WOMEN'S REALM.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 39, 15 February 1905, Page 10

WOMEN'S REALM.

THE FEEDING OF CHXLDKESt. Frederick the Great said that "an army marches on its stomach." Wβ can all understand what he J meant—if you don't feed yoor soldiers, they can neither march, nor fight. j It is well known that one cause for 1 the success of the German Army over 1 tie French iv the terrible war of 1870----71 was that the Germans were better fed. They carried greater quantities of food in the most concentrated form, and could easily prepare a meal of hot, nourishing soup from a square of "erbwiirst"—a kind of green-pea soup—so .small as to be carried in the waistcoatpocket. Now. -what is true of fighting is eq-ually true of learning. A school "marches on its stomach." very much as an army does. Feed children well, ajid they will learn. Starve them— either with too Irfetle food, or with food that doesn't nourish them—and their mind-power dwindles; their onslaught on the citadel of knowledge will bo a feeble, half-hearted one that will not lead to victory, and much of the money spent on their education will he wasted. It is quite natural that this should be so. During school age children are growing more or less rapidly, and are developing new teeth and naw powers of Tariou3 kinds, physical and roenta.l. All this is a strain. At the same time they are being subjected to the constant tax of taking in new ideas presented to them during tfoeir studies, and they are, iv most cases, bein<» periodically subjected to the strain of exams. To stand these many calls without injury they need two kinds of food. 1. Plenty of nourishment. ■2. Plenty of sleep. Shakespeare, who was more of a physiologist than any modern educationalists, calls sleep "chief nourishcr a.t life's feast." It is to the w&.nt of enough sleep that a great deal of the physical degeneracy oE the young, about which vre hear so nuich in these days, is due. Children whose "home-work is permitted to encroach on their hours oi sleep (and, unfortunately, many children are allowed to keep up their "prep. :, for the next day till ten or eleven at night) canno*fc possibly thrive properly. Some kind of breakdown—mental or physical—ia many cases results from this loss of the "chief nourisber" at their life's feast. In feeding growing children, we must remeraber the importance of the quality of hte food we give thoan. I do not mean onry that the quality should be good, but that it shouJd con. tain 'the materials necessary to supply tvliab a yoiinj, fast-growing body needs. This is a most important subject for parents to understand, because foodstuffs vary greatly in this matter. Some foods are of little use for making firm flesh, but are chiefly of value for making fat and keeping up the heat of t.he body; others—green vegetables, for instance —do little for the making of fat or flesh, but an* valuable because they contain certain minerals—as potash, etc., —which arc very purging to the blood. Other foods are rich in material lor ma-king good, firm flesh and for supplying the lime and other necessaries for making the bones hard and strong. "We cannot lay down an absolutely hard and fast line, and say some foods make oiiiy fat, others only flesh; far all foods do a, little towards both. But we ea.n make a list of food-efcuffs which will show us the different kinds which contain the greatest quantity of fat and heat making aoid flesh a»d bone making substances. Then we shall see how necessary it is to give children a variety of foods, so that there niay be a proper balance of the different things needed to supply their wants. Butchers' niea-t, poultry, game, eggs, milk, cheese, fish, beans, pcaa, lentils, oatmeal, wheatraeal, macaroni, semolina, are rich in material for making flesh aud -bone. Viiis, oil, sugar, sago, cornflour, ■potatoes, arrowroots tapiot-a, treacle, honey, etc., make fat and heat. Children stand in cousuuit need of food that will repair. tissue—i.e., make llesli, because Iheir bodies are iv a state of active growth. A certain amount of fat-making food is also necessary; and this is the best given in some form of fat, because, besides its value in making bodily heat, fat contains the germ of cellular growth. i Fat in its most digestible form is found in milk. This is one reason why nothing can take.the place of milk as a food for the young and growing , . We must avoid the error of thinking that sago, cornflour, .■μ-poivtoot, and tapioca are "very nourishing" for children. They are not. If you make a milk pudding with any of these for a basis, it is the milk which contains the nourishment, not tlit>. basis. In oatmeal porridge mado with milk you have a perfect'example of a nourishing diet for the young and growing, for these two articles contain both fat and flesh making materials in abundance. Milk is extremely ricfh ia flesh-form-ing material, and nothing else in. all .the range of foods can make up for its loss to the yonng. Some inquiries into the food of fac-tory-children between the age of thirteen and sixteen showed' that those who had milk for breakfast and supper grew four times ns fast as those Vho had tea. or coffee. The latter supplied no repair to the tissues. Their use 13 chiefly as stimulants to the nerves; and children don't want to have their nerves stimulated —Tjuite the reverse. In childhood uh« nerves nre easily excited ;;nd, instead of stimulation, they require the sedative action of fresh air and baths. ' There is jio nervous exultation to bo had in milk, but there is plenty of material for making pure blood, muscular flesh, and ir.ircl bone.-, for milk contains a large supply of lime aaid other "earthly; salts ,, which contribute, to the formation of bone. : As to whotliev the milk should be •riven pare or diluted, which is a imiclid elm ted question in some nun-series and stV.csoJrcosKs, !e+ it he settled by the simple tesfc of its digestibility. Some children can digest milk pure ns it comes from the cow. T3y nil means let them have it so. Other's cannot take it pure without stomach derangement. For tliem let it be diluted. make the mistake of overdoing 'the dilution, and remember that is better for the purpose than plain water.