Disguise it as we may the fact remains that the feeding of a people is of first importance, seeing the feeding is the great essential to success, either social or commercial. The farmer and stock raiser gives special attention to feeding, usually more to the feeding of his animals than of his children, or of himself. And yet he wonders why his domestic affairs do not thrive and prosper as does his farming and stock raising.
Physical trainers are most particular about what the members of their classes eat and drink. One mess of strawberry short cake and cream will unfit a boy for a field contest for a whole week, while a full meal of dainties may completely upset a man or woman for a day or two.
The cook book of the past was filled mainly with recipes for dainties rather than sane and wholesome dishes; the aim being to please the taste for the moment rather than to feed the body and the brain.
Now that we are entering upon an age of sane living it is important that the home makers should be impressed with the fact that good health precedes all that is worth while in life, and that it starts in the kitchen; that the dining room is a greater social factor than the drawing room.
In the broader view of the social world that is dawning upon us the cook book that tells us how to live right and well will largely supplant Shakespeare, Browning, and the lurid literature of the day.
ERASMUS WILSON
(The Quiet Observer)
The tocsin of the soul—the dinner bell.
—Byron.