“Canteen Aides?”
“Girls who haven’t taken the courses but do volunteer work in emergencies.”
“Oh, that’s great! I want to get into it as soon as possible. I’ve felt like a shirker these last weeks.”
“I don’t see why you call yourself a shirker,” consoled Lana. “With a kid brother, a dad and a cottage to look after, I should think you’d have your hands full.”
The nutrition classes were being held in the Power Company’s demonstration kitchen. The trio from Palmetto Island found about thirty women and girls gathered when they arrived. Miss Pearson, spotless in her attractive uniform, was already giving out mimeographed sheets for study. All the seats toward the back were taken, but Kitty and her friends found folding chairs near the demonstration table, where Miss Pearson had her materials spread out.
Kitty thought how easy it was to slip into the old habit of making notes at lectures when she took a notebook and fountain pen from her purse. Miss Pearson had not been lecturing half an hour when Kitty realized how valuable the classes were going to be. She could use the information now and long after the war.
“I want to sketch briefly what we must cover in this course,” Miss Pearson began. “As a foundation every one must know the requirements of good nutrition, and the value of different kinds of food.”
Kitty thought how little attention she had paid to such matters in the years she had been concentrating on her music. She had eaten what was put before her at school, and had given no heed to it unless she became ill and the doctor restricted her diet.
When Miss Pearson mentioned that she would give assistance in planning menus to fit food rationing situations Kitty was really delighted. That planning had been a mathematical problem to her ever since she had started housekeeping.
Field trips to large kitchens of the community, and to food preserving plants promised interesting diversions to classroom activities.