A girl's luncheon? You mean the school luncheon? Let it be as nice as possible, and take pains to pack it very neatly for her, so that when the recess hour comes she may take an interest in what she eats.
Of course the ideal luncheon for Gertrude and Caroline is something hot, a nice hash or scrambled eggs, or else a chop and a baked potato, with some gingerbread, stewed fruit, oranges, or a cup-custard after it. A cup of chocolate or cocoa is good for growing girls at luncheon, and a glass of milk is a very nice addition to their bill of fare.
But these beautiful hot luncheons cannot always be managed at school. Often the girls must carry their noonday meal from home, and as a general thing they take very little care about the matter themselves. Mamma or sister Mary must think for them.
A dainty box or little basket, a fine soft napkin, and some paraffin paper are indispensable to the preparation of lunches. Sandwiches must be made of thin bread and butter, with potted meat, cream cheese, or jam spread between the slices. Rough edges and crusts must be cut off, and the bread and butter be of the very best. There are many delicious crackers, some salted, some sprinkled with cheese-flakes, some sweet and crisp like cookies, which are appetizing with one's luncheon. And fruit is always in order.
If it is possible, and it usually is, to get a little boiling water, let the school-girl make for herself a cup of bouillon at luncheon. There are several excellent kinds of bouillon which come in small jars and bottles, and of which a spoonful added to a glass or cup of either hot or cold water makes a very refreshing drink. I prefer hot bouillon myself, but cold bouillon is very refreshing too, and much better with bread and butter than cold water, if the luncheon is a simple affair of that.
A girl who eats her luncheon regularly, and avoids sweets, pastry, and candy between meals, will have bright eyes and a good complexion. She will not look sallow and pasty, nor have pimples and other signs of indigestion on her face.
Suppose a young girl wishes to give a luncheon to a few friends, what would be a nice menu? Well, she might begin with oranges or grape-fruit, cut in two and sprinkled with sugar; these are eaten with a rather sharp-pointed spoon. This might be followed by oysters on the half-shell, in a little bed of crushed ice, if the luncheon is to be elaborate. Then comes bouillon, served in pretty cups; there are covered cups for bouillon which are simply fascinating to the heart of the china-loving girl. After this course comes minced fish or scolloped oysters, in little china or silver shells. Follow this with dainty chops, Saratoga chips, and green pease. Then have a salad, with thin wafers or salted crackers, cream cheese, and guava jelly or gooseberry jam. After this may appear dessert, of charlotte-russe or ice-cream, or frozen pudding, or, if you please, a hot pudding with cold sauce. Have salted almonds and olives on the table, to pass between the courses, and finish everything up with bonbons, cream peppermints, or any pretty candies or confections which you like.
Of course this is the way to have a formal luncheon. I know a little girl; her name is Delsie, and she isn't very tall, but I wouldn't ask a better luncheon than she gave me one day, and she did everything about it herself. She had beautiful wheat cakes with maple syrup, and she baked them brown on the griddle like a fairy, and then she gave me the most beautiful heaping saucerful of popped corn, white and salted and buttered. I wish I had some of it now.
