It is with the necessities of these young ones who remain that I am just
now concerned. Very often dinner is provided for them at the school, and
a few partake of it there under the superintendence of a teacher who is
told off for the duty. It is my experience, however, that only a small
proportion of the whole number of those who stay avail themselves of
this opportunity. Either the price charged is too high, or conversation
is too much restricted, or from some other reason girls for the most
part prefer to bring food with them "for luncheon," and postpone a
proper meal until they reach home.
Now it is a very bad thing for growing girls to go so long without a
proper meal. Supposing they have to be at school by half-past nine, it
is not unsafe to conclude that this means that breakfast is taken about
half-past eight, if not earlier. Leaving school at four or half-past, it
will not be likely that dinner, or the "meat tea," can be enjoyed before
half-past five. This long fast, broken only by eating an unsatisfactory
"snatch" of one sort or another, is likely to be very injurious to
health. Brain-workers need really to be better fed even than those who
work with their hands, because brain-work is exceedingly exhausting. If
it could be arranged that there should be half an hour's rest after
food, so that study should not interfere with the process of digestion,
why should not the "growing students" take a substantial luncheon with
them, and partake of it when the morning lessons are over? Really this
could be very easily managed.
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