Meals and food for the schoolboy : a paper read before the Association on May 23rd, 1895 / by Horace Savory.

  • Savory, Horace.
Date:
1896
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Meals and food for the schoolboy : a paper read before the Association on May 23rd, 1895 / by Horace Savory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    J.S Sundays, a noisy one, and lasts longer tlian tlie allotted time. I think the l)oys eat more on Sundays. (iv.) Parents do much during the holidays to spoil schooh ])oys’ appetites l)y the many luxuries they allow their children to indulge in. It is a pity they do not teach them that the best food procurable is good plain food. (v.) I consider it a mistake to maintain a fixed order of diet, so that a boy knows what there will be to eat on any particular day of the week. A little ingenuity on the part of the housekeeper could make each meal a surprise party. (vi.) Ftishion is also an important point. Certain big boys may refuse to partake of a dish ; the smaller ones will then often follow suit. (vii.) But the most important cause of all, in my opinion, is want of confidence in what is placed before them, and I think this the most difficult to overcome. Frequently a boy suspects his food of possessing all * the bad qualities that it is capable of ; labelling it “ resurrection,” “ scraps,” “ college muck,” and so forth—and this frequently agiiinst all reason. It seems to me a point on which the schoolboy is l)adly educated. Only a few years back the school- boy looked upon his master with the utmost sus- picion and contempt, but of late years a considerable change in the relation between them lu\s taken place. The innate hostility has been overcome bj’ the friendly advances of the modern master, and the boy realises there is no longer cause for sus- picion and distrust. I think it remains for the schoolmaster and housekeeper to go a step further, and win the boy’s confidence in the matter of his food. At present a boy would say “ bad ” food, “worse” food, “school” food; without changing the food I feel sure we might change the boy’s opinion, and thus his a})petite. An example happened only the other day, where a boy was tricked into helj)ing himself to school cheese.