We have learned that we need a variety of food in our daily diet, and that the selection of food should be determined by the state of health, and by individual digestive power. Age, occupation, climate, and our means, should also influence our choice.

Children and growing persons need the most nutritious food, and plenty of it at regular intervals, but nothing stimulating or exciting. They should be required to take sufficient time for eating, and should be taught to masticate everything slowly and thoroughly. They should eat milk, whole - wheat and corn-meal bread, oatmeal, farina, wheatena, and hominy mush; plenty of ripe fruit, raw and stewed fruit sweetened.

They may have a small portion of beef, mutton, venison, or poultry, either roasted, broiled, or boiled; baked potatoes, asparagus, lettuce, celery, and spinach; green peas, beans, and sweet corn provided every hull be first broken or cut. They may eat eggs sparingly, either plain or in omelets and custards; plain sponge cake and ginger-bread ; ice-cream, if eaten slowly and not too hard and cold; simple puddings made of fruit and bread, tapioca or farina; plain molasses cookies, whole-wheat cookies and wafers.

Children should avoid eating hot bread and griddle cakes; fried meats, fried cakes or doughnuts ; any highly seasoned food, rich gravies, rich pastry and cake; pickles and preserves; sago, arrow-root, and other starchy foods except when combined with milk, eggs, or fruit, and eaten with cream and sugar; raisins unless stoned and cooked three hours; and especially veal and pork. They should not drink tea, coffee, or any other stimulant. .

Milk should enter largely into the diet of children. It contains caseine or flesh-forming material, cream and sugar, which are heat producers, mineral salts for the bony structure, and water as a solvent for all the other materials necessary in nutrition. It should be taken slowly and with rolls or mush, or sipped by the spoonful. Milk as taken into the stomach is a fluid, but as soon as it meets the acid of the gastric juice, it is changed to a soft cheese-like substance. If a large portion of milk be swallowed suddenly it will form a lump of dense curd which rolls over and over in the stomach like a heavy weight, and as the gastric juice can only attack its surface, it digests slowly. But if taken slowly, the curd forms in small lumps which break up easily every time the stomach turns them over, and the gastric juice readily dissolves them.

All children have a fondness for sugar, which is natural and should be gratified in moderation, rather than repressed. Do not give them candy, cake, and sweetmeats, however, between meals; but give them occasionally, as a part of the dessert, either pure block sugar, maple sugar, or simple home-made candies.

Aged people should have a diet much like that of children, only less abundant. They should eat in small quantities often and regularly, and eat only plain wholeLESSON XVI. - OCCUPATION, CLIMATE, ETC. 173 some food that may be easily digested. Many of the ills of old age might be avoided by a simple diet.

Adults may have a variety of wholesome food cooked in different ways and adapted to their occupation.

Occupation. If the occupation tax the muscular strength use muscle-making food; not wholly meat as many suppose, for you will see by the charts that there are many foods that contain as much as, or more, pro-teid matter than meat, namely, peas, beans, cheese, and some grains.

Those who labor or exercise in the open air need a large quantity of wholesome food, and it need not be the most digestible, as they require food that will stay by them.

Persons engaged in sedentary occupations, or who take little exercise and live in close, confined rooms, cannot digest as much, or as easily as those who labor out of doors. They should have food that contains a great amount of nutriment in a small compass, and it should be prepared in the most digestible form. Those who tax their brains severely, should have some animal food, and the most digestible forms of starchy and warmth-giving food, and avoid any excess of fat.

Climate and Season. People who live in cold climates find it necessary to consume large quantities of fat in the form of blubber oil and oily fish, as a protection against the severe cold.

Those in extremely hot climates live on rice with a small amount of olive oil, flesh, or fish.

Animal food is a better diet for cold weather than for hot. Fat is not digested easily unless some exercise be taken. It is therefore a suitable winter diet for laboring people. Fruits, vegetables, and grains eaten with milk, butter, or oil furnish the carbo-hydrates needed in summer.

Means. People who have only limited means should choose the foods that contain the greatest amount of nutriment for the least money.

It will be seen by the charts that corn meal, whole-wheat flour, oatmeal, dried peas and beans are