power of counteracting any harm which may arise from the
use of preserved and tinned meats. It is almost inevitable that when
school luncheons are provided for any length of time, preserved
provisions will enter rather largely into their preparation. When
preserved provisions are taken there is always a little danger of skin
complications, and fresh fruit is the antidote for this condition.
Therefore fresh fruit should on no account be disregarded. When fresh
fruit cannot be had, dried fruits, such as raisins, figs, dates, and
French plums, are almost as valuable, and they are more nourishing.
Raisins, indeed, are most sustaining, and a celebrated physician said
recently that when he expected to have any specially exhausting work on
hand, he took a bunch of muscatels and found they did him more good than
a glass of wine. It is not at all an uncommon thing also for parents who
are anxious lest their daughters should become faint and weary, through
going too long without food, and who cannot arrange to provide them with
a well-packed luncheon basket, to make them form a habit of putting a
large bunch of table raisins into their pockets, with the intention that
these should be nibbled during what is called the interval, that is, the
short period of rest which is allowed at most schools during the
morning. The fruit thus enjoyed proves most invigorating. To gain the
full benefit which belongs to raisins it is necessary that the skin and
seeds should be rejected, because they are indigestible, and are apt to
produce disorders of the bowels, while the ripe luscious pulp is free
from these dangers. It would be well if parents could be convinced what
a valuable food the raisin is. As for dates, their nutritive value is
shown by the fact that they form the chief food of the Arabs; while
prunes and figs are used for their laxative tendency. Compotes of all
sorts of fruits and stewed Normandy pippins may be easily introduced
into the luncheon basket, if put into a wide-mouthed, well stoppered
bottle.

Now for two or three recipes:--

_Baked Custard Cup._--Boil the third of a pint of milk and pour it upon
a beaten egg. Add sugar and a little flavouring, turn the preparation
into a buttered cup, and set it in the oven in a shallow tin filled with
boiling water. Let it bake gently till firm; then take it out, and when
cold pack it in the basket. A couple of tablespoonful